History

The story goes that this was a failed urban housing project, at least according to the city, who tore it down. But the structure was so strong and solid, that implosion (dynamite) did nothing but destroy the ground floor, hence the tilt in some of the first photos. They then had to take it down with a wrecking ball, which is illustrated in photos 6-9.

A visitor emailed us and let us know that the building stood directly across from the Perry Middle School on Hartford Avenue.

Thanks to Gemma for the photos.

Anecdotes

Barry 03-02-2008 My grandmother lived in one of “the big buildings” in the Hartford Projects during the 70’s. My family lived about one hundred yards from her in one of the ”brown“ buildings. As a child I spent alot of time with her as she grew older. Initially, you could just walk into the building and either climb the stairs to infinity or push a button and take the elevator. The whole building was made of rebarb enforced concrete. Every two apartments shared a 6’ x 12’ concrete porch with a green corragated plastic sheet which covered the chain link fence to ensure privacy from those below. My grandmother used to like to sun bathe on her lawn chair with her iced coffee by her side. Her apartment (also concrete throughout) was always styling. You would never smell moth balls when you walked into her pad! She always had the latest and greatest furniture and decor of the day and the place was always spotless. She had current pictures of the family on the walls and of course there was the religeous pictures which hung in every room. I believe the only thing she had that was “old” was a picture of her mother, which sat in a “current” frame. Then of course there was the neighbors. Mrs. Early down at the end of the building, who would waddle her way up and down the front catwalk, snapping her gum with the three teeth she had left and looking to strike up a conversation with whoever was willing. Mary Weston, who lived a few doors down had a million stories to tell about her life and the people in it. I would sit in her apartment and listen to her stories and she would feed me. After my grandmother died I would still visit the folks at 22 Whelan Road. It made me feel a little closer to the memory of my grandmother and I still loved to hear the neighbors re-runs. There were alot of people who lived in the apartments of all four big buildings. They all had a life, a history, a story to tell. And they all mattered. As they all died off they left their legacy within the halls, walls and stairwells of those big buildings. And now... it’s all gone, as if none of it ever mattered.

peter  I spent my first seven years on Earth in the hartford project. I attended Nicholson kindergarten and nercary. It was awsome. We use to swim at Marina Park. We’d sled ride at That big hill near silver lake. I attened St. Anthony’s and can still count to ten in French. This all at the time the mass was said in Latin. We lived in poverty, but I did not know that. Dad was sick and Ma had four of us on a VA

lisat  i went to the perry school across the street in the 80’s, and lived a mile away. i never entered the building, but i remember it was a scary and ugly place.

Barbara  10 Whelan Road is where my Grand parents retired to in the late 50’s and 60’s. They had raised their sons and were aging. My grandfather died there 08 Jul 1961. He was born on Walling Street in 1885. I remember visiting after “Pa” died.

Billy Donley  Friends, The building was built in 1952 by Turgeon Construction. It’s address was 2 Whelan Road. In 1967, after a rehab of sorts, its address was changed to 375 Hartford Avenue. In 1960, my family moved from a cold-water tenement (2 bedrooms, no hot water) to this building, apartment 6L. We had 3 bedrooms, one for the 3 boys, one for the 3 girls, and 1 for my parents. The building was a hotbed of crime at the time and got worse after. But I was VERY happy to have grown up in that housing project, and to this date, 46 years after I moved in, I am still friendly with many of the similarly situated neighbors. I look on my 12 years living in the project as WONDERFUL. I worked in 2 nearby stores, Bills Variety, and Lanes Spa, and also worked in Joe’s Shell Station. Those jobs enabled me to know EVERY resident of the project, with hundreds of apartments. I went on to work for the police department, and retired in 1989. The building, VERY well constructed, took 3 months to demolish with a swinging ball. Every apartment was replaced by what is called scattered site housing, much better modern housing for our lower income fellow citizens.

AA  I grew up near these projects, but never, ever, went into them. When I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s the Hartford Projects were a hotbed for crime, violence, and drugs. I especially love these photos because I was there watching this happen.

chester s holmes  i visited my nana back when i was a lad,thre seemed to be alot of senior citizens living there,i would qualify now LOL

Maria S  These apartments were designed to have only 2 children in a bedroom. My 4 brothers and I shared a bedroom in a small cape cod style house at the time. I remember the bitterness my parents had, since my Dad worked 2 jobs to afford a home for all of us. Mom’s job was to raise us children, make the budget work so all the bills could be paid – and they were. I don’t know about anyone that lived in the Providence Apartments, but my brothers and I have great organizational skills, and can make a lot fit into small areas. We grew up to be productive members of society; this public works project was obviously one more social idea that didn’t work.

Tony Hempfer  This is in regards to the photos of the Hartford Park projects. There are some inacurate information about this building. It was built in 1954 and had 60 three bedroom units in it. In a city that has many homeless families it was much needed then as it would be now. Stephen O’Rourke of the Providence Housing Authority testified in court that this building was in danger of falling over from a 30 mile wind gust… that was a lie. Your pictures speak for themselves.

Sharon V.  I was there on the morning of the attempted implosion. Hundreds were gathered in anticipation and excitement… never having seen a building come down.
I remember the explosions. The building dropped a certain number of feet… and then rested, without fully imploding. We all kind of just stood there, mouths open, shocked and waiting… nothing further happened. Guess something had gone wrong with the wiring of the dynomite, not fully enabling it to implode the building. They eventually had to demolish the remainder of the building manually. It stood there for quite some time before fully demolished. I used to visit an elderly woman there, and also went to school across the street at Oliver Hazard Perry.

Kevin K  I remember the morning of this event. I was high-school age, and working at McDonald’s in Cranston, and I happened to be outside sweeping the parking lot of trash and cigarette butts. I heard the blast, and knew what it was. This was about 6 miles away from the blast site.

I also recall that Providence was listed in Newsweek as one of the “Hot Cities” to live in, and the mayor saying something to the effect of “We live in one of the hottest cities and we’re blowing up buildings.” I also remember my great grandmother living in that building in the early 70’s, when the dominant population of the buildings were elderly people.

Add your Anecdotes

The information about each building grows as visitors let us know about their experiences. Did you or a member of your family work here? Did you grow up near it as a child? Let us know. All entries will be moderated and may be posted in an edited form. We will use your name unless you tell us otherwise. We will not make your email public.