Roger Mowry Tavern/ Samuel Whipple House

by Katie Laferte

This is a story about a house, about the history of Rhode Island, and what happens when historic structures get into the hands of short-sighted developers.

Roger Mowry, born in Britain, was one of the first settlers of Providence. Around 1653 he purchased some land from Samuel Comstock and built a house on Abbott's Lane, today's Abbott Street. A friend of Roger Williams, Mowry allowed this building to serve as a tavern as well as a general meeting place and impromptu church. We know the building was used as a public gathering place because papers have been found showing Mowry billed the town for the cost of wood burned during public meetings.

The following description suggests the house was a small but wonderfully well-crafted example of early colonial architecture:

From The Supplement to the Descendants of Nathaniel Mowry of Rhode Island:

"The main room, which was supposed to have constituted the original house, was about fifteen feet square and but little more than six feet from floor to ceiling. The summer beam across the middle of the room, after the ancient fashion, was of white oak, beautifully hewed, the corners chamfered, and not a score of the axe visible in the surface. The old chimney, originally outside of the house, was built of stone, and its fireplace was just ten feet wide. This stone chimney was a fine piece of masonwork. The mortar was made of shell lime, closely resembling that used in the old stone mill at Newport."

The Roger Mowry Tavern, from a wood-cut made about 1860.

In 1671, after Roger Mowry's death, the house on Abbott's Lane was purchased by Samuel Whipple, the first man to be buried in the North Burial Ground. According to The Early Records of the Town of Providence, "It was voted by the town that the two deeds, which Samuel Whipple received of Stephen Paine of Rehoboth, in the Colony of New Plymouth, be recorded in town records" (III:202).

Samuel Whipple served as a Highway Warden of Providence and was involved in many land transactions until his death in 1710. See http://www.whipple.org/charles/louquisset/ for more information about Samuel Whipple.

When the city of Providence was burned to the ground during King Philip's War in 1676, The Mowry/Whipple house was one of only five left standing.

According to History of Providence County, Rhode Island, published in 1891, "The oldest dwelling in the city is the Whipple house on the north side of Abbott street, east of North Main street. It dates back more than two centuries, and its owner, Samuel Whipple, was born in the year 1643. When the town was burned by the Indians, March 30th, 1676, this building was spared the incendiary torch, and it is believed that the reason it was not destroyed was that the Indians, knowing that Roger Williams and his followers had worshipped there, revered the structure. Keeping pace with the times the old house has assumed several changes, until now the original plans are materially lost sight of. Samuel Whipple was the first person buried in the North Burial Ground."

And, finally, the really bad news:

Included in the Supplement to the Descendants of Nathaniel Mowry of Rhode Island is a note that the house was demolished in July 1900. A newspaper article regarding the proposed destruction of the house is included in the book and contains the following:

The disturbing news reached the Historical Society a few days ago that the very oldest house in Rhode Island was about to be demolished. The house in question stands on Abbott Street, near the North Burial-ground...Its present owner, who has lived in the building till recently, announces his intention to construct a modern dwelling on the site of the historic house, although he informed the society's representative last week that he would be willing to sell the estate and build elsewhere. When the representative of the Historical Society called he found many of the blinds and doors already taken down preparatory to the general demolition, but he prevailed upon the proprietor to stay operations until the public could be informed of the facts. Some one interested in the preservation of early landmarks, it was thought, might come forward even at this late day, and rescue the most ancient residence in the State.

Good authorities assert that the Abbott Street frame building is the only surviving house in these plantations belonging to the earliest period of Rhode Island history... In their "Early Rhode Island Houses," Messrs. Isham and Brown refer to the dwelling as the "Roger Mowry House" and the reason given for this designation lies in the fact that is once belonged to Roger Mowry - the Roger Mowry whose tavern played an important part in the affairs of the early colony.

The exact date of the building is, of course, unknown; but tradition, available documents, and the testimony of the house itself, the latter proof being obtained by an architectural analysis, seem to indicate that it was erected as early as 1653.

Since that date it has been altered, enlarged, and improved, like all old homesteads of its class, and its present appearance no doubt resembles the original house but slightly...The original building is believed to have contained on the first floor -- the house was a story and a half in height -- a single large "fire room", and in this section of the present structure the framing is almost all intact. Here there was a huge fireplace.

To quote from the work above mentioned -- "The present arrangement of the room would not lead the visitor to suspect the size of even the existence of the old stone fireplace. There is a fireboard behind the stove, and on each side of the fireboard a closet. Opening one of the closet doors, however, will reveal the stone cavern where, when the town council met, Roger Mowry burnt the logs of 'this daies fireing' for which and for the 'house roome,' we read, the Town Treasurer was ordered, on Jan. 27, 1657, to pay him one shilling and sixpence."

The structure as it stands to-day is considerably larger and in various respects more pretentious than the house of Roger Mowry's days; still the original house is practically intact, and to the antiquarian it matters little if additions have been added thereto. It now remains to be seen if there is sufficient interest in the community to keep from destruction the last remaining bit of earliest Rhode Island architecture."

Apparently, there wasn't sufficient interest in saving the oldest structure in Rhode Island.

This house withstood almost three hundred years. It withstood the burning of Providence, it saw the Revolutionary War and the French troops' camp near Camp Street, the industrial revolution and waves of immigration. It stood there as factories and tenements popped up all over Providence. The house stood there as North Main Street changed from a dirt path to a busy state road.

But it fell to some fool who happened to have the deed and wanted a "modern" house. The house this guy built is no longer there, by the way. Thirty Abbott Street is now a parking lot.

The former site of the Roger Mowry Tavern. (Photo: Mary Shawcross)

More History on Abbott Street

43 Abbott Street.

Abigail Williams House (ca. 1830): This house is one of the oldest remaining in the Mount Hope neighborhood. A plain 1 1/2-story, center-chimney, five-bay-facade dwelling. Williams moved it here in 1852. The present stone foundations and steps were constructed in the mid-1970s. (excerpted from "Providence. A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources." Wm McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson.)

(Photo: Mary Shawcross)