It was a dual-purpose breed, raised both for meat and for eggs; modern strains have been bred for their egg-laying abilities.

[2]: 70 The Rhode Island Red was bred in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the second half of the nineteenth century, by selective breeding of birds of Oriental origin such as the Cochin, Java, Malay and Shanghai with brown Leghorn birds from Italy.

[7]: 2 The name of the breed is ascribed either to Isaac Champlin Wilbour of Little Compton at an unknown date, or to a Mr. Jenny of the Southern Massachusetts Poultry Association in 1879 or 1880.

Since about 1940, it has been selectively bred predominantly for egg-laying qualities, and the modern industrial Rhode Island Red is a layer breed.

[citation needed] The traditional dual-purpose "old-type" Rhode Island Red lays 200–300 brown eggs per year, and yields rich-flavored meat.