By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
With her own 4,000 square-foot East Side residence to call “home,” Governor Gina Raimondo probably doesn’t give much thought to why she doesn’t have an official Governor’s Mansion.
But in 45 of out 50 states, when a new governor is elected, they move into an official residence (most of the time). Rhode Island is one of just five states without one, joined only by Massachusetts, Vermont, Arizona and California.
READ MORE:
- The National Governor’s Association guide to mansion living
- See a full list of Governor’s mansions
- Rhode Island explores feasibility of Governor’s Mansion
Tom Evans, the Rhode Island State Librarian, has some theories why.
From its infancy, Rhode Island had a rotating legislature, which meant that lawmakers met in Providence, East Greenwich, Newport, South Kingstown and Bristol. He said a governor’s mansion probably wasn’t built in the 1800’s for both practical and political reasons.
Historian Laureate of Rhode Island, Dr. Patrick T. Conley, agreed.
“Rhode Island did not lend itself to a public facility of this kind,” he wrote to WPRO News in an email. “Governor’s mansions were located in the state’s capital. Until 1854 Rhode Island had 5 capitals–Newport, Providence, East Greenwich, South Kingstown, and Bristol. From 1854 until the ratification of the 11th amendment in 1900, the state had two capitals–Newport and Providence. This unusual situation explains in part why no Governor’s mansion came into existence during the 19th century.”
He said in the early 20th century, a variety of factors contributed to a continued lack of Governor’s mansion.
“[T]he intensity of partisan politics, the state’s diminutive size, and the fact that the Governor until the Bloodless Revolution lacked significant constitutional or statutory power worked against his ensconcement in a splendid mansion.,” he said. “After that time the national trend to create Governor’s mansions had subsided.”
“However, one of our recent governors (DiPrete) went to the Big House,” he added.
Evans said money probably contributed, too.
To build the State House around the turn of the century, the state passed a $1.5 million bond. By 1904, they had run out of money and realized the actual cost of the State House was closer to $3 million.
“They had difficulty getting enough money to complete the State House,” Evans said. “It seemed unlikely they would get more money for a governor’s mansion.”
He also said while some leaders, like Roger Williams, did not believe in the trappings of wealth, other governors, like William Sprague and William Henry Vanderbilt III, had plenty of personal money to spend on their own mansions.
Fast-forward to the 1960’s when the state legislature began looking into the idea of an official residence.
In 1968, the House created a Commission to Study the Acquisition of a Governor’s Mansion. According to a PDF of the resolution, the commission consisted of five members: Representatives Peter Coelho, Francis McCabe, Robert Sweeney, Nils Broms and Barbara Nichols.
The commission set out to look at whether they could realistically acquire the Sprague Mansion in Cranston, the former home of Theodore Francis Green, or another suitable house for the governor to call home. The house passed the resolution in February of 1968.
But just under a year later, in January 1969, the commission delivered a defeated-sounding letter to the House Speaker. The group said they couldn’t fully delve into the issue, in part because of the unexpected death of then- Governor John Chafee’s daughter, Tribbie.
The group also found that governors both past and present were reluctant to support the idea of the governor’s mansion, telling the commission that they’d rather just go home.
The letter reads: “After and 18-hour day on the job, [governors] apparently would prefer to return to the comfort and privacy of their own homes in order to relax and renew their strength rather than in the formal surroundings of a state mansion.”
The commission recommended the issue be held for the time being, but they did go on to say that they felt eventually a governor’s mansion would be beneficial to the state and should “be provided, by means of a gift, hopefully.” They said the hoped-for gift of a mansion could be a great tourist attraction, too.
To Evans’ knowledge, no one has picked up the issue again, with Rhode Island’s economy challenged soon after by
the withdrawal of the Navy from Newport and multiple economic recessions.
And it doesn’t seem likely that Governor Gina Raimondo will be the one to push for an executive mansion.
“It’s important to the Governor to keep life as routine as possible for her kids, so staying in their own home makes that much easier,” said her spokeswoman, Marie Aberger, in a statement. “While there is some benefit to be being able to host Rhode Islanders and out-of-state visitors in an official home, not having a mansion means the Governor gets to meet people where they are and travel all over the state. In a beautiful state with so many beaches, parks, museums, restaurants, and universities, this is definitely a plus!”
