Cranston, Rhode Island, United States

History | Geography | Economy | Sites | Sport | Education | Transport

🇺🇸 Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. It is the second largest city in the state. The centre of population of Rhode Island is located in Cranston. Cranston is a part of the Providence metropolitan area.

Cranston was named one of the "100 Best Places to Live" in the United States by Money in 2006. Cranston ranked 36th on the list of "America's 50 Best Cities to Live" in a 2014 survey done by 247wallst.com

The Town of Cranston was created in 1754 from a portion of Providence north of the Pawtuxet River. After losing much of its territory to neighboring towns and the city of Providence, Cranston itself became a city on March 10, 1910.

History Much of the land was purchased by Roger Williams from the Narragansett Indians in 1638 as part of the Pawtuxet Purchase, and the first settler in the area was William Arnold, who was followed shortly by William Harris, William Carpenter, and Zachariah Rhodes. Stephen Arnold, a brother-in-law of Rhodes and William Arnold, built a gristmill on the Pawtuxet falls and laid out the Arnold Road (modern-day Broad Street) connecting it to the Pequot Trail leading to Connecticut. Arnold's son Benedict Arnold became the first Governor of Rhode Island under the charter of 1663. Residents were unable to agree upon a name for a new town for decades, and the Town of Cranston was eventually created by the General Assembly in 1754 from a portion of Providence north of the Pawtuxet River. Historians debate whether the town was named after Governor Samuel Cranston, the longest-serving Rhode Island governor, or his grandson Thomas Cranston, who was serving as Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives at the time that the town was created. In the early 1770s, town meetings were held at the taverns of Caleb Arnold and Nehemiah Knight, where residents voted in favor of a resolution opposing the British Parliament's Coercive Acts; the town heavily supported the Patriot cause during the Revolutionary War. The town lost much of its territory to neighboring towns and the city of Providence over the nineteenth century, and Cranston became a city on March 10, 1910.

Many Italian Americans in Cranston are descended from immigrants of Itri, Italy who settled mainly in the Knightsville section of Cranston during the early 1900s. Cranston is known for the St. Mary's Feast, inspired by the Feast of the Madonna della Civita celebrated in Itri. Since 1905, the St. Mary's Feast has been a week-long festival celebrated in July in Cranston with vendors, a carnival, fireworks, and a religious procession from St. Mary's Church on Sunday. In 2000, Cranston and Itri became sister cities.

For many years, Cranston was the third-largest city in Rhode Island, after Providence and Warwick, both of which it borders, but in 2017, it surpassed Warwick to take second place. Though Cranston's overall population density was already much greater than the geographically larger Warwick, a major factor contributing to its growth has been a large and semirural section west of Interstate 295, which has seen a high volume of housing development in recent years; Warwick has significantly less open land available for development.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 29.9 square miles (77 km²), of which 1.4 square miles (3.6 km²) (4.54%) is covered by water.

The city occupies roughly three percent of Rhode Island's total land mass.

These neighborhoods and villages are located in Cranston: • Alpine Estates • Apple Hill Estates • Arlington • Bellefonte • Castleton Estates • Auburn • Dean Estates • Eden Park • Edgewood • Fiskeville (also in Scituate) • Forest Hills • Friendly Community • Garden City • Garden Hills • Glen Woods • Hillside Farms • Laurel Hill • Howard • Jackson (also in Scituate) • Knightsville • Meshanticut • Oakhill Terrace • Oak Lawn • Orchard Valley Estates • Pontiac • Stadium • Thornton (this includes part of Johnston) • Pawtuxet Village (also in Warwick) • Webster • Westend • Woodridge • Western Hills Village.

Economy Companies with corporate headquarters in Cranston include jewelry maker Alex and Ani and Coastway Community Bank. The first Del's Lemonade stand was opened in Cranston in 1948.

Sites The first auto race track in the country, Narragansett Park, located off Park Avenue, opened at present-day Stadium Ball Field in 1867 as a trotting track.

The Budlong Pool, located at 198 Aqueduct Road, off Reservoir Avenue (part of RI 2), is the city's only public pool. Budlong, which is much larger than an Olympic-sized swimming pool, was built in the 1930s as a Works Progress Administration project. The pool was closed in 2019 after an architect's report stated that the pool was "close to the end of its serviceable life” and would cost $2 million to repair. The pool has since become a subject of political debate in the city. Mayor Ken Hopkins proposed in 2023 to completely replace the aging structure with a new $3.5-million redesign which, at 7,000 square feet, would be one-third the current size. 2,000 Cranston residents signed a petition opposing the project.

Sprague Mansion, an 18th-century homestead, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Thomas Fenner House, built around 1677, is one of the oldest houses in Rhode Island. Edgewood Yacht Club has long popular among local sailors and is a historic landmark located on the Providence River.

Sport Little League • 1996 United States Champions (CWLL) • 2015 New England Champions (CWLL).

Education • Cranston High School East • Cranston High School West • Cranston Area Career And Technical Center • Western Hills Middle School • Hugh B. Bain Middle School • Park View Middle School • Hope Highlands Middle School • Arlington Elementary School • Chester Barrows Elementary School • William R. Dutemple Elementary School • Eden Park Elementary School • Edgewood Highlands Elementary School • Garden City Elementary School • Gladstone Elementary School • Glen Hills Elementary School • Immaculate Conception Catholic Regional School • Oak Lawn Elementary School • Orchard Farms Elementary School • George J. Peters Elementary School • Edward S. Rhodes Elementary School • Saint Paul School • Stadium Elementary School • Stone Hill Elementary School • Daniel D. Waterman Elementary School • Woodridge Elementary School; School committee The Cranston School Committee consists of seven nonpartisan members, six representing each of the city wards and one city-wide representative. Committee members are elected at city general elections to a two-year term, and as of 2014, members are limited to five consecutive two-year terms. The current Cranston School Committee chairperson is Michael Traficante, a city-wide representative.

Transport Four freeways travel through Cranston: I-95, I-295, RI 10 (the Huntington Expressway), and RI 37. Other state-numbered roads in Cranston are US 1, US 1A, RI 2, RI 5, RI 12, RI 33, RI 51, RI 115, and RI 117.

Cranston is served by Rhode Island Public Transit Authority buses. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor passes through, but has no station in the city. The MBTA's Providence/Stoughton Line also passes through, but does not include a station in Cranston, but a station stop has been proposed. Currently, the nearest MBTA stations are in Providence and Warwick at T.F. Green Airport, the former which is also served by Amtrak.

Pawtuxet Neck,Cranston RI 
Pawtuxet Neck,Cranston RI
Image: formulanone

Cranston has a population of over 81,270 people. Cranston also forms one of the centres of the wider Providence County which has a population of over 660,741 people.

To set up a UBI Lab for Cranston see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Cranston has links with:

🇮🇹 Itri, Italy 🇦🇿 Stepanakert, Azerbaijan
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Cranston is: 108.55,-41.767

Locations Near: Cranston -71.45,41.7667

🇺🇸 Providence -71.417,41.817 d: 6.2  

🇺🇸 Warwick -71.39,41.714 d: 7.7  

🇺🇸 East Greenwich -71.483,41.65 d: 13.3  

🇺🇸 Pawtucket -71.367,41.867 d: 13.1  

🇺🇸 Fall River -71.164,41.695 d: 25  

🇺🇸 South Kingstown -71.517,41.433 d: 37.5  

🇺🇸 Norfolk -71.317,42.117 d: 40.4  

🇺🇸 Taunton -71.083,41.9 d: 33.8  

🇺🇸 Framingham -71.417,42.267 d: 55.7  

🇺🇸 Brockton -71.017,42.085 d: 50.4  

Antipodal to: Cranston 108.55,-41.767

🇦🇺 Bunbury 115.637,-33.327 d: 18888.6  

🇦🇺 Albany 117.867,-35.017 d: 18910.6  

🇦🇺 Mandurah 115.721,-32.529 d: 18808.2  

🇦🇺 Rockingham 115.717,-32.267 d: 18783  

🇦🇺 City of Cockburn 115.833,-32.167 d: 18768  

🇦🇺 Vincent 115.834,-31.936 d: 18745.4  

🇦🇺 Perth 115.857,-31.953 d: 18746  

🇦🇺 Guildford 115.973,-31.9 d: 18735.6  

🇦🇺 Wanneroo 115.803,-31.747 d: 18728.3  

🇦🇺 Midland 116.01,-31.888 d: 18732.8  

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