#OTD September 12, 1955, a large fire, now known as the Manville Mill Fire, burned at a mill in the village in Cumberland. It is now considered the largest fire in Rhode Island history. No deaths were recorded. Below is footage from the NBC 10 WJAR archive.

#OTD September 12, 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited the U.S. Navy Air Station at Quonset Point in Rhode Island, 2 months before he was assassinated. Note the quick cameo by Gov. John Chafee & his family in this archived film clip. #OnThisDay

#OTD September 13, 1934, Woonsocket recovered from riots during the General Textile Strike. Gov. Greene deployed the RI National Guard to curb the unrest, giving orders to “shoot to kill” to protect the mills. He declared the strike “a communist uprising.”

#OTD September 14, 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus met with Dwight Eisenhower at U.S. Naval War College in Newport to discuss the issue of integration. Eisenhower convinced Faubus to deploy National Guard troops to protect Black students attending school in Little Rock. #OnThisDay

#OTD September 15, 1944, the "Great Atlantic Hurricane" hit Rhode Island at Point Judith, causing millions of dollars in damage. Known as the "Forgotten Hurricane" because it happened in the middle of WWII, here is a segment on the storm from R.J. Heim.

#OTD September 16, 1895, after filling in the Great Salt Cove, construction began on the new State House in Providence. The building was designed by McKim, Mead, & White, of New York, & completed in 1904. Its dome is 4th largest self-supported marble dome in the world. #OnThisDay

#OTD September 17, 1695, John Gardner, Deputy Governor & then Supreme Court Justice of Rhode Island was born in Newport. On 3 separate occasions, Gardner may have also captained a slaver to Africa-- 1x as Deputy Gov. & 2x as Supreme Court Justice-- enslaving over 400 Africans.

#OTD September 18, 1798, Rowland Brown of South Kingstown ran a runaway ad in the Newport Mercury for "a Negro Man named CUDGO, about 5 Feet 5 Inches high, a black, stout, well made, smart, active Fellow, about 20 Years old." Brown offered a $10 reward, or about $250 today.

Among the early landholding families, the Browns owned hundreds of acres of land on Boston Neck. In 1782, Brown had at least 11 enslaved Black workers working his farm at South Kingstown. Rowland with his brother Thomas ran a hotel, dry goods store, and grocery there for decades.

#OTD September 19, 1797, David Oliphant (pictured), a physician of Newport, ran a runaway ad for "a Negro Man, named SCIPIO, of a black Complexion, about 5 feet 6 or 7 Inches high, aged upwards of 40 Years.-- He is used to House Service, & Gardening, & otherwise a handy Fellow."

#OTD September 20, 1803, John Brown (pictured), slave trader, merchant, & Rhode Island's Representative in the US House from 1799 to 1801, died in Providence. Over his slaving career from 1765 to 1797, Brown financed at least 7 voyages, enslaved over 1,000 Africans. #OnThisDay

#OTD September 21, 1768, there was a public auction of a 30-year old Black man named Jack Hammon-- "at the House of Samuel Rathbun, jun. in New-Shoreham." Hammon was being sold back into slavery-- having escaped over 300 miles to Block Island from Queenstown, Maryland in April.

#OTD September 21, 1938, the Hurricane of '38, the strongest to hit the state in over 300 years, struck Rhode Island. It hit Westerly with a storm surge as high as 17 feet. Due to the lack of technology, many residents were not warned, leaving no time to prepare or evacuate.

The tide was higher than usual because of the autumnal equinox and the full moon. Many motorists were drowned in their vehicles. In Jamestown, 7 children were killed when their bus was blown into Mackerel Cove. In Providence, mobs looted stores downtown.

ICYMI: #OTD September 20 1936, Cardines Field was officially renamed and dedicated to Bernardo Cardines (pictured) an Italian immigrant who moved to Newport in 1909, where he became a tailor and baseball player. Drafted into WWI, he was the city’s first casualty in the war.

Believed to be one of the oldest and consistently operated baseball parks in the country, Cardines has seen many famous ballplayers over the years such as Satchel Paige, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto. Contrary to popular belief, Babe Ruth did *not* play there, but at Toppa Field.

This auction of Jack Hammon—“to be sold to the highest Bidder”— is likely one of the last public auctions of an enslaved person in Rhode Island. His auction was meant to defray his own court costs, having been charged with a felony for escaping to Rhode Island from Maryland.

#OTD September 22, 1919, Ellison Brown (Narragansett), was born in Narragansett Country. Given the nickname Tarzan as a child, he would go on to win the Boston Marathon in 1936 & 1939, & in 1936, ran the marathon in the The Olympic Games in Berlin. #OnThisDay #RhodeIsland #History

#OTD September 22, 1831, "several thousand" white people gathered at Snowtown in Providence, a predominately Black & Indigenous neighborhood just east of the State House, to destroy property. The race riot would last several days, & rioters would successfully repel the military.

#OTD September 23, 1815, the Great Gale of 1815 hit Providence. A Category 3 hurricane when it hit-- the storm killed a total of 17 people, destroyed at least 500 homes & dozens of ships, & had a storm surge of at least 11 feet. #OnThisDay #RhodeIsland #History