Georgian-era brick colonial statehouse at 150 Benefit Street, completed 1762 and the site of Rhode Island's May 4, 1776 renunciation of allegiance to King George III — the first colony to formally declare independence.
150 Benefit Street, Providence, RI 02903
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission during open public hours; building serves as RIHPHC offices.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Renovated colonial building with accessible entry.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1762 · Site of Rhode Island's May 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence · Colonial-Era State House (one of six surviving in U.S.) · Hosted Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Lafayette · Recently Renovated for RI 250th Anniversary
The Providence Colony House, now known as the Old State House, was completed in 1762 to replace an earlier 1732 building that had burned in 1758. The two-story brick Georgian building is a simplified version of Richard Munday's 1739 Colony House in Newport. Rhode Island's colonial government rotated among five statehouses — one in each county — and the Providence Colony House served as one of the principal venues for the General Assembly in the colonial and early Federal periods.
On May 4, 1776, the Rhode Island General Assembly met in this building and formally renounced its allegiance to King George III, becoming the first of the thirteen colonies to declare independence from Great Britain — two months before the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The building continued to serve as a primary capitol of the state until the new Rhode Island State House opened in 1900-1904.
The building has hosted Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Lafayette during their respective visits to Providence. It is one of just six surviving colonial-era state houses in America (three of them in Rhode Island). Following a $2.1 million renovation, the Old State House reopened in connection with Rhode Island's 250th-anniversary commemorations and currently houses offices of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission while providing public interpretive access.
Sources
Providence Ghost Tour materials describe the Old State House as one of the Benefit Street stops where colonial-era court business reportedly produced a wrongful execution. A Yahoo Lifestyle 2024 roundup of Rhode Island haunted places anchors the tour lore to a specific case: the 1844 trial of Irish immigrant John Gordon for the murder of Amasa Sprague (the murder itself occurred December 31, 1843; the trial was held in March 1844). The article describes the trial — held at the Old State House — as having been 'rigged,' notes that Gordon was nevertheless executed, and reports that 'more than a hundred years later, he's been pardoned, but the innocent man is still said to haunt the Old State House where he was wronged.'
The John Gordon case is well-documented in Rhode Island history (Gordon was posthumously pardoned by Governor Lincoln Chafee on June 29, 2011, making him the last person executed by Rhode Island), so the historical hook is real even if the haunting is tour-tradition. The Wikipedia entry and RIHPHC do not document specific paranormal incidents inside the building itself.
For that reason we treat the paranormal claims as primarily tour lore: the building's reputation as 'haunted' rests on its inclusion in the Haunted Benefit Street tour route, anchored to the documented Gordon case but without independent eyewitness reports inside the building. Visitors should approach the Old State House first as a major colonial Revolutionary-era historic site, with paranormal interest a secondary attraction.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Visit the recently renovated Old State House during posted public hours. Interpretive material covers Rhode Island's 1776 declaration of independence and the building's role across colonial and early-state government.
Featured stop on Providence Ghost Tour's Haunted Benefit Street route, which discusses the building's colonial-trial history and Benefit Street's broader paranormal lore.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Providence, RI
The Providence Athenaeum is a membership library founded in 1836 and housed since 1838 in a Greek Revival building at 251 Benefit Street designed by William Strickland. It is one of the oldest libraries of its kind in the United States and is closely associated with the 1848 courtship between Edgar Allan Poe and Providence poet Sarah Helen Whitman.
Providence, RI
The Annmary Brown Memorial is a windowless brick library, art gallery, and mausoleum at 21 Brown Street, designed by Providence architect Norman Isham and built 1903-1907 by Civil War General Rush Christopher Hawkins as a memorial to his wife Annmary Brown, who died in 1903. Both Annmary Brown and General Hawkins are interred in the building. It is now operated by the Brown University Library.
Providence, RI
Ladd Observatory is Brown University's astronomical observatory at the corner of Doyle Avenue and Hope Street, opened October 21, 1891 with a $55,000 gift from former Rhode Island Governor Herbert Warren Ladd. It houses a 12-inch Brashear refractor and original 19th-century scientific instruments. The first director was astronomy professor Winslow Upton.