Kennedy Plaza is a transportation hub in downtown Providence, Rhode Island next to the Providence City Hall and Providence Federal Building. It serves as the nexus of the state's conventional-bus and trolley-replica bus public transit services operated by Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), as well as a departure point for Peter Pan and Greyhound bus lines. Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) commuter bus service between Taunton, Massachusetts and Providence also operates out of the Plaza in the morning and evening. Through RIPTA alone Kennedy Plaza serves over 69,000 people a day.
| “ | This is the city's most constantly reworked space, and fully interpreting its history would fill a book that could be a landmark in understanding American urbanism. | ” |
- -- Architectural historian William McKenzie Woodword, Guide to Understanding Providence Architecture
Since its creation as City Hall Park in 1848, Kennedy Plaza has not seen a ten-year period without salient change to its appearance. In 1964, the plaza was renamed in honor of John F. Kennedy. As federal funds became available in the late 1970s for automobile-free zones, all local bus-waiting areas were consolidated to Kennedy Plaza. Surrounding the Plaza are Burnside Park, the Bank of America skating center, and Haven Brothers Diner which has been rolled into the Plaza nightly since 1893.
Famous quotes containing the word kennedy:
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
—Bible: Hebrew Proverbs, 29:18.
President John F. Kennedy quoted this passage on the eve of his assassination in Dallas, Texas; recorded in Theodore C. Sorenson’s biography, Kennedy, Epilogue (1965)