State House
At one time, Rhode Island had five rotating statehouses. By the second half of the 1800s the state was down to two. The cost of maintaining multiple state houses became too much so the governor at that time, Governor Ladd, decided on a central location for one state house—at the top of Smith Hill, overlooking the city of Providence.
The state house was built by the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White who won an architectural design competition.
Construction took nine years to complete, starting in 1895 and finishing in1904. The structure consists of 15 million bricks and the “Independent Man”, who symbolizes the independence of church from state, stands on top of its dome.
