History of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA

Name: Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA
Address: Woonsocket, RI, USA

Journey back in time to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA

Visit Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA. Discover its history. Learn about the people who lived there through stories, old newspaper articles, pictures, postcards and genealogy.

Are you from Woonsocket? Do you have ancestors from there? Tell us YOUR story!

Woonsocket, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Woonsocket is also Indian named, the word signifying "at the place of mist."
How New England Towns Received Their Names
The Day
New London, Connecticut
October 21, 1914

Woonsocket Falls Village was founded in the 1820s. Its fortunes expanded as the Industrial Revolution took root in nearby Pawtucket. With the Blackstone River providing ample water power, the region became a prime location for textile mills. Woonsocket as a town was not established until 1867 when three villages in the town of Cumberland, namely Woonsocket Falls, Social and Jenckesville, officially became the town of Woonsocket. By this time the beginnings of the French Canadian emigration had definitely been felt.

In 1871, three additional industrial villages in Smithfield, Hamlet, Bernon and Globe, were added to the town establishing its present boundaries. Woonsocket was incorporated as city in 1888.

During the Great Depression the local textile industry closed, causing high unemployment. At this point 75 percent of the population was of French-Canadian descent. French-language newspapers were published and sold here, and radio programs and movies shown were also in French. Most conversations in public were also in French. The city's fortunes were revived in World War II, when it became a center of fabric manufacturing for the war effort. In the postwar years, the Woonsocket economy adjusted to a mix of manufacturing, retail, technology and financial services operations...

kids.kiddle.co

There is MUCH more to discover about Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA. Read on!

1840s - French Canadians Recruited from Quebec to Work in Mills
French Huguenots, Dexter and George Ballou, were pioneers in Woonsocket's textile industry. As the textile industry in Woonsocket grew, so did the...Read MORE...
1854 - Woonsocket / Beron / Hamlet / Jencksville / Globe / Union
Woonsocket, a flourishing post-village of Smithfield and Cumberland townships. Providence co., Rhode Island, on both sides of the Blackstone river,...Read MORE...
1868 - Fire at Woonsocket.
A fire was discovered in the large brick storage and dry-house owned by Messrs. WARD and HARRIS, in Woonsocket, about noon to-day. The fire...Read MORE...
1869 - A Woonsocket (R.I.) man offers $100 reward for the detection of the poisoner of his three pet kittens.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
January 23, 1869
1869 - Extensive Fire in Woonsocket, R. I., - Estimated Loss $100,000.
WOONSOCKET, Wednesday, June 2. The most extensive fire that ever occurred in this village took place last evening at Elliott's Mills, breaking out in ...Read MORE...
1872 - The first French-Canadian parish in Woonsocket was "Precieux Sang" - Precious Blood Church - established 1872.

www.woonsocket.org/ french.html
1874 - LOSSES BY FIRE. DESTRUCTION OF THE SOCIAL MILLS IN RHODE ISLAND - LOSS $700,00 TO $800,000.
The Social Mills, in Woonsocket, R. I., running 50,000 spindles and 1,000 looms on cotton goods, was entirely destroyed by fire yesterday afternoon....Read MORE...
1875 - FIRE IN WOONSOCKET, R. I.
About 1 o'clock yesterday morning an attempt was made to burn the mansion of George C. Bolton, in Woonsocket, R. I. A wood-box saturated with...Read MORE...
1882 - LARGE FIRE IN WOONSOCKET. A DEPOT AND SEVERAL STORES DESTROYED - LOSS ABOUT $100,000.
BOSTON, Mass., Jan. 25. - A special from Woonsocket, R. I., says: "A fire broke out at 2:30 A. M. in the basement of the Providence and Worcester...Read MORE...
1883 - LOSSES BY FIRE. The Woonsocket Hotel Partly Burned, The Escape of the Guests.
WOONSOCKET, R. I., Sept. 29. - The Woonsocket hotel, owned by Cook, Mason & Co., was damaged to the amount of $10,000 by fire from a defective flue...Read MORE...
1886 - Killed After A Dance - WOONSOCKET, R.I., HAS A SUNDAY MORNING MURDER.
Mitchell Deluge Shot Down by a Man with Whom He Had Been Intimate since Boyhood - The Victim's Ante-Mortem Statement.

WOONSOCKET, Jan. 18. - The...Read MORE...
Postcard
View of Blackstone River near Pumping station
Postcard
Depot
Postcard
1892 - Woonsocket
WOONSOCKET
Although extending back nearly two and a-half centuries, there is little interest connected with the history of Woonsocket up to within a ...Read MORE...
1894 - Mill Fire
Woonsocket, R. I., Sept. 18. - There was what threatened to be a serious fire this afternoon in the carbonizing department of the River Spinning...Read MORE...
1895 - Woonsocket
Woon'sock'et, a city of Rhode Island, and one of the capitals of Providence co., is situated at the northern boundary of the state, on both sides of...Read MORE...
1898 - A French-Canadian Exodus. Mill Operative Scared Away from New England Villages by War Talk.
There has been a large exodus of French-Canadian families from the mill villages of New England from the mill villages of New England since the war...Read MORE...
1899 - Explosion
WOONSOCKET, R. I., May 7. - Not only were all the buildings connected with the Woonsocket Driving Park burned this afternoon, but fifty pounds of...Read MORE...
1900 - By 1900, sixty percent of Woonsocket's population was French-Canadian and Woonsocket was the most French city in the United States.

www.woonsocket.org/ french.html
Court St., Bridge, looking north
Postcard
1906
Woon'sock'et, a city of Providence co., R.I., is situated at the northern boundary of the state, on both sided of the Blackstone River, 16 miles N....Read MORE...
View Looking North from Bernon Heights, Woonsocket, R.I.
Postcard
Cold Spring Park, 1907
Postcard
High School
Postcard
City Hall
Postcard
Woonsocket Hospital
Postcard
Alice Mill (Woonsocket Rubber Co.)
Postcard
Bernon Falls
Postcard
Blackstone Street and Churches
Postcard
The Center of Woonsocket from the Bridge
Postcard
Depot
Postcard
Globe Congregational Church
Postcard
Lawton Spinning Company
Postcard
Woonsocket Machine and Press Co.
Postcard
Social Mill
Postcard
Soldiers Monument, Main Street, Woonsocket, R. I.
Postcard
North Main St. and St. James Hotel, Woonsocket, R.I.
Postcard
Congregational Church, 1912
Postcard
1913 - POLICE ARREST MAN FOR ATTEMPT TO MURDER WIFE
Lukasz Luczkewiz Captured in Worcester Last Night for Woonsocket Office

Also Being Held on Bigamy Charge, the Police Declare Today

The dragnet...Read MORE...
Mount Saint Charles College
Postcard
St. Charles Church
Postcard
Globe Bridge and Blackstone River, Woonsocket, R. I.
Postcard
Dedication of State Armory, Woonsocket, R. I.
Postcard
1955 - RHODE ISLAND DAM BURSTS.
Woonsocket, R. I., (AP) - This industrial city of 50,000, third largest in Rhode Island, was under a state of emergency today with some 500 families...Read MORE...