“This summit is near the intersection of Hope Street and Doyle Avenue. If in existence in 1835, Hope Street was a rough country road known as East Pawtucket Turnpike. Doyle avenue was not laid out until many years later. On this summit stands Ladd Astronomical Observatory of Brown University erected in 1891.”

– Rhode Island Geodetic Survey, COLLEGE HILL, 1935

When the construction of Ladd Observatory began in May of 1890 the area was rural with few buildings nearby. At a distance to the east and northeast of the hilltop were low lying areas that were swampland, as indicated by the blue hash marks on the map above. These marshes were later drained and filled to allow for building the residential neighborhoods that are seen there today. A short distance to the south there was a large reservoir, built in 1875. A steam powered pumping station delivered the water through pipes buried beneath the streets. The former reservoir is now the site of Hope High School and the athletic fields behind the building.

Starting in 1867 a trolley service ran north along Hope Street but only went at far as Olney Street. Doyle Avenue from North Main Street to Hope was laid out in 1865 and the property surrounding it was developed in the 1870s and 1880s. Doyle was extended east of Hope in 1886. The area around Ladd Observatory was rapidly developed in the following years. The trolley route was extended after 1900 to run north on Hope past the Observatory to Pawtucket.

Photographs were taken from our rooftop observing deck after the great blizzard of Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, 1898. Several houses can be seen along Morris Ave. which runs through the center of the panorama. Doyle is at right and the small shed at left has a roll-off roof housing a telescope. There are utility poles that carry telegraph and recently installed electric and telephone wires. By 1908 a number of houses had been built around Ladd on the vacant land seen in the photos. The transition from a rural hilltop to an urban residential neighborhood only took about two decades.