Silver Lake is a neighborhood on the western edge of Providence, Rhode Island

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...

. It is bordered by the Hartford

Hartford, Providence, Rhode Island

Hartford is a neighborhood located along the western edge of Providence, Rhode Island. Route 6 and the Woonasquatucket River separate it from Olneyville.- History :...

 neighborhood to the north, Route 10 to the east, Johnston and Cranston on the West and separated from Olneyville by Route 6

U.S. Route 6 in Rhode Island

U.S. Route 6 is a major east–west road in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Nationally, the route continues west to Bishop, California and east to Provincetown, Massachusetts. In western Rhode Island, it forms part of one of several routes between Hartford, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode...

.

Like Federal Hill, Silver Lake was traditionally an Italian-American neighborhood. Since the mid-1990s, Silver Lake has undergone a radical transformation into a largely Hispanic neighborhood, as evidenced by the recent influx of Central American restaurants, bars and markets.

History

Settlement in Silver Lake began after the completion of the Plainfield Road to Plainfield, Connecticut

Plainfield, Connecticut

Plainfield is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 14,619 at the 2000 census. The town comprises four villages: Plainfield , Moosup , Wauregan , and Central Village . Each village has their own respective United States Post Office and fire department...

 in 1710. Farmers settled the area shortly afterward. Isolated from the rest of Providence, some sought to secede from Providence before the town of Johnston, Rhode Island

Johnston, Rhode Island

Johnston is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 28,769 at the 2010 census. Johnston is the site of the Clemence Irons House a stone-ender museum and the only landfill in Rhode Island...

 annexed

Annexation

Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...

 Silver Lake in 1759.

Silver Lake took its name from the original lake located in the area bordered by Murray, Sybil, Mercy and Plainfield Streets. At the turn of the 20th century, it was graded with landfill and debris then became the site of a supermarket and bank for many years.

Suburban development in the 19th century led Providence to reacquire Silver Lake in 1898. Shortly threafter, Silver Lake witnessed its most significant period of development in the early 20th century prior to the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. From the late 19th century until the 1970s the neighborhood was predominately Italian with Irish, Polish, English and a mix of other European immigrants.

Demographics

In 1990, nearly 43% of Silver Lake residents claimed some Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 ancestry. That same census showed that about 7% of Silver Lake's residents 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 ...

, 2.3% were Asian, and 2% were African-American. Median family income in Silver Lake was $27,736, about 2% lower than the citywide average. 16 % of families lived in poverty.

According to the 2000 census, 10,943 persons resided in Silver Lake, an increase from the 9,141 residents who called Silver Lake home in 1990. Between 1990 and 2000 the percentage of minorities in Silver Lake rose from 11 percent to 57.6 percent. 42 percent of Silver Lake's residents are Hispanic; 42% are White; 3.7 percent are Asian; and 8 percent are African-American. In 2000, more than half (58%) of the residents of age 25 or older were high school graduates. 59% of children under the age of six speak a language other than English as their primary language.

Housing tenure in Silver Lake has changed slightly over the past decade. The proportion of owner-occupied housing units declined from 36.6 percent to 35 percent between 1990 and 2000. About a fifth of all housing units in Silver Lake are single-family units, and most other structures house two to four families. 8 percent of all housing units in Silver Lake are located in buildings with five or more housing units, reflecting the more suburban character of much of the neighborhood.

The median family income is $27,981, below the citywide average of $32,058. 28% of families are below the poverty level while 15% receive some form of public assistance. 18% of children under the age of six have been exposed to high levels of lead.

Government

Most of Silver Lake is within Ward 7, which is represented in the Providence City Council

Providence City Council

The Providence City Council is the fifteen-member legislative body of the city of Providence, Rhode Island. The two major responsibilities of the council are enacting ordinances necessary to ensure the welfare and good order of the city and adopting the city's annual budget...

 by Democrat John J. Igliozzi. A portion of eastern Silver Lake is within Ward 15, represented by Josephine DiRuzzo, the City Council's President Pro Tempore.

Parks

Neutaconkanut Park occupies most of Silver Lake between Plainfield Street and the border with Johnston. It is a 73 acres (295,420.8 m²) park with baseball fields, basketball courts, public pool and recreation center as well as forest and walking trails.

There are four small memorial parks near the intersection of Silver Lake and Pocasset Avenue. They are:

• Ponte Corvo Memorial at the corner of Pocasset Avenue and Laurel Hill Avenue.
• Cerbo Square Memorial on Murray Street near the intersection of Murray and Silver Lake Avenue.
• Scalabrini Piazza on Silver Lake Avenue at the site of the bell tower left standing at the original St Bartholomew's Church (now located 1/3 mile away, atop Laurel Hill).
• Silver Lake Memorial Park is a small war memorial at the corner of Pocasset Avenue and Union Avenue.