1.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
2.
Historic districts in the United States
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Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided into two categories, contributing and non-contributing. Districts greatly vary in size, some have hundreds of structures, the U. S. federal government designates historic districts through the United States Department of Interior under the auspices of the National Park Service. Federally designated historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, state-level historic districts may follow similar criteria or may require adherence to certain historic rehabilitation standards. Local historic district designation offers, by far, the most legal protection for historic properties because most land use decisions are made at the local level, local districts are generally administered by the county or municipal government. The first U. S. historic district was established in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931, Charleston city government designated an Old and Historic District by local ordinance and created a board of architectural review to oversee it. New Orleans followed in 1937, establishing the Vieux Carré Commission, other localities picked up on the concept, with the city of Philadelphia enacting its historic preservation ordinance in 1955. The Supreme Court case validated the protection of resources as an entirely permissible governmental goal. In 1966 the federal government created the National Register of Historic Places, conference of Mayors had stated Americans suffered from rootlessness. By the 1980s there were thousands of federally designated historic districts, Historic districts are generally two types of properties, contributing and non-contributing. In general, contributing properties are integral parts of the historic context, in addition to the two types of classification within historic districts, properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places are classified into five broad categories. They are, building, structure, site, district and object, all but the eponymous district category are also applied to historic districts listed on the National Register. A listing on the National Register of Historic Places is governmental acknowledgment of a historic district, however, the Register is an honorary status with some federal financial incentives. The National Register of Historic Places defines a historic district per U. S. federal law, a district may also comprise individual elements separated geographically but linked by association or history. Districts established under U. S. federal guidelines generally begin the process of designation through a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, the National Register is the official recognition by the U. S. government of cultural resources worthy of preservation. While designation through the National Register does offer a district or property some protections, if the federal government is not involved, then the listing on the National Register provides the site, property or district no protections. If, however, company A was under federal contract the Smith House would be protected, a federal designation is little more than recognition by the government that the resource is worthy of preservation. Usually, the National Register does not list religious structures, moved structures, reconstructed structures, however, if a property falls into one of those categories and are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria then an exception allowing their listing will be made. Historic district listings, like all National Register nominations, can be rejected on the basis of owner disapproval, in the case of historic districts, a majority of owners must object in order to nullify a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
3.
Providence, Rhode Island
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Providence is the capital of and most populous city in the U. S. state of Rhode Island, founded in 1636, and one of the oldest cities in the United States. It is located in Providence County and is the third most populous city in New England, after Boston, Providence has a city population of 179,154, it is also part of the Providence metropolitan area which extends into southern Massachusetts. The Providence metropolitan area has an population of 1,604,291. This can be considered, in turn, to be part of the Greater Boston commuting area, Providence was founded by Roger Williams, a religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of Gods merciful Providence, which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him, the city is situated at the mouth of the Providence River at the head of Narragansett Bay. Providence was one of the first cities in the country to industrialize and became noted for its tool, jewelry. The city was nicknamed the Beehive of Industry, it began rebranding itself as the Creative Capital in 2009 to emphasize its educational resources. The area that is now Providence was first settled in June 1636 by Roger Williams and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies of the United States, Williams and his company felt compelled to withdraw from Massachusetts Bay Colony. Providence quickly became a refuge for persecuted religious dissenters, as Williams himself had been exiled from Massachusetts, Providence residents were among the first Patriots to spill blood in the leadup to the American Revolution during the Gaspée Affair of 1772. Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown on May 4,1776. It was also the last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29,1790, following the war, Providence was the countrys ninth-largest city with 7,614 people. The economy shifted from maritime endeavors to manufacturing, in particular machinery, tools, silverware, jewelry, by the start of the 20th century, Providence boasted some of the largest manufacturing plants in the country, including Brown & Sharpe, Nicholson File, and Gorham Silverware. Providence residents ratified a city charter in 1831 as the population passed 17,000. From its incorporation as a city in 1832 until 1878, the seat of city government was located in the Market House, located in Market Square, the city offices quickly outgrew this building, and the City Council resolved to create a permanent municipal building in 1845. The city offices moved into the City Hall in 1878, during the Civil War, local politics split over slavery as many had ties to Southern cotton. Despite ambivalence concerning the war, the number of military volunteers routinely exceeded quota, by the early 1900s, Providence was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. Immigrant labor powered one of the nations largest industrial manufacturing centers, Providence was a major manufacturer of industrial products from steam engines to precision tools to silverware, screws, and textiles. From 1975 until 1982, $606 million of local and national Community Development funds were invested throughout the city.4 million ft² Providence Place Mall, despite new investment, poverty remains an entrenched problem as it does in most post-industrial New England cities
4.
Roger Williams
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Williams was the 1638 founder of the First Baptist Church in America, also known as the First Baptist Church of Providence. He is best remembered as the originator of the principle of separation of church and his father James Williams was a merchant tailor in Smithfield, his mother was Alice Pemberton. At an early age, Williams had a conversion of which his father disapproved. As a teen, Williams was apprenticed under Sir Edward Coke, under Cokes patronage, Williams was educated at Charterhouse and also at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He seemed to have a gift for languages and early acquired familiarity with Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Dutch, years later, Williams tutored John Milton in Dutch in exchange for refresher lessons in Hebrew. Williams took holy orders in the Church of England in connection with his studies, after graduating from Cambridge, Williams became the chaplain to Puritan gentleman Sir William Masham. Williams married Mary Barnard on December 15,1629 at the Church of High Laver, Essex and they ultimately had six children, all born in America, Mary, Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph. Williams knew that Puritan leaders planned to migrate to the New World and he did not join the first wave, but he decided before the year ended that he could not remain in England under Archbishop William Lauds rigorous administration. Williams regarded the Church of England as corrupt and false, by the time that he and his wife boarded the Lyon in early December, however, Williams declined the position on grounds that it was an unseparated church. In addition, Williams asserted that civil magistrates must not punish any sort of breach of the first table, and these three principles became central to Williams subsequent career, separatism, freedom of religion, and separation of state and church. As a separatist, Williams considered the Church of England irredeemably corrupt and his search for the true church eventually carried him out of Congregationalism, the Baptists, and any visible church. From 1639 forward, Williams waited for Christ to send a new apostle to reestablish the church, years later in 1802, Thomas Jefferson used the wall of separation phrase in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, echoing Roger Williams. Meanwhile, the Salem church was more inclined to Separatism. When the leaders in Boston learned of this, they vigorously protested, as the summer of 1631 ended, Williams moved to Plymouth colony where he was welcomed, and informally assisted the minister there. He regularly preached and, according to Governor Bradford, his teachings were well approved, after a time, Williams decided that the Plymouth church was not sufficiently separated from the Church of England. Furthermore, his contact with Native Americans had caused him to doubt the validity of the colonial charters, Governor Bradford later wrote that Williams fell into some strange opinions which caused some controversy between the church and him. In December 1632, Williams wrote a tract that openly condemned the Kings charters. He even charged that King James had uttered a lie in claiming that he was the first Christian monarch to have discovered the land
5.
Rhode Island
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Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, and its official name is also the longest of any state in the Union. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, the state also shares a short maritime border with New York. It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution, on May 29,1790, Rhode Island became the 13th and last state to ratify the Constitution. Rhode Islands official nickname is The Ocean State, a reference to the fact that the state has several large bays, Rhode Island covers 1,214 square miles, of which 1,045 square miles are land. Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is located on the mainland of the United States, the official name of the state is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which is derived from the merger of four settlements. Rhode Island is now commonly called Aquidneck Island, the largest of several islands in Narragansett Bay, Providence Plantation was the name of the colony founded by Roger Williams in the area now known as the city of Providence. This was adjoined by the settlement of Warwick, hence the plural Providence Plantations and it is unclear how Aquidneck Island came to be known as Rhode Island, although there are two popular theories. Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano noted the presence of an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay in 1524, subsequent European explorers were unable to precisely identify the island that Verrazzano had named, but the Pilgrims who later colonized the area assumed that it was Aquidneck. A second theory concerns the fact that Adriaen Block passed by Aquidneck during his expeditions in the 1610s, historians have theorized that this reddish appearance resulted from either red autumn foliage or red clay on portions of the shore. The earliest documented use of the name Rhode Island for Aquidneck was in 1637 by Roger Williams, the name was officially applied to the island in 1644 with these words, Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Isle of Rodes or Rhode-Island. The name Isle of Rodes is used in a document as late as 1646. Dutch maps as early as 1659 call the island Red Island, Williams was a theologian forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Seeking religious and political tolerance, he and others founded Providence Plantation as a proprietary colony. Providence referred to the concept of providence, and plantation was an English term for a colony. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the longest official name of any state in the Union, advocates for excising plantation asserted that the word specifically referred to the British colonial practice of establishing settlements which disenfranchised native people. Advocates for retaining the name argued that plantation was simply an archaic English synonym for colony, the referendum election was held on November 2,2010, and the people voted overwhelmingly to retain the entire original name. It shares a maritime border with New York State between Block Island and Long Island
6.
Allan Fung
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Elected mayor in 2008, Fung became the first mayor of Chinese ancestry in Rhode Island. Fung previously served as a prosecutor and attorney on legislative. He lost the race in Rhode Island during 2014 to Gina Raimondo. Allan W. Fung, born on February 25,1970 at Providence Lying-In Hospital, Fung is the eldest of Kwong Wen and he earned a B. A. from Rhode Island College in 1992. He received a Juris Doctor law degree from Suffolk University Law School in 1995 and he received the Classical High School Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009. Prior to his municipal leadership career, from 1999 to 2001, Fung served as a prosecutor, acting as Special Assistant, Fung served from 2001 to 2009 as the government relations counsel for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company MetLife. In 2003, he was elected to the Cranston, RI City Council, in 2004, Fung was honored as a Rhode Island Bar Foundation Fellow. He is also a Providence Business News 40 Under Forty honoree, Fung was chairman of the Rhode Island Governor’s Insurance Council from 2005 to 2008. A Republican, he was elected Mayor in November 2008, beating Democrat Cynthia M. Fogarty by 63% to 37% and he is the first Chinese American elected as mayor in the state. He succeeded Michael Napolitano, who defeated him for the position in the 2006 election by 79 votes, Fung was re-elected in 2010 against Richard R. Tomlins by 76% to 24% and in 2012 against only write-in opponents by 97% to 3%. Fung is a member for the Republican National Committees Asian Pacific American Advisory Council. In November 2013, Fung announced his candidacy for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2014 election, on September 9,2014, Fung defeated Ken Block in the Republican primary, with a 55% majority. Soon thereafter, the Republican Governors Association President also endorsed him, Democrat Gina Raimondo would go on to win the election in a three-way split of votes. Fung won re-election to a term as Cranston mayor in November 2016. City of Cranstons website Allan Fung Mayoral campaign website Allan Fung gubernatorial campaign website
7.
Horace Cleveland
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Horace William Shaler Cleveland was an American landscape architect, sometimes considered second only to Frederick Law Olmsted. Anthony Park in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Horace William Shaler Cleveland was born to Richard Jeffry Cleveland and Dorcas Cleveland on December 16,1814, in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Horace was later educated at the Lancaster School, a Unitarian school organized by his parents in accordance with the theories of Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, the school emphasized frequent excursions for direct observation and study of nature through drawing and map-making. The family was linked to philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson through Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Horatio Greenough. As a result, Transcendentalism strongly influenced Clevelands upbringing, in the late 1820s Richard Cleveland moved his family to Cuba, where Horaces father served as Vice-Consul in Havana. Horace returned to the United States in the 1830s, during this time he was employed as a railroad surveyor in Illinois. While in Illinois, Cleveland studied civil engineering, a few years later, in the late 1830s, Cleveland returned to Massachusetts. In 1841 Cleveland left Massachusetts to purchase a farm on the Delaware River in Burlington, New Jersey and he joined horticultural societies, and became corresponding secretary of the New Jersey Horticultural Society. Cleveland also wrote articles for the Horticulturist, a periodical edited by renowned landscape gardener, architect, in 1854, at the age of 40, Cleveland returned to Massachusetts to establish the Cleveland and Copeland landscape practice in Boston with partner Robert Morris Copeland. Their first job was the design of the State Farm at Westborough, Massachusetts, followed by Clevelands first major design, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, the town report in Concord shows they were paid $75 for their work on the cemetery. Cleveland also assisted in the design of Bostons park spaces, emphasizing his famous concepts of open spaces, in 1857 Cleveland and Copeland entered a competition to be the designers for Central Park in New York. They lost the competition to another duo, landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted and his partner, Calvert Vaux, Clevelands and Copelands design of Central Park was not unlike that of Olmsted and Vauxs. Cleveland, like Olmsted, prescribed broad lawns, undulating surfaces, clothed with the rich verdure, dotted here and there with graceful trees and bounded by projecting capes, later in 1857, Cleveland designed Eastwood Cemetery in Lancaster, Massachusetts, with his son. Cleveland and Copeland parted ways during the Civil War when Copeland joined the war, after the war Copeland started his own practice which continued to grow till his death in 1872. Cleveland moved to Chicago in 1869 and opened his own landscaping firm, throughout his career he designed major parks and private landscapes in Illinois, Minneapolis, and throughout the Midwest. In 1872, Cleveland was retained by the city of Chicago to rebuild South Park, originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and he died on December 5,1900, in Hinsdale, Illinois. His body was returned to Minneapolis and is buried in Lakewood Cemetery, Cleveland was a preservationist by nature, respecting the natural landscape features around him and shunning unnecessary decoration. Cleveland was a believer of using the existing topography and existing plants to keep his designs as natural as possible, in 1881 Cleveland wrote a book entitled A Few Words on the Arrangement of Rural Cemeteries
8.
Works Progress Administration
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In a much smaller but more famous project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. Almost every community in the United States had a new park, the WPAs initial appropriation in 1935 was for $4.9 billion. Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States. At its peak in 1938, it provided jobs for three million unemployed men and women, as well as youth in a separate division, the National Youth Administration. Between 1935 and 1943, when the agency was disbanded, the WPA employed 8.5 million people, most people who needed a job were eligible for employment in some capacity. Hourly wages were set to the prevailing wages in each area. The stated goal of building programs was to end the depression or, at least, alleviate its worst effects. Millions of people needed subsistence incomes, Work relief was preferred over public assistance because it maintained self-respect, reinforced the work ethic, and kept skills sharp. The WPA was a program that operated its own projects in cooperation with state and local governments. Usually the local sponsor provided land and often trucks and supplies, WPA sometimes took over state and local relief programs that had originated in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or Federal Emergency Relief Administration programs. It was liquidated on June 30,1943, as a result of low unemployment due to the shortage of World War II. The WPA had provided millions of Americans with jobs for eight years, on May 6,1935, FDR issued Executive Order 7034, establishing the Works Progress Administration. The WPA superseded the work of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, direct relief assistance was permanently replaced by a national work relief program—a major public works program directed by the WPA. The WPA was largely shaped by Harry Hopkins, supervisor of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, both Roosevelt and Hopkins believed that the route to economic recovery and the lessened importance of the dole would be in employment programs such as the WPA. The Division of Professional and Service Projects, which was responsible for projects including education programs, recreation programs. It was later named the Division of Community Service Programs and the Service Division, the Division of Investigation, which succeeded a comparable division at FERA and investigated fraud, misappropriation of funds and disloyalty. The Division of Statistics, also known as the Division of Social Research, the Project Control Division, which processed project applications. Other divisions including the Employment, Management, Safety, Supply, the goal of the WPA was to employ most of the unemployed people on relief until the economy recovered
9.
National Trust for Historic Preservation
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The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D. C. that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The organization is governed by a board of trustees and led by current president, the National Trust presently has around 750,000 members and supporters. The National Trust issues the quarterly Preservation magazine and produces the PreservationNation blog, towards the end of the 19th century, as the United States was rebuilding after the Civil War, the country was beginning to form its sense of national identity and history. The government began to enact legislation for the preservation of sites, in 1872, an Act of Congress established the first National Park, Yellowstone. In 1906, the Antiquities Act enabled the President to declare landmarks or objects as a national monument, then in 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act which outlined programs for research and inventory of historic sites. Meanwhile, historic preservation initiatives existed on local and state levels, in 1931, the first historic district was created in Charleston, South Carolina. However, efforts to save and maintain historic sites were largely limited to private citizens or local groups. In the late 1940s, leaders in American historic preservation saw the need for an organization to support local preservation efforts. In 1946, David E. Finley, Jr. George McAneny, Christopher Crittenden, the meeting’s attendants became the first charter members of the Council. The organization’s first headquarters was in the offices of Ford’s Theatre in downtown Washington, the creation of the National Trust was proposed as a bill to Congress, H. R.5170, introduced by Congressman J. Hardin Peterson of Florida and passed. The National Trust for Historic Preservation was formally established through the Act of Congress when President Harry S. Truman signed the legislation on October 26,1949. The charter provided that the Trust should acquire and preserve historic sites and objects of national significance, Finley served as the National Trusts first chairman of the board, remaining in the position for 12 years. The National Trust and the National Council existed side by side for years until the need to merge resources compelled the Executive Committee to integrate the two entities. In 1952, the boards of organizations approved a merger of the Council into the National Trust. The merger was effective the following year and was completed by 1956, the National Trust became a membership organization and assumed all other functions of the National Council. In 1957, the National Trust officially acquired its first property, over the next decade, the National Trust grew to become the leading national organization in historic preservation. They began working with citizens and city planning officials on matters, including federal, state. National Trust staff also traveled to parts of the country to advise local communities on preservation projects, in 1966, Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act, a significant legislation for the preservation movement
10.
Roger Williams Park Zoo
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The Roger Williams Park Zoo of Providence, Rhode Island, United States houses over 100 species of rare animals in naturalistic settings. The park and zoo are named after the founder of Providence, Roger Williams, the zoo was founded in 1872, and is one of the oldest zoos in the nation. The zoo was closed from 1978 to 1980 for renovations, since the late 2000s, the zoo has been in the midst of a new renovation project, called The New Zoo. Recent addition included a bald eagle exhibit, a giant anteater exhibit, river otters, tree shrews, Chinese alligators, the Roger Williams Park Zoo first opened in 1872. It began as a collection of small animals, including raccoons, guinea pigs, mouse, squirrels, rabbits, hawks, peacocks. The zoos first building, the Menagerie, opened in 1890, in the 1900s, the facility began to spread out over the entire park, featuring a variety of animals such as monkeys, hoofstock, bears, and big cats. Many new exhibits opened over time, in 1929, the Menagerie building was converted to a birdhouse, this was followed by the opening of an elephant house in 1930. In the 1930s, a new sea lion pool was constructed, bunny Village, one of the zoos most popular exhibits, opened in 1949. In the mid-1960s, the zoo started to show signs of neglect. In 1962, Sophie Danforth founded the Rhode Island Zoological Society, an organization to increase awareness of the neglect. Today, Rhode Island Zoological Society remains as the organization that supports. Like any other organization, the Society needed members to complete their goals. Members would be informed and help promote visiting the zoo. Members paid dues, which went towards buying animals and zoo supplies, to fill the gaps, the Society opened a gift shop in 1970, as well as food concessions, and all funds benefited the zoo. In 1978, the zoo closed for two years to embark upon an upgrade project, a childrens nature center was added, as well as a naturalistic polar bear exhibit, a wetlands trail, and a North American bison exhibit. The zoo reopened on June 1,1980, in the 1980s, a South American Pampas exhibit and a lemur exhibit were built. In 1986, the old barn was converted into an animal hospital, education department. As a result, the zoo became the first in New England to receive accreditation from the Association of Zoos, in 1987, a new master plan was formulated to dramatically expand the zoo over the next decade
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Media related to Roger Williams Park at Wikimedia Commons