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Fall River
Population: 92,703
Information: Fall River Information (pdf)
Official Website: www.fallriverma.org
The City of Fall River is an industrial community on the banks of the
Taunton River in Bristol County with a long and fascinating history. The
first settler was Benjamin Church, a hero of King Philip's war, who built a
sawmill in 1690. The city's geography determined its destiny; as
historians have pointed out, the significant fact about Fall River is that
it had water power and port facilities together, making it both a transfer
point for passenger and freight traffic to New York and the site of intense
industrial development. Its diverse residential population is made up of
immigrants from Great Britain, Portugal and Canada drawn to the mill jobs
available in the city.
Fall River's industrial history began in 1811 when Colonel Joseph Durfee
opened the Globe Manufactory. By 1830 the city had seven textile mills, a
steamboat to Providence and Newport and its own newspaper. A staggering
population and industrial boom made Fall River one of the textile capitals
of the nation with more than 100 cotton mills housing four million
spindles, employing more than 30,000 people, and generating a weekly
payroll of over $500,000. The city boasted an international market and
130,000 people when its prosperity peaked during the First World War. This
was a closely knit industrial complex in which raw materials came into the
port of Fall River to be processed into manufactured goods and then shipped
out again from the port.
When textile manufacturing began moving south in the 1920's, the city's
decline began, accelerating during a devastating fire, which destroyed the
central business district, and the Depression. By 1930 the city declared
bankruptcy and its Having learned its lesson, the modern city maintains a highly diversified
industrial profile with chemical operations, electrical and food products
along with the garment and textile industries. It also maximizes tourism
with the largest factory outlet district in New England and a World War II
memorial which opens a variety of American warships to visitors at the
State Pier in Fall River. The city retains a variety of handsome historic
public buildings.
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Somerset
Population: 17,655
Information: Somerset Information (pdf)
School Department: Somerset Public Schools
The Town of Somerset is a suburban community in Bristol County, on the west
side of the Taunton River. This area was originally known as the Shawamat
Lands and was incorporated as a town in 1790. Although there was a
significant Indian population when colonists arrived, by the end of King
Philip's war in 1677 English settlers dominated the Pocassets, members of
the Wampanoag tribe. The earliest colonists farmed and fished, both in the
river and off-shore but the town developed shipyards, mercantile and
shipping businesses early in its history. The first documented local
shipyard was established between 1707 and 1712 on the Lee River by Samuel
Lee. The dominant religious group in early Somerset were the Quakers, who
established a meeting house about 1701, one of the few and earliest Quaker
churches in southeastern Massachusetts.
After the War of 1812, Somerset became one of the chief distribution points
in New England for foreign goods with trade to China, the West Indies,
Europe and the Atlantic coast. By 1847, 138 vessels were built and
registered in the town with many engaged in the coastal trade. The most
important shipyard was that of James M. Hood, whose yard launched several
important clipper ships. This industry boomed after the Mexican War and
the California Gold Rush, and spawned shipping related activities such as a
ropewalk and the Somerset Iron Works, which made anchors. Aside from
shipping related businesses, the largest early industry in Somerset was the
making of stoneware. When steam began destroying shipbuilding, the anchor
works was taken over by Job Leonard who proceeded to develop a nailworks
which, by 1865, was the largest single industry in town. Through all of
this industrial growth, south Somerset remained largely agricultural. The
opening of the Somerset and Dighton Railroad led to the establishment in
the town of the Old Colony's major coal port in 1872, while an enterprising
former potter created a cannery operation in the early part of the 20th
century. However, as the industrial development of Fall River absorbed
Somerset's industry, the community turned increasingly from shipping and
iron manufacturing to suburban services. The dominant industry in Somerset
since the First World War has been power generation with the erection of
the Montaup Electric Company plant in 1923 and Bryant Point in 1963.
The dominant character of Somerset has been residential since the
bankruptcy of Fall River in the Depression brought a flood of middle-class
residents into the town. Unlike most communities in the area, Somerset
increased its population by 74% during the Depression. The town is now a
suburban community with some small scale resort and second home development
and its 15 miles of waterfront are primarily used for recreation rather
than industry.
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Swansea
Population: 15,411
Information: Swansea Information (pdf)
The Town of Swansea is a suburban/rural community founded on the premise of
religious tolerance for all. Unfortunately, the town also turned out to be
the starting place of King Philip's war in 1675 and the site of the first
bloodshed of the war. Before that war there were several historic Indian
settlement sites and trails in the town. Colonial settlement began in 1663
and the town was named after a minister's home village in Wales. In 1664,
King Philip had conveyed the land in the community to William Brenton of
Newport and by the start of the Indian war, there were 70 people staying in
the garrison fortified house in town and several occupied houses on the
Neck. During the war, Indian attacks destroyed every house in town
including the garrison.
After the war, forges, ironworks and fishing on the town's rivers made up a
substantial part of the community's economy. The small villages that made
up the community were the sites of stores, cotton mills, grist and yarn
mills and fishing boats. When the bigger industrial cities such as Fall
River, Taunton and Providence absorbed the town's industries, Swansea's
large agricultural capacity remained important. In the 1890's, the street
trolley connected Swansea to Fall River and Providence and suburban and
summer homes were developed. A picnic grove called Shady Isles was
established by the streetcar company and brought city people out to the
country on day trips.
Now a suburban community with much of its agricultural land still open,
Swansea also retains 16 impressive and significant examples of intact
Colonial houses.
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Rehoboth
Population: 8,656
Information: Rehoboth Information (pdf)
Town Website: Official Town Website
The Town of Rehoboth is an historic pastoral community in Bristol County
incorporated in 1745. The town never had a large amount of agricultural
land because of its extended marshy terrain and hills, but there was always
good fishing on the Palmer River and an annual herring run provided
abundant food. The first settlement of the town was about 1652 on the
southern portion of the river. The colony suffered a good deal of damage
in the King Philip war but the earliest house in town, Kingsley House,
built 1680, still remains a part of the town. By 1704 there was an iron
forge in town and by 1714 the Goff Inn was handling travelers coming
through on the stage to Taunton, Providence or Newport, Rhode Island.
Sawmills were established in 1747 and the primarily agricultural economy
was supplemented in 1809 by the opening of two cotton yarn mills at
Rehoboth Center. One of these is thought to be the first to spin very fine
cotton yarn. In the Perryville section of town, historians conjecture that
Era Perry was the first in the country to manufacture bobbins for the
area's cotton factories about 1850. The 325 farms of the town grew Indian
corn and potatoes and fattened beef cattle. Rehoboth retains dozens of
Colonial and Federal houses and cottages and there is a remarkably wide
spread of historic houses and buildings preserved throughout the community.
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Barrington, RI /
Berkley, MA /
Bristol, RI /
East Providence, RI /
Fall River, MA /
Freetown, MA /
Little Compton, RI /
New Bedford, MA /
North Dartmouth, MA /
Seekonk, MA /
Somerset, MA /
South Dartmouth, MA /
Swansea, MA /
Tiverton, RI /
Warren, RI /
Westport, MA and the other Southcoast Massachuetts and East Bay communities.
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