R.I. Tercentenary Arch.
In 1936, for the RI Tercentenary celebrations, this arch was erected on Weybosset Street in Providence. It was put up for several months by the Outlet Company (right). Where that department store used to be, there is now the campus of Johnson and Wales University. The HOTEL sign on high is atop the old Narragansett Hotel. The trolley seen in the picture would have twelve years to survive. Trolleys were discontinued in 1948.
As a child in the 1940s, I used to be taken to downtown Providence via trolley, and I sat on Santa Claus' lap at the Outlet Company. I was born six years after the Tercentenary.
(cross-posted to weird_ri)