By 1900 Providence was 25th in population in the United States
and was an industrial powerhouse, boasting its “Five Industrial
Wonders of the World.” The First Baptist Church in America had
over 700 members on its rolls, but great changes were coming for
the state, the city, and the church. The tides of immigration
changed Rhode Island from a Protestant Yankee state to an
immigrant Roman Catholic state. Not only had the composition of
the population changed, the physical character of Providence
itself was being transformed. Where once there had been houses
and small shops, great factories, banks, commercial
establishments, and big buildings stood in their place. First
Baptist Church saw its residential neighborhood disappear in the
changes in the twentieth century. In 1860 one could stand on any
corner of the church yard and throw a stone that would hit the
house of a member of the church. By 1940 no residences remained.
The greatest changes came from the deindustrialization of Rhode
Island and the substantia