Exchange Place: 1910

Such a great photo! I go through there every day on my commute.

The monument pictured has been moved several times since then, most recently within the last ten years when Kennedy Plaza was renovated. There is now another, smaller monument in the Plaza commemorating the Spanish-American War.

The park is Burnside Park, which contains a statue of General Ambrose Burnside and a beautiful fountain called the Banjotti Fountain.

The loss of those fabulous buildings is a shame, but the park on the left is even better than it was then.

Here are some more historic pictures of KP: http://www.slideshare.net/sfortunato/historic-kennedy-plaza

And here's a fun video of KP today, taken from about the same vantage point in City Hall: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=524376444248703

The photo was taken from the City Hall building which you see at the bottom right of J W Wright's photo. It is indeed the main hub for RIPTA buses as babajingo says. As today is the 49th anniversary of JFK's death, the reason why it was renamed Kennedy plaza was because he delivered his last campaign speech of the 1960 campaign on the City Hall steps probably from the same place as this photo was taken.

Located at 33 Canal Street in Providence they also had offices in Springfield and Boston MA, they were manufacturers of amongst other things marine engines, water pumps, windmills and under the name of Fun-Ful children's playground equipment as seen here.

Still a lot of right-hand pilotage in this second decade of auto-mobiling.

Not to mention the opportunity afforded by these vehicles to commune with the weather whilst operating them. The things we take for granted nowadays...

Best of the Season to Dave, tterace, and Shorpistas everywhere!

TP

Love those horse-drawn contractor trailers.

The plaza is Kennedy Plaza, if I remember my time in Providence, its the main bus depot now. That beautiful building to the left is gone, as well as all the ones on the right along the road.

It appears from looking at Google, that the monument has turned 90 degrees or so counterclockwise since 1910. The pillared building in the background, along with the church steeple, are still there but the figure atop the monument is facing a different direction these days.

Judging by this aerial view from Bing maps, the monument has been moved further away from the 4-columned US District Court building, more towards Dorrance St. Another statue seems to occupy its previous space, but I cant tell who.

[Other statues in the Plaza are the Burnside and the Young monuments. - tterrace]