History

The Shepard Company Department Store was founded in downtown Providence in 1880. When is opened, it only occupied two floors of one small building at the corner of Westminster and Clemence Streets. The first adjacent building was acquired in 1896. Its quick expansion led it to become the largest department store in New England by 1903. By this time, it occupied the entire block; the physical growth of the building was affected by new construction and the acquisition of adjacent structures, which were added to form what stands today. Shepard’s was a “full service” department store and was for almost 100 years a Providence shopping institution. A Providence Journal article from 1909 boasts that Shepard’s had a restaurant which seated 4100, a laundry, refrigerating and ice-making plant, fur storage room, and a complete printing plant. It was one of only two department stores in Providences to occupy a whole city block. Unfortunately, the store went bankrupt in 1974. Over the years other retailers occupied portions of the building, but none reached the success which Shepard’s had once experienced. The building currently houses offices and the University of Rhode Island’s continuing education department. Although its function has changed, its mostly unchanged façade evokes memories of the glory days of Providence’s downtown retail center.