But if you talk to any of the long-time residents, such as Stan Checketts, Marie Olsen, Opal Chugg, Ken Braegger and others who talked at the Day of Remembrance, you soon realize some things haven't changed. It is still a providential place.

Providence folklore

On a bleak, cold morning in mid-May, a group had gathered at the Pickett Blacksmith Shop to huddle around the glowing pot-bellied stove. The talk turned to the weather. One of the men went to the window to brush away the soot and look out at the still snow-covered landscape. "When will it ever get warm?" he asked. To which, one of the other men answered, "Vell, der way I got it figured: It von't get warm until der schnow goes, and der schnow vont go until it gets warm!"

Then there was Emil Gessel, who was often credited for saying, "I knew how it was going to be just as soon as I seen how it was."

The minutes of the town board meeting in 1888 reveal that a sizeable pile of dirt on Main Street (as a result of someone having dug a basement house) was clogging up the thoroughfare and impeding traffic. Motion was made and seconded that a hole should be dug in which to bury the objectionable pile of dirt.

— From "Providence and Her People"

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