{"id":204,"featured":1,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:57:13","latitude":41.82319100000000133832145365886390209197998046875,"longitude":-71.413772999999991952790878713130950927734375,"title":"Shepard Company Building","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/fa6e236b394ad0afc7409d591cd4d2d2.jpg","address":"255 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02903","all_locations":[],"zoom":10,"creator":["Amelia Golcheski"],"description":"<span>Few places in downtown evoke such fond memories like the iconic Shepard Company Department Store, a fixture of the 19</span><span>th</span><span> and 20th-century Providence shopping experience. Built in the 1870s, Shepard’s initially was 6,400 square feet. By 1903, it grew to include 301,000 square feet, occupying an entire city block!<br /><br /></span>Founder John Shepard insisted that his store was not simply one large business, but instead a collection of quaint shops, “each more complete in itself than the small separate stores,” with each division offering a premier shopping experience. The result was a unique offering of various goods and services. Inside people could find Shepard’s Tearoom (which offered a fine dining experience), clothing and jewelry departments, an ice making and refrigeration plant, a nursery, and even a letter writing station. Reportedly, Rhode Islanders could find nearly everything at Shepard’s. Besides merely functioning as a destination for shopping and socializing, Rhode Island’s first radio station WEAN began inside this building as well.<br /><br />In it's prime, Shepard's also helped to orient visitors in downtown Providence. Meeting “at the clock” friends and families used the large 19th-century cast iron clock outside the Westminster Street entrance as a point of reference. Though once successful, the Shepard Company went bankrupt in 1974. Fortunately, the exterior of the building and its iconic clock still remain largely unchanged.<br /><br />Today the Shepard’s Building serves various educational institutions, an example of repurposing an iconic space to serve the neighborhood’s needs.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"<div style=\"text-align:center;\"><em>Retail in Downtown Providence</em></div>","website":"","related_resources":[],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/fa6e236b394ad0afc7409d591cd4d2d2.jpg":{"id":837,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Shepard&#039;s Storefront on Westminster Street","description":"<span id=\"docs-internal-guid-4870802d-f3a1-0363-18c2-8077b5ae9b03\"><span>Locals were enjoying warm weather and strolling down busy Westminster Street. The Shepard's clock and sign are reminders of days past in Providence's retail history.&nbsp;</span></span> | 1990","thumbnail":"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/fa6e236b394ad0afc7409d591cd4d2d2.jpg"},"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/7cafa8ea474bc85eeb63979906f73c26.jpg":{"id":838,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Shepard&#039;s Clock","description":"<span id=\"docs-internal-guid-4870802d-f3a2-19b3-2fce-026c326792ff\"><span>Many fun afternoons began under the Shepard' clock, a fixture of Westminster Street since the late 19th Century.</span></span>","thumbnail":"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/7cafa8ea474bc85eeb63979906f73c26.jpg"},"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/original/e4f15bc3364ebff9420a57dfb57acf29.mp3":{"id":839,"mime-type":"audio/mpeg","title":"Mack Woodward Audio","description":"<span id=\"docs-internal-guid-4870802d-f3a2-eeb8-0469-74725bb9f8ca\"><span>Local historian Mack Woodward discusses the cycles of development on Westminster Street. </span></span>"}}}