Mount Hope

Mount Hope is a small neighborhood at the northern end of Providence's East Side, one of the six neighborhoods that planners group under that designation. Its boundaries are unusually clean: Rochambeau Avenue along the north, Hope Street to the east, Olney Street to the south, and the rail corridor along I-95 to the west. Camp Street runs lengthwise through the center, and the North Burial Ground occupies a sizeable portion of the neighborhood's footprint.

The neighborhood's history is closely tied to Providence's Black community. Settled in the late 17th century, Mount Hope's southern region grew rapidly in the 19th century as African Americans — many freed under Rhode Island's 1784 Gradual Emancipation Act — moved into the area. The mid-20th-century Lippitt Hill Redevelopment Project rebuilt much of Mount Hope and displaced many Black residents to other parts of Providence. Mount Hope has long held a sizeable Cape Verdean American and Black population centered around the Camp and Cypress Street intersection and the University Heights apartment complex. The Mt. Hope Learning Center, based in the neighborhood, continues to document this social history.

Today Mount Hope combines residential blocks with civic and institutional uses. The American Mathematical Society's national headquarters is located in the neighborhood, and the 1754 Jeremiah Dexter Farmhouse remains as the oldest recorded structure still standing here. RIPTA's Route 1 (Eddy / Hope / Benefit) runs along the eastern boundary on Hope Street, providing high-frequency bus service through the corridor. Walk Score rates the neighborhood 77, transit 50, and biking 59.