Year Inducted: 1973
Abraham Whipple - Abraham Whipple (1733-1819) was a successful privateer and naval officer who was born in Providence, the son of Noah and Mary Whipple. Of humble origins, Whipple went to sea at an early age and became associated with the wealthy and influential Brown family of merchant entrepreneurs. During the French and Indian War, he served as…
Benjamin F. Thurston - Benjamin F. Thurston, 1829-1890, was the leading U.S. Attorney of his day and the top authority on patent law.
C. Alexander Peloquin - Alexander Peloquin, 1918-1997, was a composer, choir director, concert organist and lituriologist. For 23 years, Peloquin served as the leader of the famed choral group which bears his name. He also served for many years as music director at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul and choral conductor at Boston College.
David W. Reeves - David W. Reeves, 1838-1900, was a noted musician who lead The American Band for thirty years. He developed the American march style, later made famous by the likes of John Philip Sousa. Among the most famous of his compositions was The Connecticut Second Regiment March.
Dr. E. Gardner Jacobs - E. Gardner Jacobs (1901- 1985), who succeeded his father Henry L. Jacobs as president of Bryant College (now University), was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1901, and grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. He was a graduate of Moses Brown School and went to Bryant for his baccalaureate and master’s degree. Passionate about the college,…
Dr. Firorindo A. Simeone - Dr. Fiorindo A. Simeone was Chief of Surgery at The Miriam Hospital and gained worldwide recognition for his work with artificial organs. He performed the first open-heart surgery in the Middle East. An authority on trauma and shock, he has served on the staff of many hospitals throughout the nation and on many university faculties.
Felix Mirando - Felix Mirando is a Povidence business and civic leader who co-founded the Imperial Knife Co., one of the largest cutlery firms in the United States. He was many times for his work in civic, charitable and religious enterprises.
George H. Corliss - Of all Rhode Island’s successful entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and inventors, none achieved more fame and notoriety in his lifetime than George H. Corliss, the man whose refinements to the steam engine earned him international acclaim. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where his family resided until moving to Easton, New…
George William Curtis - George W. Curtis, 1824-1892, was an essayist and lecturer who became editor of Harper's magazine. A co-founder of the Republican Party, he led the movement for civic service reform.
Governor, Chief Justice and Signer Stephen Hopkins - Stephen Hopkins (1707–85), statesman, pamphleteer, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born on March 7, 1707, in Providence easterly of a former Indian village called Mashapaug. This site was set off from Providence in 1754, becoming part of the new town of Cranston. It was reannexed in 1868 and is located today in…
John Goddard - John Goddard, one of the eighteenth century's most famous and skilled Newport cabinetmakers, was born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in 1723, the son of shipwright and housewright Daniel Goddard and Mary Tripp. Shortly after his birth, the Goddard family moved to Newport, where young John became apprenticed to cabinetmaker Job Townsend Sr. in the early 1740s.…
John P. Cronin - "Jack" Cronin played on New England's first National Football League Championship team and coached football, baseball, and hockey at LaSalle Academy for nearly half a century. He was born in Hingham, Massachusetts on May 3, 1903. Cronin starred at Boston College, where he was a "triple-threat," excelling in passing, running, and punting. His 60-yard-per-kick punting…
John Revelstoke Rathom - John R. Rathom was an Australian-born American journalist, editor, and writer based in Rhode Island and employed as the editor of The Providence Journal and The Evening Bulletin at the height of his career. In 1906, Rathom applied for work at The Providence Journal and won the post of managing editor. Stephen Olney Metcalf, publisher…
Joseph R. Brown - Joseph R. Brown, (1810-1876) was a mechanical genius who co-founded Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. which became one of the leading manufacturers of machine tools.
Lucian Sharpe - Lucien Sharpe, 1830-1899 was a business leader who was co-founder of Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Company. Cited for his efforts in seeking improved working conditions, he served as President of the Providence Journal Company for 13 years.
Msgr. William Michael Delaney Jr. - William Delaney was born in Providence, Rhode Island on August 10, 1903 the second of four children of William and Margaret (nee Finneran) Delaney. He grew up in South Providence graduating from the Tyler Parochial School and LaSalle Academy. Delaney then attended Georgetown University and St. Charles College, a minor seminary in Catonsville, Maryland before…
Samuel Gorton - Samuel Gorton was born in or around 1592 in the small village of Gorton, just outside of Manchester, England, a location that suggests that his family had some local prominence. Though Samuel (he spelled it with a double l) disclaimed a formal education, he was both literate and a linguist who could read the Bible…
Thomas Wilson Dorr - Thomas Wilson Dorr was born in Providence on November 5, 1805, the eldest of the seven children of Sullivan Dorr, a wealthy merchant and business leader, and Lydia Allen, a prominent socialite and sister of noted inventor Zachariah Allen and governor and U.S. senator Philip Allen. Dorr, studious and dutiful as a youth, graduated with…
Zachariah Allen - Zacharian Allen, 1795-1882, was a lawyer, inventor, and civic leader of the nineteenth century. One of his most notable inventions was the home hot-air furnace. He also originated the Providence Water Works and is credited with introducing the first vehicles to the Providence Fire Company. Allen was also instrumental in setting up the mutal fire…
