Kennedy Plaza

Kennedy Plaza (formerly City Hall Park, Exchange Terrace, or Exchange Place) is a rectangular shaped central plaza and the geographic center of the downtown Providence, Rhode Island area, it is situated between Providence City Hall and the Providence Federal Building. Following a traditional colonial pattern, the Plaza has served as a transportation hub since 1847.

Today, Kennedy Plaza is bounded by Exchange Street ("Little Wall St.") on the northeast, Fulton Street on the southeast, Dorrance Street on the southwest, and Washington Street on the northwest.

Surrounding the Plaza are Burnside Park, the Bank of America skating center, and the mobile Haven Brothers Diner which has been driven into the Plaza and parked next to City Hall nightly since 1893. On the east edge of the plaza sit the three buildings - One Financial Plaza; 50 Kennedy Plaza; 111 Westminster Street - that comprise the famous Providence skyline.

Kennedy Plaza has seen many transformations and redesigns over the years; it has variously been known as City Hall Park, Exchange Place, "The Mall", and Exchange Terrace. The Plaza has not seen a ten-year period without salient change to its appearance.

The primary uses of the site have traditionally been as a transportation hub and also as a recreational space; the two uses don't always co-exist easily. The Plaza has also been the site of frequent events, demonstrations, petitions and orations in front of City Hall or the Court House. The plaza offers a convenient space for audiences to attend speeches on the City Hall steps.

In the early 1800s, the A&W Sprague company established a horse-carriage line in Exchange Place. The carriage took passengers to Sprague's Rhode Island mills and as far away as Connecticut.

In 1847, the first Union Station was built. Its two tall spires fronted on Exchange Place and were the tallest structures on the plaza. The statue of Ambrose Burnside stood at the plaza's east end, and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial on the west end, in front of City Hall. In the early 1900s, the Burnside statue was moved to its present location in Burnside Park.

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