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PAWTUCKET

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 977 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PAWTUCKET , a See also:

city of See also:Providence See also:county, Rhode See also:Island, U.S.A., on the See also:Blackstone See also:river (known below the Pawtucket Falls here as the Pawtucket or Seekonk river), 4 M. N. of Providence, and near the city of Central Falls. Pop. (1905, See also:state See also:census), 43,381, of whom 14,369 were See also:foreign-See also:born, including 4273 See also:English, 3484 Irish, 2706 See also:French Canadians, and 1198 Scotch; (1910), 51,622. Pawtucket is served by the New See also:York, New Haven & See also:Hartford railroad; and the river is navigable below the falls. The city lies on both sides of the river and its See also:land See also:area in 1906 was nearly 8.6 m. The See also:east See also:bank of the river rises quite abruptly 15-30 ft., but back of this the See also:surface is level or only slightly undulating. On the See also:west See also:side the surface is more diversified. The Blackstone River here makes a picturesque plunge of nearly 50 ft. (Pawtucket Falls) over an irregular See also:mass of rocks, providing a See also:good See also:water-See also:power. The most attractive public See also:building is the Sayles Memorial library, erected (1899-1902) by See also:Frederick See also:Clark Sayles (1835—1902) in memory of his wife. The city has a See also:park of 181 acres in the east end, a park of 55 acres on the west side, three small parks near the business centre, a soldiers' See also:monument, a See also:home for the aged, an emergency See also:hospital, and a state armoury.

Manufacturing is the See also:

principal See also:industry, and the value of the factory products increased from $19,271,582 in 290o to $25,846,899 in 1905, or 34.1%. More than one-See also:half the value for 1905 was represented by textiles. Other important manufactures in 1905 were foundry and See also:machine-See also:shop products, packed meats, and See also:electrical machinery, apparatus and supplies. The See also:commerce of the city has been much increased by the deepening and widening of the channel of the Pawtucket river by the See also:United States See also:government. In 1867 the river could not be navigated at See also:low water by boats See also:drawing more than 5 ft. of water, but by See also:March 1905 the government had constructed a channel 1c0 ft. wide and 12 ft. deep at low water, and See also:Congress had passed an See also:act for increasing the See also:depth to 16 ft.; in 1907 the Federal Congress and the See also:general See also:assembly of the state made appropriations to See also:complete the See also:work. That portion of Pawtucket which lies east of the river was originally a See also:part of the township of Rehoboth, See also:Massachusetts, but in 1812 the township of Seekonk was set apart from Rehoboth, in 1828 the township of Pawtucket was set apart from Seekonk, and in 1862 almost all of the Massachusetts township of Pawtucket was transferred to Rhode Island. The portion west of the river was taken from the township of See also:North Providence and annexed to the township of Pawtucket in 1874, and in 1885 Pawtucket was chartered as a city. The first See also:settlement within the See also:present city limits was made about 1670 on the west side by See also:Joseph See also:Jenks (c. 1632-1717), a manufacturer of domestic See also:iron implements. His manufactory was destroyed during See also:King See also:Philip's See also:War, but he rebuilt it, and until a See also:century later the See also:industries on the west side were managed largely by his See also:family. In 1790 See also:Samuel See also:Slater reproduced here the See also:Arkwright machinery for the manufacture of See also:cotton goods; this was the first manufactory of the See also:kind that had any considerable success in the United States, and his old See also:mill is still See also:standing in Mill See also:Street. See R.

Grieve, An Illustrated See also:

History of Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Vicinity (Pawtucket, 1897).

End of Article: PAWTUCKET

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