History
The point was named after Thomas Field, a British colonist who settled on the site in the 17th century. In the 19th century, Fields Point Farm, a 37-acre (150,000 m2) park, developed as the major recreational area in the city until Roger Williams Park was created in 1871. Visitors came to the Point to visit Colonel Atwell's Clam House, Edgewood Beach, The Washington Park Yacht Club and Kerwin's Beach.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1942, the US Maritime Commission selected Field's Point as a location for a shipyard as part of the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Much of what had previously been there was sacrificed to wartime necessity. The yard was eventually taken over by the Walsh-Kaiser Company Walsh-Kaiser Company.
In the 1950s, Providence started using Fields Point as a landfill, eventually connecting the Point with nearby Starve Goat Island. In the 1960s, entrepreneur, Melvin Berry started "bar, marina, swim club, amusement park, bowling alley, drive-in theatre, skating rink and a nightly Hawaiian dance show" in Fields Point. In 1973, Johnson & Wales established a facility in Fields Point, but by 2001, the University leased land to Save The Bay for an educational center.
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