Portal:Rhode Island

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The Rhode Island Portal

Rhode Island (/ˌroʊd-/ ^ⓘ ROHD) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound; and shares a small maritime border with New York, east of Long Island. Rhode Island is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020; but it has grown at every decennial count since 1790 and is the second-most densely populated state, after New Jersey. The state takes its name from the eponymous island, though nearly all its land area is on the mainland. Providence is its capital and most populous city.

Native Americans lived around Narragansett Bay for thousands of years before English settlers began arriving in the early 17th century. Rhode Island was unique among the Thirteen British Colonies in having been founded by a refugee, Roger Williams, who fled religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to establish a haven for religious liberty. He founded Providence in 1636 on land purchased from local tribes, creating the first settlement in North America with an explicitly secular government. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations subsequently became a destination for religious and political dissenters and social outcasts, earning it the moniker "Rogue's Island".

Rhode Island was the first colony to call for a Continental Congress, in 1774, and the first to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, on May 4, 1776. After the American Revolution, during which it was heavily occupied and contested, Rhode Island became the fourth state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, on February 9, 1778. Because its citizens favored a weaker central government, it boycotted the 1787 convention that had drafted the United States Constitution, which it initially refused to ratify; it finally ratified it on May 29, 1790, the last of the original 13 states to do so.

The state was officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations since the colonial era but came to be commonly known as "Rhode Island". In November 2020, the state's voters approved an amendment to the state constitution formally dropping "and Providence Plantations" from its full name. Its official nickname is the "Ocean State", a reference to its 400 mi (640 km) of coastline and the large bays and inlets that make up about 14% of its area. (Full article...)

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Route 4, also known as the Colonel Rodman Highway, is a 10.37-mile-long (16.69 km) numbered state highway located in Washington County and southern Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The route is a major north–south freeway in the southern Providence metropolitan area, directly linking Providence with eastern Washington County, the beaches of Narragansett and South Kingstown, and the city of Newport. Route 4 begins as a two-lane divided highway at an intersection with U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in the town of North Kingstown, becoming a limited-access freeway after 1.89 miles (3.04 km). The route has four numbered interchanges before terminating in the city of Warwick, where the northbound lanes merge into Interstate 95 (I-95).

The origins of Route 4 date back to 1952, when construction began on a short, unnumbered arterial from US 1 to the modern location of exit 3 at Routes 2 and 102 in Wickford. In 1965, the Rhode Island Department of Public Works began work on a 5.4-mile (8.7 km) freeway from modern exit 5 north to the merge with I-95. The freeway, designated as Route 4, was completed in 1972. At that time, the Route 4 designation was also applied to the Wickford arterial. In 1988, the missing link in Route 4 between exits 3 and 5 was completed and opened. The Rhode Island Department of Transportation had long-term plans to upgrade the southernmost portion of Route 4 to freeway status by constructing overpasses at Oak Hill Road and West Allenton Road and a grade separation with US 1. Although the project was originally scheduled to be completed by 2007, the $55 million project has been postponed indefinitely. (Full article...)

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William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Channing was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker in the liberal theology of the day. His religion and thought were among the chief influences on the New England Transcendentalists although he never countenanced their views, which he saw as extreme. His espousal of the developing philosophy and theology of Unitarianism was displayed especially in his "Baltimore Sermon" of May 5, 1819, given at the ordination of the theologian and educator Jared Sparks (1789–1866) as the first minister of the newly organized First Independent Church of Baltimore. (Full article...)

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Did you know?

... that Northup Avenue Yard in Providence, Rhode Island, was described as "the finest in the New Haven system"?
... that three decades after chasing away surveyors for a previous railroad with guns, residents of Wickford, Rhode Island, built their own railroad?
... that a Rhode Island TV station broadcast for 14 months and then was off the air for 26 years before returning?
... that James Diossa rescued the only public library and post office in Central Falls, Rhode Island, when the city went into bankruptcy?

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The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.

— H. P. Lovecraft

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Brown University is a private university and member of the Ivy League located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1764, prior to American independence from the British Empire and early in the reign of King George III (1760–1820). Brown is the third-oldest institution of higher education in New England and seventh oldest in the United States.

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The following are images from various Rhode Island-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1University Hall at Brown University is one of the oldest academic buildings in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 2Rhode Island population density map (from Rhode Island)
Image 3The East Bay Bike Path in Riverside
Image 4University Hall at Brown University is one of the oldest academic buildings in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 5The Pawtucket Red Sox played at McCoy Stadium (from Rhode Island)
Image 6The Towers are a Narragansett landmark. (from Rhode Island)
Image 7In 1636, Roger Williams and his followers founded the settlement of Providence Plantations. (from Rhode Island)
Image 8The Rhode Island State House in Providence boasts the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. (from Rhode Island)
Image 9Slater Mill in Pawtucket is cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Image 10Interior of The Breakers, a Newport symbol of the Gilded Age (from Rhode Island)
Image 11Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge (from Rhode Island)
Image 12A southbound Northeast Regional train at Kingston Station (from Rhode Island)
Image 13University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium in Kingston (from Rhode Island)
Image 14The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (foreground) and Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (background)
Image 15The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 16Downtown Providence in 2008 (from Rhode Island)
Image 17Many Rhode Islanders visit Washington County for its beaches (from Rhode Island)
Image 18Köppen climate types of Rhode Island, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Rhode Island)
Image 19Downtown Providence in 2008 (from Rhode Island)
Image 20The Pawtucket Red Sox played at McCoy Stadium (from Rhode Island)
Image 21A southbound Northeast Regional train at Kingston Station (from Rhode Island)
Image 22A nine-pence banknote issued by Rhode Island in 1786 (from Rhode Island)
Image 23In 1936, on the 300th anniversary of the settlement of Rhode Island in 1636, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, depicting Roger Williams (from Rhode Island)
Image 24Touro Synagogue in Newport is the oldest existing synagogue building in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 25The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (foreground) and Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (background)
Image 26Trustom Pond, a lagoon in South Kingstown (from Rhode Island)
Image 27Many Rhode Islanders visit Washington County for its beaches (from Rhode Island)
Image 28Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge (from Rhode Island)
Image 29The Towers are a Narragansett landmark. (from Rhode Island)
Image 30Topographic map of Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 31Köppen climate types of Rhode Island, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Rhode Island)
Image 32University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium in Kingston (from Rhode Island)
Image 33Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads (from Rhode Island)
Image 34The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority operates a statewide system of bus transport. (from Rhode Island)
Image 351884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays (from Rhode Island)
Image 36A nine-pence banknote issued by Rhode Island in 1786 (from Rhode Island)
Image 37The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 38Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads (from Rhode Island)
Image 39The Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 40Interior of The Breakers, a Newport symbol of the Gilded Age (from Rhode Island)
Image 41In 1680, Newport was the third largest Anglo-American city. It remained a prosperous population center until the 1770s. (from Rhode Island)
Image 42The East Bay Bike Path in Riverside
Image 43The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority operates a statewide system of bus transport. (from Rhode Island)
Image 44Slater Mill in Pawtucket is cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Image 45The United States Naval Academy was moved to Fort Adams in Newport during the Civil War. (from Rhode Island)
Image 46The Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 47Rocky shoreline in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 481884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays (from Rhode Island)
Image 49In 1636, Roger Williams and his followers founded the settlement of Providence Plantations. (from Rhode Island)
Image 50Topographic map of Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 51Ethnic origins in Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 52County results of the 2020 Presidential election. Joe Biden (D) won every county. (from Rhode Island)
Image 53The United States Naval Academy was moved to Fort Adams in Newport during the Civil War. (from Rhode Island)
Image 54The Rhode Island State House in Providence boasts the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. (from Rhode Island)
Image 55Trustom Pond, a lagoon in South Kingstown (from Rhode Island)
Image 56Rocky shoreline in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 57Providence Revolutionaries burned HMS Gaspee in Warwick in protest of British customs laws. (from Rhode Island)
Image 58In 1680, Newport was the third largest Anglo-American city. It remained a prosperous population center until the 1770s. (from Rhode Island)
Image 59Ethnic origins in Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 60Providence Revolutionaries burned HMS Gaspee in Warwick in protest of British customs laws. (from Rhode Island)
Image 61County results of the 2020 Presidential election. Joe Biden (D) won every county. (from Rhode Island)
Image 62Rhode Island population density map (from Rhode Island)
Image 63Touro Synagogue in Newport is the oldest existing synagogue building in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 64In 1936, on the 300th anniversary of the settlement of Rhode Island in 1636, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, depicting Roger Williams (from Rhode Island)

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Misquamicut State Beach in March 2007

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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged or categorized (e.g. Category:WikiProject Rhode Island articles) correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.