The History of Grant’s Block
Hartford Billing, who inherited the land bounded by Union Street to the east, Clemence Alley to the west and Westminster Street to the North, leases the the land to William. H. Low, a 28 year old Brown University graduate, who builds Low’s Opera House on the land. During this time, Low sells the theater to Benjamin Franklin Keith who changes the name to B.F. Keith’s Gaiety Opera House.
In one of the largest sales of land downtown Providence had seen to-date, The Keith's Theater Estate was sold to Lederer Realty Company.
The theater name is changed to Keith's New Theater, with the new name represented on the facade of the building.
The theater settles on its final name, the Empire Theater. This location has the distinction of serving the Providence community for more than seventy years as a theater, longer than any other city theater up to this time. In 1941, the W.T. Grant Co. department store purchases the theater and the land, leasing the property to the Empire Theater while they plan for the construction of their new building.
W.T. Grant Co. plans are underway for a massive new store at the site.
W.T. Grant Co. plans for a massive new store at the site and demolishes the theater building.
W.T. Grant Co operates its departments store out of the new building on the site until the company closes the store in the mid 1970’s.
Union Mall Realty, Inc., the new owner of the property, leases the remainder of the retail space left vacant by the closing of W.T. Grant Co. to Radio Shack, Strawberries Records and Tapes and Chess King.
Traveler’s Aid Society operates out of the building, offering social services to those in need. As the building ages and the agency's needs grow, Travelers Aid relocates to the YMCA building.
Cornish begins phase one of a multi-phase redevelopment project planned for the site. The W.T. Grant building is razed to make way for new development of parking and open park space.
Cornish operates the open community space on the corner of Union and Westminster streets with seasonal programming, including the popular Movies on the Block series, the city’s outdoor movie theater, which started on the site in 2007 and continued seasonally through 2017 before relocating due to on-site construction.
Cornish begins construction of the adjacent properties and the park is temporarily closed during renovations.
Final renovations to the 'pocket park' on the corner of Union and Westminster streets are completed with the addition on new trees, cedar perimeter seating, perennial planter beds, overhead lighting and new hardscaping.
