Hope (Summit)

Located in the northeast section of Providence, the Hope neighborhood is roughly bounded by the border between Providence and Pawtucket to the North, Hope Street to the East, Rochambeau Avenue to the South, and North Main Street and Interstate 95 and the North Burial Ground to the West. Although principally a residential neighborhood, Hope has two commercial corridors, Hope Street and North Main Street.

The area that now comprises Hope was first settled in the seventeenth century by farmers and tavern keepers who followed the Pawtucket Road (now North Main Street) out from the center of Providence. These settlers and their descendants established a strong, rural community that survived well into the nineteenth century. Unlike many of Providence's neighborhoods, Hope experienced little industrial or urban development in the years following the Civil War.

Although North Main Street grew as a commercial thoroughfare during the 1860s, it was not until streetcar service came to the Hope neighborhood area in 1875 that suburban residential development began. In a slow but accelerating process, farms were sold and sub-divided into plots for single family homes. In the 1920s, some of these new homes were bought by Russian Jews who migrated to the Northern section of Providence and established a substantial Jewish community there in the years before World War II. Now, one of the largest shopping centers in the city exists off of North Main Street on the site of one of Providence's two former drive-in theaters and the former sites of the "Cycledrome" where the once National Football league champions, the Providence Steam Rollers, played in the early 20th century.

Since the 1940s, a large section of the Hope neighborhood has been occupied by the Miriam Hospital. In 1945, Miriam moved from the West End to a two acre site along Summit Avenue. The Hospital has since expanded four times, adding wings in 1952, 1967, and 1978, and a major new medical building opened in 1989. Miriam Hospital now occupies two city blocks from Fifth to Seventh Streets. The strong presence of Miriam Hospital has not, however, weakened this neighborhood's identity.

Although officially designated by the city as the Hope neighborhood, many residents refer to the area as the Summit neighborhood. An active community organization, the Summit Neighborhood Association, publishes a quarterly newsletter, encourages resident participation in neighborhood affairs, and works to improve neighborhood conditions. Today, this strong community commitment helps make Hope one of Providence's most stable and independent residential neighborhoods.

According to the 2000 census, 3,464 persons resided in the Hope neighborhood, a decrease of 13 percent from 1990. The neighborhood is predominantly white (80%); 8.2 percent of the population is African American, 4 percent Hispanic, 2.6 percent Asian and Pacific Islander and less than 1 percent were Native Americans. Nine out of ten (91.2%) persons age 25 or older had completed requirements for their high school degree, according to the 2000 census. Six out of ten employed residents in Hope worked in the professional services sector. The unemployment rate in Hope in 2000 was 3 percent, half of it's 1990 rate of 6% and a third of the citywide figure of 9.3 percent.

Median family income in Hope in 2000 was $58,683, 35% higher than in 1999 and almost double the citywide level. About one in fifteen persons in Hope was living below the federal poverty line in 1999. About 5 percent of families, 5.2 percent of children, and 8 percent of elderly persons were poor in 1999, all figures well below the citywide rates.

Housing tenure in the Hope neighborhood was fairly stable over the past decade as the share of owner-occupied housing units decreased from 48.5 percent in 1990 to 47.9 percent in 2000, although the overall number of owner occupied units rose by 3.4%; renter-occupied housing increased its share by just over half a percent, but the overall number of rental units increased by 5.5%. Overall,29 new housing units were added to the Hope neighborhood between 1990 and 2000, and increase of 1.7%.

While the vast majority of housing units (85%) in Hope were built more than 40 years ago, roughly 1 in 10 units were built during the 1980s and 1990s. The median residential sales price in 2004 was $325,000, 32 percent higher than the citywide median sales price. The median rent in Hope was 25 percent higher than the citywide median rent.

Resident stability patterns in Hope were comparable to citywide totals: according to the 2000 census, 32 percent of Hope residents moved into their current housing unit more than 10 years ago, the same percent as the city; 36 percent of Hope residents moved into their present housing unit within five years of the Census, a figure slightly above the citywide figure of 32 percent.
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Sources: Hope: Neighborhood Analysis, Department of Planning and Urban Development (City of Providence, 1977) and Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources, edited by William McKenzie Woodward and Edward F. Sanderson (Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1986).