I have had my eye on this Tockwotton Street gem for some time and I always thought a beer garden/eatery would be perfect here. Apparently I was not alone, and Mark Hellendrung, chief executive of Narragansett Brewing Co. has cleared a significant hurdle in making my dream come true. The ProJo wrote about the project (last May) when it
. . . took an important step forward Wednesday night when the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a special use permit for a microbrewery at a site owned by Brown University next to the Hilton Garden Inn.
Hellendrung told The Providence Journal that the zoning permit is a condition in a purchase and sale agreement between Narragansett and Brown for the brewery to buy the roughly 1-acre site between Tockwotton Street and India Street.
It should be noted that there is no mention of my beer garden plans at this time . . . but really. Outdoor seating has to happen.
So what is this strange little street with only one building on it at Number 271? Florence Simister wrote in her 1968 compilation, Streets of the City,
Even in the days when Providence was a wilderness, there were paths crossing and crisscrossing the forest and the river banks. These paths, of course, were Indian trails and one of them passed around the base of a hill known as Tockwotton Hill. Tockwotton was the personal name of some of the Indians living in this area and in Narragansett the name means “it is frozen.”
Roger Williams included the Narragansett word for “frost” in his 1643 publication, A Key into the Language of America: “Taquáttin.”
Tockwotton Street originally ran from the Seekonk River through Fox Point down to the Providence River. There seems to have been a Fox Point Boulevard section for a while, and at some point, probably during the ’40s, one stretch of that was dedicated as George M. Cohan Boulvevard after the famous songwriting performer.
For more information I consulted my new friend Asterios “Steve” Zisiades*, who has been an Associate Engineer at the Department of Public Works on Allens Avenue for 26 years. We first connected late last winter when Steve was kind enough to show me around the city’s treasure trove of old maps, catalogues, field books, and plat books. But summer is different — the office is very busy. Still, Mr. Zisiades made time for me and I thank him.
Below is a map from “Plat Book of Providence R.I. 1937” with my arrow pointing to 271 Tockwotton, at that time the Petroleum Service Company (probably not a new pale ale name in that). Closer to the river you can see the American Oyster Co., and just up on Gano Street was the massive Narragansett Bay Oyster Company (see pic below).
What is clear is that the original Washington Bridge did not cut Tockwotton in two. The history of the span is complicated — thank goodness for Wikipedia.
Predating I-195 were two sections of road—Fox Point Boulevard and the Washington Bridge. The Washington Bridge, crossing the Seekonk River between Providence and East Providence, was opened on September 25, 1930, replacing an 1885 swing bridge with a higher bascule bridge. A new eastbound bridge opened in November 1968.
It does not appear from the 1937 plat map that it was the 1930 bridge that cut the street into two parts. Our best guess was that either the roadways merged, or that Tockwotton ducked underneath the bridge. It seems that the construction of Route 195 in the ’60s is when #271 became an orphan. (This sort of ambiguity does not sit well with engineers, and down to the basement we went to look for the blue prints! I really enjoyed myself.)
But back to the brewery! We look forward to seeing what Mr Hellendrung has in store. The ProJo piece actually doesn’t say what he intends to do with the building, just that the company is buying the “1-acre site.” I assume he is keeping this sweet little building. It’s big enough to be a “micro” brewery after all.
*Steve loves this history and has worked to repair and preserve these records — not just because they are used daily by construction crews, developers, city hall, realtors, etc. — but for posterity. He loves this stuff and so do I. Anyone may call with an inquiry, or make an appointment for a visit, but this office is quite busy during construction months.
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For more on the Narragansett Bay Oyster Co. take a walk on the Linear Park on the Washington Bridge and look for this stand-up plaque.
Thank you Steve.
