Newport (Rhode Island)

Newport (Rhode Island), city, seat of Newport County, southeastern Rhode Island, a port on Rhode (also called Aquidneck) Island, near the mouth of Narragansett Bay; incorporated as a city 1784. It is a popular summer resort and a yachting center, site of the America's Cup Race, 1930-1983. Manufactures include boats and electronic equipment, and a fishing industry is based here. The U.S. Naval War College (1885), the Naval Education and Training Center, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Salve Regina University (1934), and the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Tennis Museum are in the city. Among the many notable structures here are the Friends Meeting House (1699); Trinity Church (1726); Redwood Library and Athenaeum (1748-50); Touro Synagogue (1763), the oldest synagogue in the U.S.; and several large mansions, including The Breakers (1895), Château-sur-Mer (1852), The Elms (1901), Marble House (1892), and Rosecliff (1902).

The community was founded as a “new port” by Antinomians (religious refugees from Massachusetts Bay Colony) in 1639 and grew as a trade and shipbuilding center and a haven for Quakers (who arrived here in 1657) and Sephardic Jews (1658). It was occupied (1776-79) by the British during the American Revolution. In the late 19th century Newport became a fashionable resort for the wealthy, most of whom had given up their mansions by the mid-20th century. The city was cocapital of Rhode Island until 1900, when Providence became the sole capital. Newport is famous for its jazz and folk-music festivals, initiated here in the 1950s and 1960s and revived in the 1980s. Population 29,259 (1980); 28,227 (1990); 26,475 (2000); 25,340 (2005 estimate).