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Kent County Courthouse

Rhode Island, US

Kent County Courthouse

The Kent County Courthouse, now the East Greenwich Town Hall, is a historic court building at 127 Main Street in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Kent County was set off from Providence County in 1750. The same year, a courthouse was constructed in East Greenwich, then the largest town in the new count

y. By 1799 the courthouse was too small, and the state legislature appointed a committee for the construction of a new building. The old building was sold and dismantled, and a new courthouse built on the site in 1804–05. It was designed and built by Revolutionary war veteran and contractor Oliver Wickes. Rhode Island had an unusual "rotating legislature" from 1759 to 1901. In order to keep state government local, the legislature occupied each county seat on a rotating schedule. In 1854, only the buildings in Providence and Newport were used. In 1901, when the new Rhode Island State House was first occupied, Providence became the state capitol, and the buildings in Bristol, South Kingstown, and East Greenwich were turned over to the counties. By the early twentieth century, the courthouse was in need of modernization. In 1908 the Providence architectural firm of William R. Walker & Son was...

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