Rhode Island Picture Post Cards
The Providence Arcade - Providence, RI - 1906
(Scroll Down for Background Information)

The Providence Arcade, a National Historic Landmark, was constructed in 1828 by Cyrus Butler and designed in the Greek Revival style by James Bucklin and Russell Warren. It is the oldest shopping arcade in the nation.

The Arcade has three floors of shops overlooking a central walkway. At either end of the structure are six Ionic columns and a glass roof allowing for natural lighting.

During the years of the great depression, most of the shops closed and the structure was almost torn down in 1944. The Arcade remained in poor condition until the early 1980s when it was refurbished by the Rhode Island Association for the Blind and currently contains a full assortment of stores and small eateries.

I never realized, before finding this postcard that our modern day Shopping Malls had such an illustrious ancestor.