History at a Glance
- Smithfield Exchange Bank established in 1822 to serve agricultural and small-scale industrial clients in rural northwestern RI.
- Operated in the Waterman Tavern ell until 1856, then moved to neighboring building.
- RI Department of Public Works demolishes main section of Tavern for road improvements in 1936. Ell that housed bank is used as residence.
- Town purchases building from Cumberland Farms in 2000 and sells to Smithfield Preservation Society in 2006.
- The Smithfield Exchange Bank listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
- Significant historic features survive, including: Director’s Room, a large chamber with vaulted ceiling and Federal period fireplace; the Bank Room, with evidence of counter outside bank vault and extensive wearing of floorboards by customers; and the Vault, a roughly 3’ square chamber sheathed in iron plate with masonry pier rising from basement that forms a 24’ enclosure around vault.
History
The Smithfield Exchange Bank is a two-story, end gable, frame building located on Putnam Pike in the village of Greenville in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The building is located on a heavily-used, mostly commercial section of U.S. Route 44, a former 18th- and 19th-century turnpike road which ran from Providence, Rhode Island, west to Putnam, Connecticut.
A tavern built by Resolved Waterman in 1733 served turnpike travelers on this road until 1902. The Smithfield Exchange Bank was built as one of two ells on the tavern. The main section of the tavern was demolished in 1936 as part of a road improvement project. At that time, both of the tavern’s ells were modified to stand alone. One of the ells has since been demolished, but the ell housing the bank has survived.
After the 1936 demolition of the tavern, a new façade and a partial west wall were constructed for the bank building–twentieth-century balloon framing was integrated into the earlier post-and-beam construction of the bank. The resulting structure was a residence from 1936 to 1969; it has been vacant since.
Significance
Though its integrity has been somewhat compromised, the Smithfield Exchange Bank (1822) is significant as a rare example of a 19th-century rural Rhode Island bank. The bank building embodies in its history several important aspects of the state's commercial history—it is typical of the banks of its era in its location, its capitalization, its leadership, and its patterns of lending. Even more significant, the bank building retains the distinctive physical characteristics of an early rural bank. A number of small bank buildings from the early 19th century survive in Rhode Island, but (so far as is known) the Smithfield Exchange is the only one whose interior physical arrangements still reflect their historic appearance and function. The presence here of the important elements of a typical bank plan, including the Directors' Room (with its fireplace and cove ceiling), the Bank Room (including the ghosts of the bank counter), and the stone-encased vault (with its steel plating), make this a unique document of the state's economic history.
The Smithfield Exchange Bank
In 1822 a group of shareholders in northwestern Rhode Island incorporated themselves as the Smithfield Exchange Bank. Economic historian Naomi Lamoreaux described this type of bank in Insider Lending.
The structure of the Smithfield Exchange Bank at the time of its incorporation appears to correspond to elements of the first and second periods as defined by Field. Although this was a state-chartered and regulated bank characteristic of the period from 1809-1840, it was established to serve the interests of an agricultural and small-scale industrial clientele in rural northwestern Rhode Island, a condition more characteristic of the first period (1791-1809).
It was a common practice in the early 19th century to house banks in public buildings or residences. Exchange banks of the type established in Greenville in 1822 did not seek general business from a broad clientele. For this reason, the establishment of a bank on a second floor rear ell of a tavern was entirely appropriate to the purpose of the institution—the making of loans to its directors. The physical layout of the bank, as suggested by the spatial arrangements of the surviving ell, reflects this purpose: a Directors’ Room, a Bank Room, and a vault. Nicholas Winsor (1797-1885) was the cashier of the bank from its inception to 1845 and the only salaried employee.i His nephew (and son of director Asa Winsor) held the position from 1845 to 1891.
The connection between the bank and its proximity to the tavern can be found in the by-laws governing Directors’ meetings:
The members of the Board of Directors will endeavor to be at the bank at 2:00 p.m. on Discount Day and continue in the bank rooms only two hours, unless on some urgent business, and leave sooner if possible. During our stay at the bank we will endeavor to have no needless conversation, such as storytelling, etc. but do the business with all possible dispatch. We shall drink no spirits in the bank room. The Smithfield Exchange Bank continued its operations in the rear ell of the tavern until 1856, at which time it was relocated to a new building next door that survives at 595 Putnam Pike.
Resolved Waterman Tavern
Resolved Waterman, Sr. (1667-1719) settled in Greenville in 1689. His migration to western Rhode Island was part of a broader pattern in which colonists from the settlement along Narragansett Bay moved to the interior to establish farmsteads. There is some evidence that Waterman established a gristmill along a stream that flows northerly in the village. Also typical of a regional settlement pattern, a village grew up around this small-scale industrial site which, by 1706, included a Six Principle Baptist Church.
By 1733 the various segments of a rural turnpike from Smith Hill in Providence to Putnam, Connecticut, had come together in the Putnam Pike (U.S. Route 44). This roughly 35-mile journey could take as long as two days. To address the needs of travelers for food and lodging, entrepreneurs, among them Resolved Waterman, Jr. (1703-1746), son of the original settler of Greenville, erected a series of taverns along the road. Waterman built his tavern in 1733 in the center of Greenville. Although the original size is unknown, a description of the tavern in its fullest development appeared in a 1947 Providence Journal article: …a sprawling structure of twenty bedrooms and ten big fireplaces…a ballroom with iron chandeliers and a 10-foot music rack for the fiddlers, a wine cellar, mighty brick ovens and cooking kettles, a spacious barroom, a genteel parlor, a broad hall, and a big barn.
The tavern apparently operated as a profitable enterprise, remaining in the Waterman family for a few generations and passing to the Mowry family by 1840. The Putnam Pike saw a significant decrease in highway traffic with the establishment of the Providence & Springfield Railroad, laid out along the path of the Woonasquatucket River in 1872. Commencing service in August 1873, this 21-mile line originated in Providence and terminated in Pascoag, Rhode Island, a route that bypassed Greenville. The Mowry family, the last proprietors of the tavern, closed it in 1902, converting the building to a private home.
Increasing automobile use in the early 20th century generated significant traffic along Route 44 in Greenville. This was due in large measure to the establishment of the Washington Highway (State Route 116) in the early 1930s. This route, most of which was assembled from existing roads, entered Greenville, joining Route 44 for a short distance, and continuing south. This dogleg contributed to the inevitable backup that occurred when stagecoach-era turnpikes carried auto traffic. In 1935 the State of Rhode Island began planning a widening project for Route 44 that would also eliminate a dangerous curve in the vicinity of the tavern. The new highway line, passing through the tavern, required the demolition of the original building flanking the Putnam Pike (see Figure 5).
The state salvaged the two rear ells of the tavern. The west ell, which housed a ballroom, has since been demolished. The east ell, which housed the Smithfield Exchange Bank for over thirty years, was rebuilt as a freestanding structure.
A tavern built by Resolved Waterman in 1733 served turnpike travelers on this road until 1902. The Smithfield Exchange Bank was built as one of two ells on the tavern. The main section of the tavern was demolished in 1936 as part of a road improvement project. At that time, both of the tavern’s ells were modified to stand alone. One of the ells has since been demolished, but the ell housing the bank has survived.
After the 1936 demolition of the tavern, a new façade and a partial west wall were constructed for the bank building–twentieth-century balloon framing was integrated into the earlier post-and-beam construction of the bank. The resulting structure was a residence from 1936 to 1969; it has been vacant since.
Significance
Though its integrity has been somewhat compromised, the Smithfield Exchange Bank (1822) is significant as a rare example of a 19th-century rural Rhode Island bank. The bank building embodies in its history several important aspects of the state's commercial history—it is typical of the banks of its era in its location, its capitalization, its leadership, and its patterns of lending. Even more significant, the bank building retains the distinctive physical characteristics of an early rural bank. A number of small bank buildings from the early 19th century survive in Rhode Island, but (so far as is known) the Smithfield Exchange is the only one whose interior physical arrangements still reflect their historic appearance and function. The presence here of the important elements of a typical bank plan, including the Directors' Room (with its fireplace and cove ceiling), the Bank Room (including the ghosts of the bank counter), and the stone-encased vault (with its steel plating), make this a unique document of the state's economic history.
The Smithfield Exchange Bank
In 1822 a group of shareholders in northwestern Rhode Island incorporated themselves as the Smithfield Exchange Bank. Economic historian Naomi Lamoreaux described this type of bank in Insider Lending.
The structure of the Smithfield Exchange Bank at the time of its incorporation appears to correspond to elements of the first and second periods as defined by Field. Although this was a state-chartered and regulated bank characteristic of the period from 1809-1840, it was established to serve the interests of an agricultural and small-scale industrial clientele in rural northwestern Rhode Island, a condition more characteristic of the first period (1791-1809).
It was a common practice in the early 19th century to house banks in public buildings or residences. Exchange banks of the type established in Greenville in 1822 did not seek general business from a broad clientele. For this reason, the establishment of a bank on a second floor rear ell of a tavern was entirely appropriate to the purpose of the institution—the making of loans to its directors. The physical layout of the bank, as suggested by the spatial arrangements of the surviving ell, reflects this purpose: a Directors’ Room, a Bank Room, and a vault. Nicholas Winsor (1797-1885) was the cashier of the bank from its inception to 1845 and the only salaried employee.i His nephew (and son of director Asa Winsor) held the position from 1845 to 1891.
The connection between the bank and its proximity to the tavern can be found in the by-laws governing Directors’ meetings:
The members of the Board of Directors will endeavor to be at the bank at 2:00 p.m. on Discount Day and continue in the bank rooms only two hours, unless on some urgent business, and leave sooner if possible. During our stay at the bank we will endeavor to have no needless conversation, such as storytelling, etc. but do the business with all possible dispatch. We shall drink no spirits in the bank room. The Smithfield Exchange Bank continued its operations in the rear ell of the tavern until 1856, at which time it was relocated to a new building next door that survives at 595 Putnam Pike.
Resolved Waterman Tavern
Resolved Waterman, Sr. (1667-1719) settled in Greenville in 1689. His migration to western Rhode Island was part of a broader pattern in which colonists from the settlement along Narragansett Bay moved to the interior to establish farmsteads. There is some evidence that Waterman established a gristmill along a stream that flows northerly in the village. Also typical of a regional settlement pattern, a village grew up around this small-scale industrial site which, by 1706, included a Six Principle Baptist Church.
By 1733 the various segments of a rural turnpike from Smith Hill in Providence to Putnam, Connecticut, had come together in the Putnam Pike (U.S. Route 44). This roughly 35-mile journey could take as long as two days. To address the needs of travelers for food and lodging, entrepreneurs, among them Resolved Waterman, Jr. (1703-1746), son of the original settler of Greenville, erected a series of taverns along the road. Waterman built his tavern in 1733 in the center of Greenville. Although the original size is unknown, a description of the tavern in its fullest development appeared in a 1947 Providence Journal article: …a sprawling structure of twenty bedrooms and ten big fireplaces…a ballroom with iron chandeliers and a 10-foot music rack for the fiddlers, a wine cellar, mighty brick ovens and cooking kettles, a spacious barroom, a genteel parlor, a broad hall, and a big barn.
The tavern apparently operated as a profitable enterprise, remaining in the Waterman family for a few generations and passing to the Mowry family by 1840. The Putnam Pike saw a significant decrease in highway traffic with the establishment of the Providence & Springfield Railroad, laid out along the path of the Woonasquatucket River in 1872. Commencing service in August 1873, this 21-mile line originated in Providence and terminated in Pascoag, Rhode Island, a route that bypassed Greenville. The Mowry family, the last proprietors of the tavern, closed it in 1902, converting the building to a private home.
Increasing automobile use in the early 20th century generated significant traffic along Route 44 in Greenville. This was due in large measure to the establishment of the Washington Highway (State Route 116) in the early 1930s. This route, most of which was assembled from existing roads, entered Greenville, joining Route 44 for a short distance, and continuing south. This dogleg contributed to the inevitable backup that occurred when stagecoach-era turnpikes carried auto traffic. In 1935 the State of Rhode Island began planning a widening project for Route 44 that would also eliminate a dangerous curve in the vicinity of the tavern. The new highway line, passing through the tavern, required the demolition of the original building flanking the Putnam Pike (see Figure 5).
The state salvaged the two rear ells of the tavern. The west ell, which housed a ballroom, has since been demolished. The east ell, which housed the Smithfield Exchange Bank for over thirty years, was rebuilt as a freestanding structure.