Who is that named after? What and Why RI answers your questions

Every day, we come across things that are named after people who we know nothing about.

Eddie Dowling Highway. Nate Whipple Highway. Hugh B. Bain Middle School in Cranston. Who is Hugh B. Bain?

As one reader wrote, "I attended that school in the late 1950s. If the purpose of naming a school after someone is to remember their accomplishments, we students never learned those facts and so it was just a disembodied name to us."

It's this kind of curiosity that What and Why RI is all about. This week, we combined questions from several readers around this theme for a rapid-fire round of "who is that named after."

How did Federal Hill get its name?: There was almost bloodshed.

Who is Eddie Dowling from Eddie Dowling Highway?

Eddie Dowling (1889-1976) was a man of the stage.

More specifically, a vaudevillian actor, screenwriter, director, producer, songwriter and composer. The kind of guy who could do it all.

Some of his career highlights, according to IMDB, include playing Tom Wingfield in the original Broadway production of Tennesse William’s "The Glass Menagerie" and produced, directed and appeared in the 1940 Pulitzer Prize Winner “The Time of Your Life.” He starred in the movie "Blaze o’ Glory." He wrote songs. He has a long list of credits to his name.

But ultimately, Dowling, birth name Joseph Nelson Goucher, was a Rhode Island boy, born in Lincoln. He even ran, unsuccessfully, for one of Rhode Island’s seats in the United States Senate in 1934, according to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. He was also known for being generous.

To honor the boy from Lincoln who made it big, 146A was named after him when it was built in the 1960s.

Who is Nate Whipple of Nate Whipple Highway?

Nate Whipple was often described as the unofficial mayor of “Arnold Mills,” including in an old Providence Journal article.

His official titles included chief of the North Cumberland Volunteer Fire Department from 1925 to 1962 and the owner of the Mackenzie grain mill, which burned down in 1987. He was also chairman of the Republican Town Committee.

In 1963, when the Rhode Island Department of Transportation opened the new, straighter Route 120 to replace Sneech Pond Road, they named it after Whipple.

How did the Small Pox Trail get its name?

Located off of Route 138, the road has been on the map since 1812, according to the Richmond Historical Society. As with many things that old, there are multiple tellings of how the trail got its name.

Here's what we found out: Why do Rhode Islanders say bubbler when most people don't?

The most likely version is rooted in 1845, when Ezekiel B. Phillips, a council member, was sick with small pox. His residency, according to the historical society, became a temporary hospital for the Phillips family and others exposed to the disease who were being treated by Dr. Edwin Anthony.

From this incident, it evolved to become known as Small Pox Trail.

Who is Hugh B. Bain, after whom the Cranston school was named?

Hugh B. Bain was one of the most well-known people in Cranston in the late-1800s.

He was born in Kinderhook, New York in 1820, and moved to Rhode Island in 1845, settling in Cranston in 1880. He was a businessman, working in real estate, according to his obituary in the Providence Journal. In 1884, he was elected town treasurer and tax collector, a position he continuously held until his death in early 1902. He also was the chairman of the school committee and had spearheaded efforts to build a new school.

And so, in 1929 when the school project he had started was getting ready to open, the committee in charge of naming the school decided to name it after Hugh B. Bain.

How did Silver Lake get its name as there is no lake in that area?

There may not be a lake there anymore, but there used to be.

The Providence neighborhood was created in 1710, and started out primarily as a place for farmers, according to the Providence City Archives. The lake bordered what is now Murray, Sybil, Mercy and Plainfield streets, and was used for recreation. Sibly Street and Mercy Street still have the arc of what used to be the shoreline.

However, in the mid-20th century, the lake was filled in to make room for development. Even so, the name stuck.

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What and Why RI is a weekly feature by The Providence Journal to explore our readers' curiosity. If you have a question about Rhode Island, big or small, email it to klandeck@gannett.com for her to add to her growing spreadsheet.

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Nate Whipple Highway, Eddie Dowling: Who are these landmarks named for?