Inductees from 2006

James Allen (1824-1897)
Categories: Explorers & Adventurers

James Allen (1824-1897) a native of Barrington, became the pioneer American balloonist when he made the first of over 150 ascensions in 1856. The “Zephyrus,” the first of his fifteen balloons, rose three-and-a-quarter miles over Providence from a vacant lot at the present site of City Hall.

When the Civil War began, Allen and his brother Ezra enlisted with the Union army as observers, becoming the first American military balloonists. They provided intelligence to ground forces at such encounters as Yorktown, Chancellorsville, Malvern Hill (for which James named his youngest son) and Fair Oaks. Read more >
M. Therese Antone, RSM, Ed.D.
Categories: Civic Leaders, Education & Universities, Religion & Churches, Women

Antone, M. Therese

Therese Antone was born in Central Falls, the third of seven children raised by Florence Smith Antone and George Antone, a cobbler. After graduation from Cumberland High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Salve Regina University, a master’s from Villanova University, and a Doctor of Education degree from Harvard University. She also completed the senior executive program at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Read more >
William Binney (1825-1909)
Categories: Banking / Finance, Civic Leaders, Philanthropists

Binney, William, 1825-1909

William Binney (1825-1909), was the son of Horace Binney, a trial lawyer of national acclaim who twice declined a seat on the United States Supreme Court. His grandfather, Barnabas Binney, was a renowned surgeon, who served with distinction in the American Revolution. William Binney was born in Philadelphia and obtained bachelors and masters degrees from Yale University. He also earned a masters degree from Brown University in 1856, launching his storied connection with Rhode Island. Read more >
Chief Justice Charles Smith Bradley (1819-1888)
Categories: Law / Legal Pioneers, Philanthropists

Bradley, C. S. (Charles Smith), 1819-1888

Charles Smith Bradley (1819-1888), was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He graduated first in his class at Brown University in 1838, then obtained a master’s degree from Brown and, eventually, a law degree from Harvard. Read more >
Justice Walter Snow Burges (1808-1892)
Categories: Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Law / Legal Pioneers

Burges, Walter S. (Walter Snow), 1808-1892

Justice Walter Snow Burges (1808-1892) was a native of Rochester, Massachusetts. His uncle, Congressman Tristam Burges, a former chief justice, oriented Walter toward Rhode Island and Brown University, where Tristam was a professor of oratory.

Walter Burges graduated from Brown with honors in 1831, and then taught school for four years while studying law. Read more >
Charles Henry Dow (1851-1902)
Categories: Banking / Finance, Literature / Writers / Newspapers

Charles H. Dow and Edward D. Jones, were reporters, one for the Providence Journal and one for the Providence Morning Star and Evening Press. The names of these former Rhode Island journalists are now synonymous with money and finance. Read more >
Daniel E. Doyle (1949-)
Categories: Education & Universities, Literature / Writers / Newspapers, Sports - Basketball

Doyle, Daniel E., 1949-

Daniel Doyle is a graduate of Bates College, where he was co-captain of the varsity basketball team, and of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. Dan holds two honorary doctoral degrees – one from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts and the second from the University of Rhode Island. He is also a member of the Bates College Board of Trustees. Read more >
Charles Fletcher (1839-1907)
Categories: Industry - Textiles

Fletcher, Charles, 1839-1907

Charles Fletcher, like Samuel Slater before him, amassed years of experience in the English textile industry as an operative before immigrating to Rhode Island in the late 1860s. Once here, he soon built a regional empire for the production of woolen cloth and helped consolidate his holdings into an even larger national trust--the American Woolen Company.

Fletcher took a position at the Valley Worsted Mills in Olneyville upon his arrival in the state and quickly rose to the position of superintendent. He started his own worsted enterprise in the same vicinity in 1875. Read more >
Nancy Gewirtz, Ph.D.
Categories: Civic Leaders, Education & Universities, Women

When Nancy Gewirtz died in 2004 after her courageous and graceful battle with cancer, she was widely and appropriately known by a title the Fund for Community Progress had aptly bestowed upon her in 1997--“A Voice for the Voiceless.” Indeed, Dr. Gewirtz's entire life was marked by her tireless efforts on behalf of the poor, the exploited, the defenseless, and the marginalized.

Ever since she completed her graduate studies, which included a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Social Work from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Dr. Read more >
Lloyd T. Griffin, Jr. (1940-1999)
Categories: African Americans, Government & Politics

Lloyd Griffin died on November 24, 1999, at the age of fifty nine. His memorial Mass on December 1 at Holy Rosary Church in his native Fox Point was well attended for an ordinary man; but Lloyd was not an ordinary man, and the church was far from over flowing. A few black community leaders were present- notably Cliff Montiero, Mike Van Leesten, and John Rollins--but white politicians were few. The only politico of stature was Fred Lippitt, with whom Lloyd had allied in the hotly contested Providence mayoral election of 1990. Read more >
Bishop Thomas F. Hendricken (1827-1886)
Categories: Religion & Churches

Hendricken, Thomas Francis, Bishop, 1827-1886

Bishop Thomas F. Hendricken was born in Ireland just outside the Town of Kilkenny, County Leinster, on May 5, 1827. His father John, descended from a German officer named Hendricken who fought at the Battle of the Boyne in 1691 for the Catholic cause, was a farmer who scratched an existence from the unyielding soil for his wife and six children before his early death.

Kilkenny merchant, James Fogarty, who had married Mrs. Read more >
Paul A. Hines (1855-1935)
Categories: Sports - Baseball

Paul Hines (1855-1935) was born in Virginia and died in Maryland, but no player was more associated with the Providence Grays during that team’s major league heyday.

Hines played in 1659 games in three leagues from 1872 through 1891, made 2,135 hits, batted over .300 eleven times, and posted a career average of .302. Read more >
Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895)
Categories: Architects & Designers

Hunt, Richard Morris, 1827-1895

Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895) was the noted American architect of such Newport Mansions as Marble House, The Breakers, Ochre Court, Belcourt Castle, and Griswold House, now the Newport Art Museum.

. Read more >
Edward Davis Jones (1855-1920)
Categories: Banking / Finance, Literature / Writers / Newspapers

Charles H. Dow and Edward D. Jones, were reporters, one for the Providence Journal and one for the Providence Morning Star and Evening Press. The names of these former Rhode Island journalists are now synonymous with money and finance. Read more >

Benjamin B. and Robert L. Knight

Categories: Business / Entrepreneurs, Famous RI Families, Industry - Textiles, Philanthropists

Knight, Benjamin B., 1813-1898 and Knight, Robert, 1825-1912

The Knight brothers were textile manufacturers and philanthropists, owning twenty-one manufacturing villages under the logo “Fruit of the Loom,” and employing nearly 7000 operatives.

Benjamin was born in Cranston, R.I. Read more >

Frederick Lippitt (1917-2005)
Categories: Civic Leaders, Famous RI Families, Philanthropists

Born to a life of privilege, Fred Lippitt (1917-2005) decided it was a privilege to serve others. The Lippitt family was among the first settlers of Rhode Island. In 1638, John Lippitt arrived in Providence. An ancestor, Christopher Lippitt, commanded Rhode Island troops in the Revolution. Read more >
Daniel F. Longstreet (1850-1937)
Categories: Civil Engineer, Labor / Unions

Daniel F. Longstreet (1850-1937) was a Gilded Age pioneer in labor-management-customer relations on the Providence street railway system. He later invented improvements for streetcars and helped to establish some of the national managerial organizations in the public transit industry.

Longstreet participated in the Civil War by joining the Fourth Rhode Island Infantry at age 15 (more than one-hundred of his wartime letters are catalogued at Brown University). Read more >
George Champlin Mason, Sr. (1820-1894)
Categories: Architects & Designers, Business / Entrepreneurs, Historians/Historical Accounts, Preservation, Literature / Writers / Newspapers

Mason, George C. (George Champlin), 1820-1894

George Champlin Mason, Sr. was a noted Newport architect, real estate developer, editor of the Newport Mercury, prolific historian of Newport, and a founder of the Newport Historical Society. Among his significant architectural designs are Chepstow, the 1860-61 Italianate villa just off Bellevue Avenue, Newpor; Eisenhower House, at 1 Lincoln Drive at Ford Adams State Park, used during the former president's administration as his summer residence. Read more >
Edward J. McElroy (1941-)
Categories: Education & Universities, Labor / Unions

Edward J. McElroy, a former social studies teacher in Warwick, rose through union ranks to become national president of the 1.3 million member American Federation of Teachers (AFL).

Ed started his labor career in the 1960s lobbying for passage of the Michaelson Act, which provided Rhode Island educators with the right to collective bargaining. Read more >
Barbara H. Roberts, M.D.
Categories: Education & Universities, Medicine & Health Care, Women

Dr. Barbara Roberts, an eminent cardiologist with a private practice, is truly a legend in Rhode Island. She was the first woman to be accepted into the Gorlin cardiology fellowship program at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Harvard University Medical School Teaching Hospital, and the first woman to practice adult cardiology in Rhode Island. She is known as an astute clinician and a deeply caring healer. Read more >
Judge Bruce M. Selya (1934-)
Categories: Law / Legal Pioneers

The story of Rhode Island's own Bruce Selya is the story of success itself. The son of Herman and Betty Selya, Bruce was born in Providence on May 27, 1934. He distinguished himself as a star student at Classical High School (magna cum laude, 1951) and at Harvard College (magna cum laude, 1955).

After graduating cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1958, Selya promptly returned to Rhode Island and embarked upon a legendary legal career. Read more >
Eben Tourgée (1834-1891)
Categories: Education & Universities, Music (Singers, Composers)

Eben Tourjée (1834-1891) is regarded as an American pioneer in the establishment of music schools and conservatories--an effort crowned by his founding of the world famous New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 1867.

Tourjée was born in Warwick in 1834 of French Huguenot lineage that could be traced to East Greenwich’s Frenchtown settlement of the 1680s. At the age of eight Eben began his working career in an East Greenwich calico mill, and by age thirteen he was employed at the Harrisville cotton mills, a facility owned by Governor Elisha Harris, who recognized Eben’s musical talent and became his patron. At age sixteen, after study in the East Greenwich Academy, Eben moved to Providence and began working at a music store and playing piano in the store orchestra. Read more >

Browse through our collection of 750+ amazing Rhode Islanders:

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Inductees from 2006

James Allen (1824-1897)

M. Therese Antone, RSM, Ed.D.

William Binney (1825-1909)

Chief Justice Charles Smith Bradley (1819-1888)

Justice Walter Snow Burges (1808-1892)

Charles Henry Dow (1851-1902)

Daniel E. Doyle (1949-)

Charles Fletcher (1839-1907)

Nancy Gewirtz, Ph.D.

Lloyd T. Griffin, Jr. (1940-1999)

Bishop Thomas F. Hendricken (1827-1886)

Paul A. Hines (1855-1935)

Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895)

Edward Davis Jones (1855-1920)

Benjamin B. and Robert L. Knight

Frederick Lippitt (1917-2005)

Daniel F. Longstreet (1850-1937)

George Champlin Mason, Sr. (1820-1894)

Edward J. McElroy (1941-)

Barbara H. Roberts, M.D.

Judge Bruce M. Selya (1934-)

Eben Tourgée (1834-1891)

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