Elmhurst is a primarily residential neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of Providence

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

. Douglas Avenue and Admiral Street bound Elmhurst to the northeast, Academy Avenue and Smith Street bound it to the west, while Chalkstone Avenue marks the southern border.

History

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Elmhurst was mostly large tracts of land used for farming. Streets constructed along present-day Douglas Ave, Eaton Street, and Chalkstone Avenue allowed for transit of produce to the city. The neighborhood remained sparsely settled for most of the nineteenth century. A streetcar line connecting Elmhurst to the city was opened in 1882. In 1909, the city acquired a piece of land on either side of a stream flowing from Academy Avenue, parallel to Chalkstone, and created Pleasant Valley Parkway, a landscaped boulevard similar in design to Blackstone Boulevard in the Blackstone

Blackstone, Providence, Rhode Island

Blackstone is a predominantly residential neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island. It is in the northeast corner of the city and is bounded to the south and west by Lloyd Avenue and Hope Street respectively...

 neighborhood of Providence, though the residents attracted to the area were not as wealthy as their Blackstone counterparts.

In the early 1900s, Irish and Italian immigrants making their way out of crowded closer neighborhoods displaced the initial middle and upperclass residents. Institutional growth came over the next few decades in the form of the founding of the Charles V. Chapin Hospital, the Providence Lying-In Hospital (now Women and Infants Hospital), and the Homeopathic Hospital of Rhode Island (now Roger Williams Medical Center). Providence College

Providence College

Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...

 and La Salle Academy

La Salle Academy, Providence

La Salle Academy is an independent, co-educational Roman Catholic college preparatory day school located in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island...

 moved to the area in 1917 and 1925 respectively.

Following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Elmhurst saw growth of a suburban character as it was one of the few areas in Providence with undeveloped land. Most of these houses were built in the northwestern part of the neighborhood.

Demographics

As of 1990 census, Elmhurst was the least ethnically diverse neighborhood in Providence, with less than 3% nonwhite. The median family income was 40% higher than the median for the city and unemployment, at 4.6%, was half that of the city as a whole.

Today, according to the Providence Plan, a local nonprofit aimed at improving city life, 82% of residents are white, 9% Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

, and 5% African-American. 28% of children under the age of six speak a language other than English as their primary language.

The median family income is $51,503, above the city-wide average of $32,058. 6.4% of families live below the poverty line while 2% of families receive some form of public assistance.