Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA
1892 - Pawtucket

PAWTUCKET
As is generally the case with men, in regard to their origin and youth, so it is with cities and towns; their early days are very apt to have an uncertain place in their memories. It is not thus, however, with Pawtucket; for so well have the records been preserved, that its history from the earliest period to the present day is full and complete, and from the most trustworthy sources. And the narrative of the settlement, rise and growth of this now bustling city is brimful of interest and incident. It has been a record of mingled prosperity and adversity, of triumph and trial; but through all may be discerned the golden path of progress.

For some twenty years after the founding of the colony at Providence by Roger Williams and his companions, or up to the year 1655, the site of the present city of Pawtucket still retained all its primitive aspects. Not a house had yet been erected in the place; nor had there been even an effort toward making a clearing. The banks of the river at Pawtucket Falls were covered with a virgin forest. The spot was certainly picturesque, but it could hardly be said to be a very inviting one to locate in at the time of which we speak. So, when Joseph Jenks, the first white settler, arrive, he had to make himself an abode in the wilderness.

Jenks was a young Englishman, born in Buckinghamshire, in 1632, and had been in the New World since 1645. His father, also Joseph Jenks, had preceded his son in coming to America, and is supposed to have formed one of the party who came over with Governor Winthrop.

Referring to the elder Jenks, Lewis, in his history of Lynn, writes: 'Joseph Jenks deserves to be held in perpetual remembrance in American history, as being the first founder who worked in brass and iron on the Western Continent. By his hands the first models were made and the first castings taken of many domestic implements and iron tools.'

It is on record the the General Court of Massachusetts granted to him a patent for fourteen years for the sole manufacture of engines to be driven by water, mills for making scythes and other edged toods, and a newly invented sawmill. This occurred in May, 1646, and in May, 1655, another patent was granted to him for seven years for the manufacture of an improved scythe for cutting grass.

Joseph Jenks, the younger, settled in Lynn, and there worked with his father until he had become a skilled mechanic. Being ambitious, as well as liberally endowed with pluck and perseverance, young Jenks at the age of twenty-three determined to strike out in life on his own account. Accordingly, he cast about for a suitable field for the exercise of his energies, and somewhere in 1655 found himself prospecting in this vicinity. Selecting a spot near the lowest falls on the Pawtucket River, he build a rude structure for a forge in a deep ravine on the western bank. He was impelled to make the selection of this site owing to the fact, no doubt, that the water-power here was ample for his purposes, and that the wood was abundant for making charcoal, which at this time was an indispensable element in the manufacture of iron. Jenks acquired sixty acres of land hereabouts, and it was not long before other settlers were attracted to the place.

[illustration on p. 198: Main Street, Pawtucket (drawing)]

Inasmuch as the manufacture of tools, farming implements and household utensils is a peculiarly important branch of industry in a new country, it may be easily inferred that Joseph Jenks found ready demand for the products of his skill in the adjoining settlements. Scarcely, however, could he have dreamed that his little forge contained the germ from which house spring the great industrial center of to-day and a flourishing city of 30,000 inhabitants, with over a hundred different and extensive industries.

For some years the earlier settlers had to contend against many disadvantages. They suffered hardships and privations, but they accepted the situation as became pioneers.

Twenty years or so had passed and considerable progress had been made when King Philip's war broke out, and Pawtucket, in common with the surrounding settlements, was attacked by the Indians with terribly disastrous results. Not a building but was destroyed, and every vestige of the progress that had been made hitherto was swept away by the fury of the red man. It was not, in fact, for some time after that the now thoroughly frightened settlers had the hardihood to commence operations in the erection of homes. Peace being restored permanently, they set to work with a will, and soon the hamlet was rebuilt.

Pawtucket remained a primitive community for fully a century after, and although considerable progress had been made in the up-building of the settlement, the population was still sparse and the conditions under which the people here then existed were of the crudest and simplest character.

Toward the middle of the last century Hugh Kennedy began the manufacture of linseed oil, and in 1770 Ephraim Starkweather purchased a potash factory which had been started by some Boston merchants several years before. In the meantime there had developed quite a business in ship-building hereabouts. The war of the Revolution interfered materially with the prosperity of the community, but shortly after the close of the struggle activity began to manifest itself in many departments of industry.

About this time Oziel Wilkinson and his five sons, blacksmiths, removed from Smithfield to this place, and commenced manufacturing anchors, heavy iron implements, farming tools, oil presses, stoves, castings, and other articles here upon quite a large scale. The elder Wilkinson had long been engaged in manufacturing cut nails, and is supposed to have invented their manufacture. His son, David, was the inventor of the slide lathes, for which Congress awarded him, fifty years after the patent granted, $50,000. Oziel Wilkinson built a small air-furnace for casting iron, in which were cast the first wing-gudgeons produced in this country. Some time subsequently he, with others, built a furnace in which cannon were cast solid, and this was said to be the first successful effort of the kind by any one.

The most notable event in the whole history of Pawtucket occurred in 1790, when Samuel Slater erected the first water-power cotton factory in America here, and of which a full account is given in the sketch of Providence in the pages preceding this volume.

Young Slater married one of the daughters of Oziel Wilkinson, and received much valuable aid from the male members of that ingenious family.

The building known as the Old Slater Mill, on Mill Street, erected in 1793, still stands, and it is about the most noted landmark in the city.

In the early part of the present century Pawtucket was the seat of ship-building and of considerable commerce. Manufacturing industries soon after predominated, and these have been steadily growing ever since, until they have assumed great magnitude.

Referring to the importance of Pawtucket as a manufacturing center in 1810, Dr. Dwight wrote: 'There is probably no spot in New England of the same extent in which the same quantity and variety of manufacturing business is carried on. In the year 1796, there were here three anchor forges, one tanning-mill, one flouring-mill, one slitting-mill, three snuffmills, one oilmill, three fulling-mills and clothiers' works, one cotton factory, two machines for cutting nails, one furnace for casting hollow ware, all moved by one water; one machine for cutting screws, moved by a horse, and several forges for smiths' work.' To these were added during the next few decades a number of other enterprises, including cotton factories, bleacheries, tanneries, machine-shops, etc., and the town acquired a widespread reputation for the variety and excellence of its manufactured products. In a letter written by David Wilkinson concerning the activity in Pawtucket about ths period, he says: 'We build machinery to go to almost every part of the country.'

Notwithstanding the depression in business that set in during the year 1829, and which wrecked many thriving enterprises, and caused the removal of several branches of industry to other points Pawtucket in course of time, regained prominence in the manufacturing and mechanical industries and arts.

[illustration on p. 200: drawing of industries along the river in Pawtucket.]

Though the past fifty years have witnessed steady progress in Pawtucket, the growth and prosperity of the town have been especially notable since the close of the Civil War. Mills, factories, works and shops have multiplied within a quarter of a century, and the city to-day is a veritable hive of industry. Some of the big manufacturing plants employ as many as two thousand hands. The most important concerns are those devoted to the production of thread, cotton and woolen goods, machinery, steam-engines, castings, etc. There are many other large establishments in addition, including waddling-works, bleacheries, forges, dyehouses, haircloth-mills, box factories, planing-mills and the like, and there are besides numerous factories and shops of various kinds.

The exports and imports of this city amount to several million dollars annually. The population in 1880 was 19,030, and in 1890 was 27,633.

Pawtucket attained the dignity of a municipality January 4, 1886, and was, prior to obtaining a city charter, the largest place in the United States under a town form of government.

The city, which is about four miles northeast of Providence, is situated on both sides of the navigable Pawtucket River, (Blackstone River above the falls,) and presents many attractive features, apart from the advantages pertaining thereto as a manufacturing center.

A number of substantial bridges span the river, and from some of these can be had a fine view of the city. There are various other coignes of vantage that afford splendid views of points of interest in and around Pawtucket. During the past decade marked improvements have been made, and a large sum has been expended in public works.

Within recent years many handsome business structures have been erected in the central portion of the city. The streets are well paved and kept in good order, and the city is excellently lighted.

The city of Pawtucket is divided into five wards, and the municipal government is vested in the mayor, Board of Alderman and Common Council. The city has an efficient police department, with a chief, captain, subordinate officers, and the service is constantly being improved. There is also a thoroughly organized fire department, which is in charge of a competent chief engineer and several assistant engineers, who constitute a Board of Engineers. There are four engine-houses, located at different sections of the city, and there is a fire alarm telegraph in connection therewith, while the water service and accessories are ample and excellent.

The system of water-works which supplies the city, as it also does some of the adjacent towns and villages, had been in operation since January, 1878. A reservoir three hundred feet above tide-water, situated on Reservoir Heights, two and a-half miles from the business center, was completed November 6, 1878. It covers an area of about three acres of ground, has a depth of twenty-one feet and a capacity of twenty million gallons.

Up to 1862, what was known as the town of Pawtucket was in the State of Massachusetts. The east side of the river originally formed a part of the old town of Rehoboth, which up to 1812, had also embraced Seekonk. The township of Pawtucket was organized under an act of incorporation from the Massachusetts General Court, dated March 1, 1828. In the course of time the west side of the river - that is to say, the Rhode Island side - became the most important. The fact that the village of Pawtucket was situated in two different states led frequently to difficulties, and was the cause of a good deal on contention. With a view of obviating all further trouble arising form clash of interests and authority by reason of the separate jurisdictions, the town or (of?) Pawtucket was ceded to Rhode Island in 1861, and in March of the following year the act took effect. Some changes took place subsequently in the local boundary lines, and a new act of incorporation was issued under the date of May, 1874.

The city of Pawtucket has excellent transportation facilities, both by land and water. It is at the head of navigation on the northeast arm of Narragansett Bay, vessels of considerable size can come up to the wharves, and vast quantities of coal, lumber and other staples are delivered here direct from original shipping-points. Grain from the West and Northwest, and raw materials for manufacturers, are landed almost at the doors of the mills and factories.

The Pawtucket (or Blackstone) River runs through the heart of the city. This river, which takes it rise north of Worcester, Mass., bears the name of Blackstone from its source to Pawtucket Falls, and below the falls until where it expands itself and meets the waters of Narragansett Bay, it is designated the Pawtucket River.

The Boston and Providence Railroad and the Providence & Worcester Railroad run through the city, and there is besides a branch line of railroad from Valley Falls to East Providence which passes through Pawtucket. Altogether Pawtucket represents all the features of a progressive and prosperous New England city, and is rapidly increasing in material wealth and population.

Industries and Wealth of the Principal Points in Rhode Island, being the city of Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, Newport, Narragansett Pier, Bristol & Westerly.
New York: A. F. Parsons Publishing Co., 1892




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