East Campus

The State Home and School / Patrick I. O'Rourke Center

The East Campus of Rhode Island College has a long history of state usage.  First developed as a farm for Providence businessman George W. Chapin, the land was in use of the state as the State Home and School for Dependent and Neglected Children by 1885. The State Home was one of the first institutions of its kind in the country, challenging traditional models of child welfare to focus on holistic care and a campus-like setting that housed children in domestic-scale buildings. In 1947, the State Home and School reorganized and became the Dr. Patrick I. O’Rourke Children’s Center.  The Children’s Center era began a new period of construction where the State Home wooden cottages were torn down and the modern brick buildings now in use by Rhode Island College were constructed.  The College acquired the land from the Department of Youth, Children, and Families who took ownership after the closure of the O’Rourke Center in 1979.  In the 1990s, RIC acquired eleven brick buildings, one historic wooden cottage, and the c.1870s stone house built by George Chapin and later used for administrative purposes by the State Home and Children’s Center.

A National Register of Historic Places nomination for the State Home and School/Children’s Center property remains under review by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission.