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Yard sale find becomes a historic park treasure
01:00 AM EST on Thursday, March 6, 2008
By Daniel Barbarisi
Journal Staff Writer
The bond found by Jim Robbins at a yard sale in Pawtucket was an 1892 document issued to help finance the purchase of land for Roger Williams Park. Robbins bought it for $25 from the seller, who originally wanted $200.
The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman
PROVIDENCE
Jim Robbins first saw the Roger Williams Park bond propped up against a tree at a yard sale on Monticello Road last year in Pawtucket. He didn’t know what it was, just that it said it was worth $1,000, dated to 1892, and had a nice frame.
The seller wanted $200 for it, but Williams laughed that price off. He haggled a bit, and got the price down to $25.
“It was leaning up against a tree. [The price] came down quick. He didn’t know what he wanted, because he didn’t know what he had,” Robbins said.
Robbins, 76, owner of Jim’s Auto Sales in Pawtucket, took the framed bond home to his office, where he stuck it in a corner, unsure of exactly what it was or what it was worth.
The more he looked at it, the more he realized he might have a piece of Providence history in his hands.
“I put it against a wall in a little office I had. I looked at it every day for two weeks. I started memorizing and studying it. It said 1892, it was signed by the right people who were in office then — I checked,” he said.
Soon, Robbins figured out that he had one of at least 100 bonds issued to purchase the land for what became Roger Williams Park.
He took it to the Rhode Island Historical Society, which confirmed his guess.
Now Robbins had to figure out what to do with it. He didn’t want it to end up in a private collection, and preferred if it could be placed somewhere in the park.
“I didn’t want anybody to take it and hang it in their parlor or rumpus room,” Robbins said. “This is where it should be.”
Just under a year ago, Robbins contacted Governor Carcieri’s office.
The governor laughed as he retold the story at Roger Williams Park’s Museum of Natural History yesterday.
“Jim came to me about a year ago, I guess, and said to me, ‘Governor, we’ve got this great artifact, we’ve got it authenticated, it’s one of the first bonds used to purchase the land for Roger Williams Park,’ ” Carcieri said.
Robbins told him how he bargained the seller down and Carcieri ate it up.
“I said I want him to negotiate all my state contracts. He found this with a sharp eye and got it very inexpensively,” he laughed.
“It’s a great, great story of somebody who had a sharp eye and appreciated the history of this,” Carcieri said.
The state contacted the city and arranged for the bond to be on permanent loan to Providence, and placed in the Natural History Museum. The bond itself is displayed the way Robbins found it: framed, and ringed with postcards of historic Providence buildings.
“This is very exciting for the city because we will, of course, accept stewardship of this important document and display it proudly to remind us of the history of this park,” Mayor David N. Cicilline said.
Cicilline said that the bond issuance was called the What Cheer Park Bond. The 1892 document itself is signed by then-Mayor William K. Potter, and states that it accrues 4 percent interest each year and matures in 1992. The bond is number 100 in the issuance, though it is not clear if the city issued more than 100 bonds. No other examples of the bonds are known to exist. It was unclear yesterday if the bond could be redeemed, or how much it was worth.
Betsey Williams, a descendant of Roger Williams, donated her 101-acre farm to form the core of the park at her death in 1871. But after her donation, the land sat idle for some time as the city debated building its new municipal park at Fields Point instead. Soon, the city decided to use the Roger Williams site, and by 1882, the park had roadways throughout, and by 1887, 75 of the original 101 acres had been improved. But local residents were concerned that the park space was insufficient, and would soon be flanked by encroaching homes.
In 1892, the city issued bonds to purchase more land for the park.
The first purchase was 1,300,000 square feet of land from George Paine, trustee of Sara Doyle. In adjusted dollars, the value of the purchase would have been more than $1.2 million. Over two years, the size of the park was expanded beyond Williams’ initial 101 acres to today’s 432 acres.
Much of that money was raised through the issuance of $1,000 bonds, such as the one Robbins found.
Now, Cicilline said, Roger Williams Park is visited by more than 2 million visitors each year.
Robbins’ name is displayed underneath the plaque, but he said he did not want any personal recognition for himself. Instead, the Korean War Navy veteran said he wanted the state’s Disabled American Veterans to get the attention for his donation.
That said, if Roger Williams Park really wants to reward him for his kindness, he’s got a special request in mind.
“I told them, could they move the elephant cage? I’d like to build a house,” he joked.
kenb
01:00 AM EST on Thursday, March 6, 2008
By Daniel Barbarisi
Journal Staff Writer
The bond found by Jim Robbins at a yard sale in Pawtucket was an 1892 document issued to help finance the purchase of land for Roger Williams Park. Robbins bought it for $25 from the seller, who originally wanted $200.
The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman
PROVIDENCE
Jim Robbins first saw the Roger Williams Park bond propped up against a tree at a yard sale on Monticello Road last year in Pawtucket. He didn’t know what it was, just that it said it was worth $1,000, dated to 1892, and had a nice frame.
The seller wanted $200 for it, but Williams laughed that price off. He haggled a bit, and got the price down to $25.
“It was leaning up against a tree. [The price] came down quick. He didn’t know what he wanted, because he didn’t know what he had,” Robbins said.
Robbins, 76, owner of Jim’s Auto Sales in Pawtucket, took the framed bond home to his office, where he stuck it in a corner, unsure of exactly what it was or what it was worth.
The more he looked at it, the more he realized he might have a piece of Providence history in his hands.
“I put it against a wall in a little office I had. I looked at it every day for two weeks. I started memorizing and studying it. It said 1892, it was signed by the right people who were in office then — I checked,” he said.
Soon, Robbins figured out that he had one of at least 100 bonds issued to purchase the land for what became Roger Williams Park.
He took it to the Rhode Island Historical Society, which confirmed his guess.
Now Robbins had to figure out what to do with it. He didn’t want it to end up in a private collection, and preferred if it could be placed somewhere in the park.
“I didn’t want anybody to take it and hang it in their parlor or rumpus room,” Robbins said. “This is where it should be.”
Just under a year ago, Robbins contacted Governor Carcieri’s office.
The governor laughed as he retold the story at Roger Williams Park’s Museum of Natural History yesterday.
“Jim came to me about a year ago, I guess, and said to me, ‘Governor, we’ve got this great artifact, we’ve got it authenticated, it’s one of the first bonds used to purchase the land for Roger Williams Park,’ ” Carcieri said.
Robbins told him how he bargained the seller down and Carcieri ate it up.
“I said I want him to negotiate all my state contracts. He found this with a sharp eye and got it very inexpensively,” he laughed.
“It’s a great, great story of somebody who had a sharp eye and appreciated the history of this,” Carcieri said.
The state contacted the city and arranged for the bond to be on permanent loan to Providence, and placed in the Natural History Museum. The bond itself is displayed the way Robbins found it: framed, and ringed with postcards of historic Providence buildings.
“This is very exciting for the city because we will, of course, accept stewardship of this important document and display it proudly to remind us of the history of this park,” Mayor David N. Cicilline said.
Cicilline said that the bond issuance was called the What Cheer Park Bond. The 1892 document itself is signed by then-Mayor William K. Potter, and states that it accrues 4 percent interest each year and matures in 1992. The bond is number 100 in the issuance, though it is not clear if the city issued more than 100 bonds. No other examples of the bonds are known to exist. It was unclear yesterday if the bond could be redeemed, or how much it was worth.
Betsey Williams, a descendant of Roger Williams, donated her 101-acre farm to form the core of the park at her death in 1871. But after her donation, the land sat idle for some time as the city debated building its new municipal park at Fields Point instead. Soon, the city decided to use the Roger Williams site, and by 1882, the park had roadways throughout, and by 1887, 75 of the original 101 acres had been improved. But local residents were concerned that the park space was insufficient, and would soon be flanked by encroaching homes.
In 1892, the city issued bonds to purchase more land for the park.
The first purchase was 1,300,000 square feet of land from George Paine, trustee of Sara Doyle. In adjusted dollars, the value of the purchase would have been more than $1.2 million. Over two years, the size of the park was expanded beyond Williams’ initial 101 acres to today’s 432 acres.
Much of that money was raised through the issuance of $1,000 bonds, such as the one Robbins found.
Now, Cicilline said, Roger Williams Park is visited by more than 2 million visitors each year.
Robbins’ name is displayed underneath the plaque, but he said he did not want any personal recognition for himself. Instead, the Korean War Navy veteran said he wanted the state’s Disabled American Veterans to get the attention for his donation.
That said, if Roger Williams Park really wants to reward him for his kindness, he’s got a special request in mind.
“I told them, could they move the elephant cage? I’d like to build a house,” he joked.
kenb
