Inductees from 2004

William G. Angell (1811-1870)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Angell, William Gorham, 1811-1870

William G. Angell (1811-1870) was a native of Providence and a descendant of Thomas Angell, one of Providence's first settlers. Despite his lineage, William's family was one of modest means. He acquired only a basic common school education and took up his father's trade as a carpenter. Read more >
Samuel Greene Arnold (1821-1880)
Categories: Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Samuel Greene Arnold (1821-1880) is one of the two foremost historians of colonial Rhode Island. He was born into a prominent merchant family and was descended from Thomas Arnold, one of Providence’s earliest settlers. Arnold was educated by private tutors, attended private schools, graduated from Brown University in 1841, and earned a law degree from Harvard in 1845.

After extensive travels, available to a man of wealth and leisure, Arnold embarked upon the writing of a detailed and scholarly History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations covering the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Read more >
Michael "Mike" Barrowman
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

Michael Barrowman: gold medalist in the 200-meter breaststroke in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games avenging a fourth-place finish in that event as the favorite in the Seoul Olympics of 1988. Mike held the world record in that breastroke event and was named American and World Swimmer of the Year in 1989 and 1990 by Swimming World Magazine. He is the only three-time winner of the USA Swimming Association’s Swimmer of the Year Award (1989, 1990, 1991). Mike competed at the University of Michigan where he was a multi-event winner at the NCAA Championships and was named NCAA Swimmer of the Year in 1990. Read more >
Amos Chafee Barstow (1813-1892)
Categories: Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Industry - General

Mayor Amos Chafee Barstow (1813-1892) was one of the most accomplished and versatile men in the history of Rhode Island. A Providence native, Barstow made his fortune by the manufacture of stoves. His firm, the Barstow Stove Company, located at Point and Richmond Streets covered two and one-half acres and employed 200 workers. Barstow won the Grand Medal of Merit at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair for the best cooking stoves and ranges. Read more >
John Russell Bartlett (1805-1886)
Categories: Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Bartlett, John Russell, 1805-1886

John Russell Bartlett (1805-1886) is generally regarded as Rhode Island’s greatest secretary of state. Although a Providence native, he was educated in Canada and New York and operated a bookstore in New York City during the late 1830s and 1840s. Surrounded by books, he turned to writing. In 1847 Bartlett published The Progress of Ethnology which was followed a year later by his famous Dictionary of Americanisms. Read more >
Kevin Coleman (1921-2011)
Categories: Government & Politics, Philanthropists

Kevin K. Coleman was born in Woonsocket to Louis and Mary (McDonnell) Coleman. Mr. Coleman devoted his career to serving the needs of Rhode Islanders. Read more >
William M. Davies, Jr.
Categories: Education & Universities
Sara DeCosta (Hayes)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Hockey, Women

Sara DeCosta (Hayes): gold medalist in women’s hockey at the 1998 Nagano, Japan Games and silver medalist as goalie for the United States women’s hockey team in 2002 at Salt Lake City. Sara was an all-state goalie on the boy’s varsity team at Toll Gate High School in 1996. She played intermittently for Providence College, between her tours with the U. S. Read more >
Mayor Thomas A. Doyle (1827-1886)
Categories: Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Doyle, Thomas Arthur, 1827-1886

Mayor Thomas A. Doyle, an independent-minded Republican of Irish Protestant stock, is regarded by historians as Providence's greatest mayor. He was born in Providence as one of seven children, including a sister, Sarah, who became a noted educator and advocate for women's rights.

After attending public school, Doyle gained employment as a clerk for several companies and then became a stockbroker and real estate auctioneer. Read more >
Reverend Cornelius Philip Forster, O.P. (1919-1993)
Categories: Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Religion & Churches

Reverend Cornelius P. Forster was born October 27, 1919 in New York City, the third of four children of Cornelius A. Forster, Sr., a New York fireman, and Mary Catherine Collins, an accomplished singer and pianist. Read more >
George Washington Greene (1811-1883)
Categories: Famous RI Families, Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Greene, George Washington, 1811-1883

George Washington Greene, prominent educator and author, was born in East Greenwich and was the grandson of Nathanael Greene, the great Revolutionary War general.

As a young man, Greene traveled extensively in Europe gaining proficiency in the Italian and French languages. His first wife was Italian and he served as U.S. Read more >
Archibald "Archie" Hahn (1880-1955)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

Archibald (“Archie “) Hahn won gold medals in the 60-meter, 100-meter, and 200-meter dashes in the 1904 St. Louis Games and gold in the 100-meter dash in the 1906 interim Olympics at Athens. Hahn tied the world record of 9.8 in the 100-yard dash (1901) and set a world record of 21. Read more >
Dr. David Connolly Hall (1875-1972)
Categories: Medicine & Health Care, Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

Dr. David Connolly Hall was the bronze medalist in the 800-meter run at the 1900 Paris Olympics. Dr. Hall, a native of Quebec and a student at Brown University (Class of 1901), became Rhode Island’s first Olympic medalist. Read more >
Congressman Thomas Allen Jenckes (1818-1875)
Categories: Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Law / Legal Pioneers

Jenckes, Thomas A. (Thomas Allen), 1818-1875

Congressman Thomas Allen Jenckes (1818-1875) is regarded nationally as “the father of civil service reform.” He was born in Cumberland, was educated in the public schools of that town, and graduated from Brown University in 1838 where he distinguished himself in mathematics and the physical sciences.

Jenckes studied law under Samuel Y. Read more >
Lynne Jewell (Shore)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other, Women

Lynne Jewell (Shore) won a gold medal in yachting at the Seoul Games in the 470 class. Lynne’s yachting career spans two coasts. She grew up in California, summered with her grandparents in Plymouth, Massachusetts, starred in sailing as a student at Boston University (Class of 1981), and came to live in Rhode Island in 1985, with her sailing coach and former husband Bill Shore.

A competitive sailor since the age of seven, Lynne was the U. Read more >
Helen Johns (Carroll) (1914-)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other, Women

Helen Johns (Carroll) was a gold medalist in the women’s 400-meter freestyle swim relay in 1932 at the Los Angeles Games in a world record time of 4:38. Helen is shown here (at left) with Albina Osipowich, who became a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame at its 1968 Olympic induction for winning two gold medals in swimming at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics (100-meter freestyle in world record time of 1:11 and the 400-meter freestyle relay).

Raised in Medford, Massachusetts, Helen Johns learned swimming from her father. She trained primarily in the ocean because there were few pools in the area. Read more >
Kathryn "Katie" King (1975-)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Hockey, Women

Katie King-Crowley was a member of the gold medal winning women’s ice hockey team at the 1998 Nagano, Japan Games, and silver medalist as a member of the United States women’s hockey team in 2002 at Salt Lake City. Although a New Hampshire resident, Katie competed for Brown University (Class of 1997) and is the daughter of Rhode Islanders. Her father, Joseph, was raised in Warwick and her mother, Susan, in East Providence.

At Brown, Katie was a two-sport superstar and team captain. Read more >
Louis "Lou" Lamoriello (1942-)
Categories: Sports - Hockey

Louis A. Lamoriello is the president and general manager of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL).

After attending LaSalle Academy, Lamoriello graduated from Providence College in 1963. He earned varsity letters in baseball and hockey and served each team as captain during his senior year. Read more >
James Sullivan Lincoln (1811-1888)
Categories: Artists & Painters, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Lincoln, James Sullivan, 1811-1888

James Sullivan Lincoln was Rhode Island's premier artist of the mid-nineteenth century and has been acclaimed by his peers as “Father of Rhode Island Art.”

The Massachusetts-born Lincoln was orphaned in his teens and left his Bay State farm to become an apprentice to a firm of Providence engravers and then to Providence portraitist C. T. Hinckley. Read more >
Robert B. Lynch (1922-2003)
Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

Bob "Chief" Lynch was known for his volunteer contributions to the preservation and promotion of Rhode Island's heritage over the last four decades.

Lynch graduated from Cranston High School and Brown University (Class of 1944). He was a Navy veteran of World War II. He served on the Harry F. Read more >
Geffrey T. Mason (1902-1987)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

Geoffrey T. Mason, 1902-1987, earned gold as a member of the five-man bobsled team at the 1928 St. Moritz Winter Games the first year the five-man bobsled (the skeleton sled) was allowed. Born in Philadelphia and a graduate of Bowdoin Collge (class of 1923), Mason lived in Rhode Island for most of his life and worked as an executive in a Pawtucket steel company. Read more >
Harriet "Holly" Metcalf
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other, Women

Harriet M. “Holly” Metcalf won a gold medal in rowing in the eight-oars with coxswain at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. Holly, a Rhode Island native, attended Mt. Holyoke College and holds an advanced degree from Harvard University. Read more >
Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Literature / Writers / Newspapers

Moore, Clement Clarke, 1779-1863

Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) was a long-time summer resident of Newport who wrote America's best known poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”

Moore was born in New York City, the son of Benjamin Moore, a clergyman. Although Clement prepared to follow in his father's footsteps, he was never ordained, preferring instead the life of a scholar. Read more >
William T. Nicholson (1834-1893)
Categories: Civic Leaders, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Industry - General

Nicholson, William Thomas, 1834-1893

William T. Nicholson was the founder of the Nicholson File Company of Providence, the originator of machine-made files in America, the largest company of its kind in the world, and one of Providence's “five industrial wonders” of the nineteenth century.

Nicholson was born on March 22, 1834 in the village of Pawtucket, then in the town of North Providence. His father, a machinist, moved the family to Whitinsville, Massachusetts where young William was raised and educated. Read more >
Jeffery Osborne
Categories: Music (Singers, Composers), Philanthropists

Jeffrey Osborne is a well-known funk R&B musician, singer-songwriter, lyricist and lead singer of the band, L.T.D. Born in Providence to a musical family, (father Clarence "Legs" Osborne, was a popular trumpeter who played with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington), he began his professional career in 1970 with a band called Love Men Ltd. Read more >
James Pedro
Frederick D. "Fritz" Pollard, Jr. (1915-2003)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

Frederick D. "Fritz" Pollard Jr. won a bronze medal in the 110-meter high hurdles in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Pollard equaled the world record for the 45-yard high hurdles while running for Brown University in the spring of 1934. Read more >
James F. Quinn (1907-2004)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

James F. Quinn, 1907-2004, was a gold medalist in the 400-meter relay in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics with a world record equaling time of 41.0. Later he broke the world record in the 60-yard dash. Read more >
Aileen Riggin (Soule) (1906-2002)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other, Women

Aileen Riggin (Soule), 1906-2002, won the gold medal in the three-meter springboard diving competition in the 1924 Antwerp Games and finished fifth in the platform dive. The 14-year-old Riggin of Newport was 4'7" tall and weighed only 65 pounds in 1920. At the Paris Olympics in 1924, Riggin won a silver medal in springboard diving and a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke.

In her post Olympic career Riggin appeared in a Holywood movie and starred in Billy Rose's first Aquacade. Read more >
Lila M. Sapinsley (1922-2014)
Categories: Government & Politics, Philanthropists, Women

Lila Sapinsley, a trailblazer for women in Rhode Island politics and beloved wife of John Sapinsley. She was a state Senator for Rhode Island and rose to Senate minority leader. In 1972, Lila Sapinsley was elected to the state Senate and became Senate Majority Leader, the first woman to hold a leadership post in the Rhode Island General Assembly.

A native of Chicago, Sapinsley moved to Rhode Island in the 1950s. Read more >
Dr. Edwin M. Snow (1820-1888)
Categories: Government & Politics, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Medicine & Health Care

Dr. Edwin M. Snow (1820-1888) was Providence's first superintendent of health and
chief statistician from 1856 to 1884.

Dr. Read more >
R. Scott Steele
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

R. Scott Steele: silver medal in yachting--board sailing--in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Scott was born in Newport in 1958 to a Navy family and now resides in Maryland. Steele, who left Rhode Island at the age of three, began his sailboarding career at St. Read more >
Norman Stephen Taber (1891-1952)
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

Norman Stephen Taber, 1891-1952, a native of Providence and a student at Brown, won a gold medal in the now discontinued 3,000 meter team relay race in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He was also the bronze medalist in the 1,500-meter run (the metric mile). Taber's time of 3:56:9 was only one-tenth of a second behind the winner Arnold Jackson of Great Britain who set the Olympic record in that race. Taber held Brown University records in the 880, the mile, and the two mile runs for many years. Read more >
John Treacy
Categories: Olympic Athletes, Sports - Other

John Treacy: silver medal in the marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
A native of Ireland, Treacy came to Providence College as one of the first of a long line of Irish distance runners enticed to PC by track coach Bob Amato and soccer coach Bill Doyle, who was himself Irish born.

Treacy (whose brother Ray is the highly-successful track coach at PC) was a multiple collegiate All-American in the distance events. He was an All-American in cross-country in 1976, 1977, and 1978; and All-American in indoor and outdoor track in 1978, the NCAA three-mile champion in 1978, and the all-time Friar record holder at 3,000 meters, 10,000 meters, and two miles. Read more >
William Tripp (1824-1891)
Categories: Agriculture / Farming, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation

William Tripp (1824-91) of Little Compton was the man most responsible for the development of a breed of hens known as “the Rhode Island Red,” a fowl that has been designated the state bird.

Tripp operated a farm on Long Highway in Little Compton where he conducted breeding experiments with various kinds of poultry in association with John Macomber of nearby Westport, Massachusetts. Beginning in 1854, they crossed Malay and Java cocks with Cochin China hens. Isaac C. Read more >
William D. Warner, FAIA (1929-2012)
Categories: Architects & Designers

Warren D. Warner, 1929-2012, was a former Rhode Island School of Design instructor and the architect credited with redesigning Providence and revitalizing the waterfront. Warner and fellow RISD professor Friedrich St. Florian used a restaurant table napkin to sketch their vision for a re-imagined downtown Providence waterfront. Read more >
Frances H. Whipple Green McDougall (1805-1878)
Categories: Civic Leaders, Civil Rights / Abolitionists, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Women

Frances Whipple Green McDougall (1805-1878)was one of Rhode Island's most significant mid-nineteenth century writers and reformers. She was born in Smithfield where she spent her childhood in modest circumstances despite her membership in two of Rhode Island's pioneering families.

Frances began her writing career by publishing her poems in local newspapers and by editing, in 1829, two issues of a local interest periodical which she entitled The Original. By the late 1830s, the reformist spirit of America's “Age of Equalitarianism” turned her interest increasingly towards some of the causes of that period, especially temperance, abolition, and workers' rights. Read more >
Sarah Helen Whitman (1803-1878)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Women

Sarah Helen Whitman, 1803-1878, was born Sarah Helen Power. Her father was a prosperous Providence merchant. As a child, Sarah lived with an aunt in Jamaica, Long Island while she attended a Quaker school there. On returning to Providence she was placed in a private school where she learned to read French, German, and Italian and began to write poetry. Read more >
Frank J. Williams
Categories: Government & Politics, Law / Legal Pioneers

Frank J. Williams is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, a notable Abraham Lincoln scholar and author, and a Justice on the Military Commission Review Panel. He has written and edited fourteen books; contributed chapters to several others; and lectured on Abraham Lincoln throughout the country. He has amassed an unsurpassed private library and archive that ranks among the nation's largest and finest Lincoln collections. Read more >