Pawtucket

Pawtucket i/pəˈtʌkᵻt/ is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 71,148 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth largest city in the state.

Pawtucket borders Providence, Rhode Island and the state of Massachusetts.

Name

The name "Pawtucket" comes from the Algonquian word for "river fall."

History

17th century

The Pawtucket region was said to have been one of the most populous places in New England prior to the arrival of European settlers. Native Americans would gather here to take advantage of the salmon and smaller fish which gathered at the falls. The first European settler here was Joseph Jenckes, who came to the region from Lynn, Massachusetts. He purchased about 60 acres near Pawtucket Falls in 1671. He established a sawmill and forge. These, along with the entire town, were later destroyed during King Philip's War.

18th century

Other settlers followed Jencks, and by 1775 the area was home to manufacturers of muskets, linseed oil, potash, and ship building. Also around this time Oziel Wilkinson and his family set up an iron forge making anchors, nails, screws, farm implements, and even canons.

• Jencks House

• Map of Pawtucket, Massachusetts, July 1848

• Walcott Brothers' factory in 1855

• The Pawtucket Times Building

Merger and incorporation

Originally, the land west of the Blackstone River was part of nearby North Providence. East of the Blackstone River was originally settled as part of the Massachusetts town of Rehoboth, then was incorporated as Pawtucket, Massachusetts in 1828. In 1862 the eastern portion was absorbed into Providence County, Rhode Island.

In 1874, the land west of the river was taken from North Providence and added to the (now Rhode Island) town of Pawtucket, and in 1885-1886 West and East Pawtucket were merged and the city was incorporated.

Industrial Revolution

Pawtucket was an early and important center of cotton textiles during the American Industrial Revolution. Slater Mill, built in 1793 by Samuel Slater on the Blackstone River falls in downtown Pawtucket, was the first fully mechanized cotton-spinning mill in America. Slater Mill is known for developing a commercially successful production process not reliant on earlier horse-drawn processes developed in America. Slater constructed and operated machines for producing yarn. Other manufacturers continued, transforming Pawtucket into a center for textiles, iron working, and other products.

20th century

By the 1920s, Pawtucket was a prosperous mill town. The city boasted over a half-dozen movie theatres, two dozen hotels, and an impressive collection of fine commercial and residential architecture. Perhaps the most impressive public building in Pawtucket was the Leroy Theatre, an ornate movie palace that was called "Pawtucket's Million Dollar Theater". Many wealthy mill owners such as Darius Goff built their mansions in the area.

The textile business in New England declined during the Great Depression with many manufacturers closing or moving their facilities South where operations and labor were cheaper. Later in the 20th Century, Pawtucket lost much of its architectural heritage to the wrecking ball, including the Leroy Theatre.

But unlike numerous older mill towns in the region, Pawtucket retained much of its industrial base. Today, goods produced in the city include lace, non-woven and elastic woven materials, jewelry, silverware, metals, and textiles. Hasbro, one of the world's largest manufacturers of toys and games, is headquartered in Pawtucket.

Geography

Pawtucket is located at 41°52′32″N 71°22′34″W / 41.87556°N 71.37611°W / 41.87556; -71.37611.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.0 square miles (23 km2), of which, 8.7 square miles (23 km2) of it is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km2) of it (2.89%) is water. Pawtucket lies within three drainage basins. These include the Blackstone River (including the Seekonk River), the Moshassuck River and the Ten Mile River.

Arts and culture

The City of Pawtucket has been supportive of the Arts Community since 1975, and over the past 40 years various organizations have been active in continuing that support of the local arts community and beyond. 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of that support and effort.

At one point The City of Pawtucket hired Researcher Ann Galligan, of Northeastern University, to create an arts and cultural plan. Allowing the city to become more proactive in retaining and attracting artists will enable city officials to allocate resources more effectively to meet the needs of Pawtucket's growing artist community. Over the years Pawtucket has become known as a center for arts and culture. The 2008 documentary Pawtucket Rising also chronicled the influx of artists and cultural activities into previously blighted areas of the city. Each September, the city, in conjunction with the "Pawtucket Arts Festival" organization, and a broad group of local community members, produce an annual city wide Arts Festival.

The American-French Genealogical Society was founded in Pawtucket in 1978.

Parks and recreation

• Slater Memorial Park has full recreational facilities including tennis courts and picnic areas.
• Daggett Farm
• Water Color Gallery open to the public for viewing
• Daggett House
• Marconi Garden

In popular culture

• In the 1999 film Outside Providence, the movie's main character, Tim Dunphy, grew up in Pawtucket (a city just outside Providence). Many different Pawtucket locations are seen in the movie, including the police station.
• American Buffalo, a 1996 film, was filmed in Pawtucket.
• Pawtucket has been frequently referenced in the cartoon series Family Guy, specifically the "Pawtucket Brewery" and the character "Pawtucket Pat", though no brewery existed in the real Pawtucket when the show first made references to them. The toy company that Peter Griffin worked for early in the series was called the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Co, the name a loose parody based on the name of the Hasbro toy company based in Pawtucket.
• In December 1993, a character on the NBC sitcom Nurses called Pawtucket a pit. Then-mayor Bob Metivier appeared on the show months later in a cameo looking for an apology.
• The swimming pool at Tolman High School was used for the 1990 movie Mermaids.