In the 1840s through 1860s, as the city of Providence expanded from a population of 23,000 to past 50,000, development crept southwestward along Broad Street.

He and other developers sought to build a model suburban community with wide streets and shade-giving elm trees.

As the automobile came to increase in popularity, businesses in the form of car dealerships, garages, and service stations would proliferate along Elmwood Avenue.

As the trolley service was bustituted, Elmwood Ave was widened significantly and the elm trees Cooke planted had to be removed.

Combined with the aging housing stock and traffic congestion, the neighborhood became less appealing to the middle-class, who left in large numbers during this time.

By the early and mid 1970s, spot demolition on dilapidated houses became common and Elmwood fell into disrepair.

[10] Carmen Castillo and Mary Kay Harris represent Wards 9 and 11, respectively, in the Providence City Council.

[24] The 17,000 square foot library was designed by renowned architect Edward Lippincott Tilton with a grand Italian Renaissance exterior and Beaux Arts Neoclassical interior, and opened in 1924.

[26] The building was temporarily closed for "urgent repairs and upgrades" in 2017, and considered "endangered" by the Providence Preservation Society in 2018.

[25] A $554,000 grant from The Champlin Foundation in 2018 provided for repairs on the exterior masonry, roof, gutters, cornice and skylights.

[28] At the northern tip of Elmwood Avenue, and at the nexus of the Elmwood, Upper South Providence, and the West End neighborhoods, the Southside Cultural Center of Rhode Island hosts a number of arts and cultural organizations and offers performance space.

The work included restoration of the historic exterior, reproduction 1940s era marquee, modern dinner theatre interior, and the creation of two new retail units and commercial office space on the second floor.