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Students win committee backing to rename Corliss Park as Jennie Lippitt Circle
Summary
Student leaders from the Rhode Island School for the Deaf persuaded the Urban Redevelopment and Renewal Planning Committee to forward a resolution renaming Corliss Park to Jennie Lippitt Circle, citing GPS/911 confusion and local deaf‑education history.
Student leaders from the Rhode Island School for the Deaf persuaded the Urban Redevelopment and Renewal Planning Committee on June 16 to forward a resolution that would rename the street known as Corliss Park to Jennie Lippitt Circle.
Shirley, the student body president, told the committee the change would reduce GPS and mail-delivery errors caused by two similarly named Corliss addresses and would honor local deaf‑education history. "Our street currently is called Corliss Park and we would like to change it to Jenny Lifits Circle," she said during a prepared presentation to the committee.
The students supplied historical context for the renaming. They said Mary Ann and Henry Lippitt helped found the public school for the deaf in Rhode Island and that honoring Jennie Lippitt would connect the school's 150th‑anniversary celebrations to a permanent, place‑based commemoration. The students also reported a school survey with roughly 70 respondents, about 68 of whom supported the change.
Council members praised the students' work and supported advancing the measure. Councilwoman Peterson, who said Essence is her daughter and who represents Ward 14, commended the proposal’s educational value and urged colleagues to support it; Kathy Saunders, director of the Lippitt House Museum, told the committee the museum endorses the students’ plan and called the proposal "an elegant solution to a logistical problem." Councilman Gibson said the students had "brought your history before us" in a clear presentation.
Madam Clerk read the resolution text into the record, which recounts Jennie Lippitt and Mary Ann Lippitt's role in founding the Rhode Island School for the Deaf and directs that, upon passage, copies be transmitted to the school, the Lippitt House Museum and the U.S. Postal Service among others. The committee voted to forward the renaming resolution to the full City Council for final consideration.
If approved by the full council, city staff will coordinate address-management updates with USPS, 911, mapping services and utilities and arrange signage and a dedication ceremony.
