The building represents a shift of city business toward rail access during the early part of the century. Previously the wholesale produce center of the city was located in Market Square along Canal Street by the Providence River. The various produce wares houses along Market Square were remnants of maritime distribution practices, when merchant ships were brought directly to docks in front of wholesale buildings that dotted the river. By the mid-1920's the practice of bringing goods out into the street from crowded wares houses began to compete with moving automobile traffic.

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