Providence Public Library of Providence, Rhode Island was founded in 1875. The central library building at 225 Washington Street opened in 1900 and was constructed in a Renaissance style with private donations including a large donation from John Nicholas Brown I, and a large addition was built in 1954. The Library is different from most city libraries because it is governed by a board of trustees and funded privately but serves the public.

Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, it is one of the oldest cities in New England, founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of "God's merciful Providence" which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his followers. The city developed as a busy port, as it is situated at the mouth of the Providence River at the head of Narragansett Bay.