The Post Office at Pawtucket, (Pawtucket Township,
Providence County) was established on January 22, 1807
according to USPS records but established on July 1, 1807
according to Merolla, Jackson and Crowther -
"Rhode Island Postal History - The Post Offices"
published in 1977. The first Postmaster
was Otis Tiffany. The Post Office is currently in operation under
Postmaster Jenny A. Mckay-Fazzina appointed on January 11,
2003.
Pawtucket was founded in 1671 near the falls of the
Blackstone River and is the site of the Slater Mill.
The original Slater Mill was built in
1793, it's dimensions were 29 feet by 42 feet. Constructed of wood, it
resembled a period farmhouse and the long narrow shape of the building
facilitated the transfer of power from the water wheel to the textile
machinery. The basic design of the Slater Mill was repeated throughout Rhode
Island and New England on later cotton mills.
The Old Slater Mill is now used as a
museum that showcases the history of textile manufacturing in America. There
are 24 machines in the mill built between 1775 and 1922 which demonstrate the
process of turning cotton into cloth. The Mill also includes a small movie
theater and film history of the city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Slater and his brother also established
the town of Slatersville on the Branch River in North Smithfield, RI. The town
included the Slatersville Mill; the largest mill in the country during that
time. The town contained tenement houses for workers, the mill owner's home and
a company store.
Pawtucket continued to develop it's
textile industry during the 1800s along with machine and iron working shops and
it became an important manufacturing center. Currently Pawtucket produces
textile products, Jewelry, silverware and metal products. The current
population is over 73,000.
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Pawtucket Post Office |
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