A question I occasionally see in urbanist circles and local Reddit threads: Why is there so much open space between the Providence train station and Providence Place Mall? Wouldn’t it be more useful as housing, or a relocated RIPTA bus hub?

The area is officially parkland, and it’s named either “Station Park” or “State House Park” depending on the map. Its existence is related to the fact that the Northeast Corridor railroad tracks pass underneath it, but the reason it’s so open isn’t due to any engineering issues or structural limitations.

It’s because the land is technically part of the State House lawn.

The park was created as part of a compromise that allowed the railroad tracks to be moved north from their original location. Previously the tracks were located where Memorial Boulevard is now, and the old train station was the building that’s now the home of the Providence Foundation on Exchange Terrace. The old tracks curved sharply just east of the station, and one of the goals of the relocation was to straighten them out. Another goal was to bring daylight back to the old Cove and redevelop it into what is now Waterplace Park.

The problem was, moving the tracks further north meant encroaching on the State House lawn. This was controversial due to the State House and its lawn having lots of associated symbolism, being built for the people as a symbol of egalitarianism and freedom, or something like that. (It actually displaced a predominately Black neighborhood, but that’s a different story.)

So because the new Providence Station, and the tracks that run underneath it, stole 3/4 of an acre of the original lawn, a new patch of lawn was created nearby to make up for it. And that’s why there’s still a big open space between the train station and the mall.