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Capital of Rhode Island · Providence County · capital since 1900 · 41.8°N 71.4°W
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, founded by Roger Williams in 1636, became the sole capital of Rhode Island in 1900 after sharing the role with Newport for more than a century. It is the largest city in the state.
Where Providence is
Providence is at 41.82°N, 71.41°W, at the head of Narragansett Bay, where the Woonasquatucket and Moshassuck rivers meet to form the short Providence River. The city sits at the northern tip of the bay, and the Seekonk River forms its eastern boundary with East Providence. Providence County is the largest of Rhode Island's five counties, but like the others it has no county government; the counties exist only as court districts and statistical areas. The Massachusetts border is about five miles north. Providence is on Eastern Time.
How it became the capital
Roger Williams settled here in 1636 after his banishment from Massachusetts, naming the place for God's providence. Rhode Island's colonial assembly rotated among five towns, and after statehood the legislature alternated between Newport and Providence, with capitols in both. The 1900 opening of the new State House on Smith Hill ended the arrangement and made Providence the sole capital. The city had by then become one of the largest manufacturing centers in New England.
Population
Providence had 190,934 residents in 2020, the largest city in Rhode Island and the third-largest in New England after Boston and Worcester. Cranston and Warwick, both bordering the city, are next in the state with about 80,000 each. The Providence metropolitan area, which extends into Massachusetts, has about 1.6 million people, more than the whole population of Rhode Island, 1,097,379.
The capitol
The Rhode Island State House was designed by McKim, Mead and White and completed in 1904 after eight years of construction. It is built of white Georgia marble and has one of the largest self-supporting marble domes in the world, topped by a gilded statue, the Independent Man. Inside is the original 1663 royal charter of the colony. The building faces south across the railway station toward downtown.
Distances to other cities
| City | Direction | Road distance |
|---|---|---|
| Boston, MA | northeast | about 50 mi |
| Hartford, CT | west | about 70 mi |
| New York, NY | southwest | about 180 mi |
Newport, the former co-capital, is about 30 miles south at the mouth of the bay.
Related maps
- Rhode Island map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
- Rhode Island county map · blank Rhode Island map · printable Rhode Island map.
- All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
- Northeast region · New England division · Eastern Time Zone.