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FALL RIVER

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 156 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FALL See also:

RIVER , a See also:city of See also:Bristol See also:county, See also:Massachusetts, U.S.A., situated on See also:Mount See also:Hope See also:Bay, at the mouth of the See also:Taunton river, 49 M. S. of See also:Boston. Pop. (r8go) 74,398; (1900)104,863; (estimated, 1906) 105,942;1 (1910 See also:census) 119,295. It is the third city in See also:size of the See also:commonwealth. Of the See also:population in 'goo, 50,042, or 47.7%, were See also:foreign-See also:born, 90,244 were of foreign parentage (i.e. either one or both parents were foreign), and of these 81,721 had both foreign See also:father and foreign See also:mother. Of the foreign-born, 20,172 were See also:French Canadians, 2329 were See also:English Canadians, 12,268 were from See also:England, 1045 were from See also:Scotland, 7317 were from See also:Ireland, 2805 were from See also:Portugal, and 1095 were from See also:Russia, various other countries being represented by smaller The small increase between 1900 and 1906 was due in large See also:part to the See also:emigration of many of the inhabitants during the See also:great strike of 1904-1905. See also:numbers. Fall River is served by the New See also:York, New Haven & See also:Hartford railway, and has See also:good steamer connexions with See also:Providence, See also:Newport and New York, notably by the " Fall River See also:Line," which is much used, in connexion with the N.Y., N.H.& H. railway, by travellers between New York and Boston. The See also:harbour is large, deep and easy of See also:access. The city lies on a See also:plateau and on slopes that rise rather steeply from the river, and is irregularly laid out. See also:Granite underlying the city furnishes excellent See also:building material; among the See also:principal buildings are the See also:state armoury, the county See also:court See also:house, the B.M.C.

Durfee high school, the See also:

custom house, Notre See also:Dame See also:College, the See also:church of Notre Dame, the church of St See also:Anne, the Central Congregational church and the public library. The See also:common-See also:wealth See also:aids in maintaining a textile school (the See also:Bradford Durfee textile school), opened in 1904. The city library contained in 1908 about 78,500 volumes. There is considerable See also:commerce, but it is as a manufacturing centre that Fall River is best known. Above the city, on the plateau, about 2 M. from the bay, are the Watuppa Lakes; 7 m. See also:long and on an See also:average three-fourths of a mile wide, and from them runs the Fall (Quequechan) river, with a See also:constant flow and descending near its mouth through 127 ft. in less than See also:half a mile. The See also:conjunction of See also:water transportation and water See also:power is thus remarkable, and accounts in great part for the city's rapid growth. The See also:waters of the See also:North Watuppa See also:Lake (which is fed by springs and drains out a very small See also:area) are also exceptionally pure and furnish an excellent water-See also:supply. The Fall river runs directly through the city (passing beneath the city See also:hall), and along its See also:banks are long rows of See also:cotton See also:mills; formerly many of these were run by water power, and their wheels were placed directly in the stream See also:bed, but See also:steam power is now used almost exclusively. According to the See also:special census of manufactures of 1905, the value of all factory products for the See also:calendar See also:year 1904 was $43,473,105, of which amount $35,442,581, or 81.5%, consisted of cotton goods and See also:dyeing and See also:finishing, making Fall River the largest producer of cotton goods among See also:American cities.' A large See also:hat manufactory (the See also:Marshall See also:Brothers' factory) furnishes the See also:United States See also:army with hats. Until forced by the competition of mills in the See also:Southern states to See also:direct See also:attention to finer See also:pro-ducts, the cotton manufacturers of Fall River devoted themselves almost exclusively to the making of See also:print See also:cloth, in which respect the city was long distinguished from See also:Lawrence and See also:Lowell, whose products were more varied and of higher grade. The number of spindles increased from 265,328 in 1865 to 1,269,043 in 1875, 3,000,000 in 1900, and to about 3,500,000 in 1906. Excellent drainage and See also:sewerage systems contribute to the city's See also:health.

The See also:

birth-See also:rate was in 1900 the highest (38.75) of any city in the See also:country of above 30,000 inhabitants (three of the four next highest being Massachusetts towns). The social conditions and labour problems of Fall River have long been exceptional. The mills supplement the public See also:schools in the mingling of races and the See also:work for Americanization, and labour disturbances, for which Fall River was once conspicuous, have become less frequent and less See also:bitter, the great strike of 1904–1905—perhaps the greatest in the See also:history of the textile See also:industry in the United States—being marked by little or no violence. Fall River has become a " city of homes," and tenements are giving way to dwellings for one or two families. The lists of the city's See also:corporation stockholders show more than ro,000 names. The municipal See also:police is controlled (as nowhere else in the state See also:save in Boston) by a state See also:board; this arrangement is generally regarded as having worked for better See also:order. Lowell was about three times as large as Fall River in 185o, and Lawrence was larger until after 1870. Fall River was originally a part of See also:Freetown; it was incorporated as a township in 1803 (being known as " See also:Troy " in 1804–1834.), and was chartered as a city in 1854. In 1861 it was increased by certain territory secured from Rhode See also:Island, ' The above figures do not show adequately the full importance of Fall River as a cotton manufacturing centre, for during six months of the census year the great strike was in progress; this strike, caused by a reduction in See also:wages, lasted from the 25th of See also:July 1904 to the 18th of See also:January 1905.the city having spread across the state boundary and become subject to a divided See also:jurisdiction. In 1902 the city received a new See also:charter. Its manufactures amounted to little before the See also:War of 1812. A disastrous See also:fire occurred in 1843 (loss above $500,000).

In 1904 Fail River became the see of the See also:

Roman See also:Catholic See also:diocese of that name. See H. H. See also:Earl, Centennial History of Fall River . . . 1656-1876 (New York, 1877) ; and the See also:report of See also:Carroll D. See also:Wright on Fall River, Lowell and Lawrence, in 13th See also:annual report of the Massachusetts See also:Bureau of See also:Statistics of Labor (1882), which, however, was regarded as unjust and partial by the manufacturers of Fall River.

End of Article: FALL RIVER

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