Excerpt from The City Hall, Providence: Corner-Stone Laid, June 24, 1875, Dedicated, November 14, 1878 The city hall is the finest and most imposing public building in the city of Providence. The interest with which it has been visited, and the favorable criticisms which it has universally received from strangers and citizens alike, both as to its completeness of architectural design and its spacious and convenient accommodations for the transaction of municipal business, are the highest tribute to the efforts of the committee who secured the plans, the architect who designed, and the commissioners who supervised. To the commissioners, has already been awarded by the public admission of competent judges, the praise to which they are justly entitled for a service voluntarily rendered, that the city of Providence has "the best-built and best-appointed city hall in the United States"; and our citizens and tax-payers may well congratulate themselves that this building will stand an enduring monument to them and to all who in any manner have participated in its construction. Soon after the dedication in November, 1878, the city council passed a resolution thanking the Hon. Abraham Payne for the "eloquent and scholarly oration delivered by him at the dedication," and requesting the committee of arrangements to secure a copy thereof to be printed in such manner as the city council should direct. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.