THE TIROCCHIS' IMMIGRATION

The Tirocchis began to assemble in Providence in the early years of the twentieth century, joining over four million Italians who entered the United States during the four decades prior to World War I. In a classic chain migration, branches of the family settled between 1905 and 1910 in the southwest corner of Providence at its border with Cranston, an area referred to at the time as the Silver Lake District. The Silver Lake Italian community, while not the largest in the Providence area, had been a center of settlement for immigrants from the later 19^th century. It would remain the locus for many of the future enterprises initiated by the Tirocchi family.

Salvatore Tirocchi, an uncle to Frank, Anna, Laura, and Eugenia, entered the U. S. with his two oldest sons in 1902. In 1907 his wife Louisa arrived with their remaining five children. Frank Tirocchi joined his uncle and cousins in 1905, and began working to help support the immigration of his three sisters, still in Italy. Later in 1905, Anna and Laura made the voyage, settling first in New York City, the fashion capital of the U. S. and a city that must have held great promise for the two dressmakers. Within a couple of years, their sister Eugenia Valcarenghi and her family joined the sisters, but soon all were disillusioned with New York and came to Providence to join Frank and the other Tirocchi family members already there.

In 1910, Salvatore operated a cement block manufacturing enterprise, while three of his sons, Gerardo, Giuseppe, and Augusto, worked as laborers for a railroad, and a younger one, Luigi, worked for the City. His single daughter, Elvira, worked as a spinner in a worsted mill. Giovanni, the youngest son attended school, and Federico, the oldest son, was a priest.

Frank was working on the railroad as a labor contractor. The Valcarenghis had opened an Italian grocery, which Eugenia operated while her husband Luigi worked as a house painter. By 1911, Anna and Laura had established A. & L. Tirocchi, their custom dressmaking business, in the Butler Exchange Building downtown.

The Tirocchis all invested in real estate and established businesses as soon as they could, rooting themselves in their new country. The Valcarenghis bought their store and apartment building on Pocasset Avenue, two blocks from Salvatore. In the ’Teens, Salvatore and five of his sons developed the Rhode Island Improved Cement Works Co. as well as the Rhode Island Laundry Company. By 1920, Salvatore managed the Tirocchi Brothers Motor Trucking, which offered local and long-distance trucking, and Frank later established his own trucking firm to do business with the City of Providence. After World War II, Salvatore’s sons added a real estate firm to their family businesses. Anna Tirocchi invested in real estate throughout her life. Other Tirocchi family members established the Tirocchi Cement Block Company, the Rhode Island Column Company, the Ideal Concrete Products Co., and auto service stations.

The Tirocchis immigrated in search of greater economic opportunity. Once here, they displayed unusual entrepreneurial spirit and talent. Family solidarity was an important asset in the Tirocchi successes in Providence. Frank and Anna invested together in a pharmacy in the early years. Anna and her brother-in-law, Dr. Louis J. Cella, invested together in commercial real estate properties. At times, family members made loans to Anna’s business. In turn, she contributed economically to other family members - Frank’s trucking business was the beneficiary of a number of payments from Anna over the years. She also paid off a mortgage he and Maria had contracted in 1917. Dr. Cella maintained his office in Eugenia’s Pocasset business block for some years after he married Laura in 1915, and moved his practice into 514 Broadway after additional construction. Frank also served as an agent in the management of Dr. Cella's farm.

Salvatore Tirocchi’s initial immigration established the Tirocchis in Providence at the turn of the twentieth century. Primrose Tirocchi, Frank’s daughter, recalled that a man once said to her father, probably in the heat of a dispute, "Sell your trucks and go back to Italy." Frank reportedly replied, "I’m just as much an American now as you are. Why should I go back to Italy?"

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>> read on about Frank Tirocchi

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The STORIES
  Immigration
      Two Stories
      The Tirocchis
  The Family
  Providence
  Dressmaking
  Fashion
  The Business
  The Clients
  The Workers

Think about what made the Tirocchis leave Italy. What is it like to move to a foreign land?