This postcard was not mailed, so it lacks a personal story.
Published by Jessie D. Allardice of Providence, the postcard is part of the “Historic America” series of souvenir postcards.
In other postcard stories related to Providence, mention was made of Roger Williams – the minister banished from Massachusetts for his heretical insistence on freedom of conscience.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams
(Readers who recall only the patriotic soundbites from their childhood history lessons may not recognize that the English Dissenters who sought “freedom to worship” in New England actually created a theocratic government in the New World.)
The exiled Roger Williams founded the city of Providence and organized the first Baptist congregation there in 1658.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providence,_Rhode_Island
The stately Meeting house shown on the face of the postcard was erected in 1775.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_in_America
The long blurb on the reverse notes that this building was designed from plans for the iconic Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London.
At the time that the postcard was published, Brown University still held its Commencement Service in this Meeting House.
During several trips to Providence, I have passed this imposing edifice several times -but have never (regrettably) seen the interior.
Roger Williams is a personal hero, so I am glad to share postcards related to his life and work.
It is an historic irony that the first Baptist congregations were organized on the principle of what we now term the “separation of Church and State”.
