Taunton, Massachusetts, USA (East Taunton)
1895 - Taunton

Taunton, a manufacturing city, the capital of Bristol co., Mass., is situated at the head of navigation on Taunton River, 34 miles S. of Boston, 17 miles E.N.E. of Providence, and 15 miles N. by E. of Fall River. Lat. 41° 54'11" N.; Lon. 71° 5' 55" W. It is on the Old Colony division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad system. It is handsomely built, is lighted with gas and electricity, and has a central park called "Taunton Green," which name is often given to the central nucleus of the city itself, there being several villages, such as Weir, Walker, Oakland, Whittenton, and East Taunton, within the limits of the city. Many of the residences are beautiful, and are surrounded with highly-ornamental grounds. Taunton contains a court-house erected at a cost of $310,000, a city hall, 17 churches, a public library of 18,000 volumes, several elegant school buildings, a public high school, the Bristol Academy (incorporated in 1792), 3 national banks, 5 savings-institutions, a first-class hotel, and printing-offices which issue 1 weekly and 3 daily news papers. It has also a handsome new opera-house, and a new (1894) Odd Fellows hall. Among the churches, the Congregational, the Baptist, the Catholic, the Episcopal, and the Unitarian are considered fine specimens of architecture. Here is also a state lunatic asylum. The manufactures of Taunton are extensive, comprising cotton and other machinery, shoes, steam-engines, nails, tacks, screws, britannia-ware, jewelry, copper-ware, &c. It has 9 large cotton-mills, 15 foundries, several brick-yards with an annual output of about 20,000,000 bricks, and locomotive works which employ about 1200 men. The buildings of the Taunton Copper Company cover nearly 15 acres. Taunton was founded and first settled in 1639. It was incorporated as a township in 1639, and as a city in 1864. Pop. in 1850, 10,431; in 1860, 15,376; in 1870, 18,629; in 1880, 21,213; in 1890, 25,448; present pop, about 28,000.

Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ... Joseph Thomas January 1, 1895 J.B. Lippincott

Visit Taunton, Massachusetts, USA (East Taunton)
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.