Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States

🇺🇸 Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The city is the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Falls and Lincoln to the north, and North Providence to the west; to its east-north-east, the city borders the Massachusetts municipalities of Seekonk and Attleboro.

Pawtucket was an early and important centre of textile manufacturing; the city is home to Slater Mill, a historic textile mill recognised for helping to found the Industrial Revolution in the United States.

History The Pawtucket region was said to have been one of the most populous places in New England prior to the arrival of European settlers. Native Americans would gather here to catch the salmon and smaller fish that gathered at the falls. The first European settler here was Joseph Jenks, who came to the region from Lynn, Massachusetts. He purchased about 60 acres near Pawtucket Falls in 1671, then established a sawmill and forge. These, along with the entire town, were later destroyed during King Philip's War.

Other settlers followed Jenks, and by 1775 the area was home to manufacturers of muskets, linseed oil, potash, and ships. Also around this time Oziel Wilkinson and his family set up an iron forge that made anchors, nails, screws, farm implements, and even cannons.

Pawtucket was an early and important centre of cotton textiles during the American Industrial Revolution. Slater Mill, built in 1793 by Samuel Slater on the Blackstone River falls in downtown Pawtucket, was the first fully mechanized cotton-spinning mill in the United States. Slater Mill is known for developing a commercially successful production process not reliant on earlier horse-drawn processes developed in the United States. Slater constructed and operated machines for producing yarn. Other manufacturers continued, transforming Pawtucket into a centre for textiles, iron working, and other products.

By the 1920s, Pawtucket was a prosperous mill town. The city had over a half-dozen movie theaters, two dozen hotels, and an impressive collection of fine commercial and residential architecture. Perhaps the most impressive public building in Pawtucket was the Leroy Theatre, an ornate movie palace that was called "Pawtucket's Million Dollar Theater". Many wealthy mill owners such as Darius Goff built their mansions in the area.

The textile business in New England declined during the Great Depression with many manufacturers closing or moving their facilities South where operations and labor were cheaper. Later in the 20th Century, Pawtucket began to lose some of its architectural heritage to the wrecking ball, including the Leroy Theatre.

Unlike numerous older mill towns in the region, Pawtucket retained much of its industrial base. Today, goods produced in the city include lace, non-woven and elastic woven materials, jewelry, silverware, metals, and textiles. Hasbro, one of the world's largest manufacturers of toys and games, is headquartered in Pawtucket.

Economy Hasbro, a Fortune 1000 toy and game making company, is headquartered in Pawtucket. Many healthcare, retail and insurance companies are headquartered in Pawtucket. Fox Point Pickles, a pickling company, is headquartered in Pawtucket.