PAWTUCKET, a town of the United States, in Providence county, Rhode Island, 4 miles north-east of Providence by the Providence and Worcester Railroad, is situated on both sides of the navigable Pawtucket river (Blackstone river above the falls), which falls about 50 feet at this point, affording abundant water-power. At Pawtucket in 1790 Samuel Slater erected the first water-power cotton-factory in America. In the early part of the present century Pawtucket was the seat of shipbuilding and of considerable commerce. It is now a place with nearly 100 different industries, including the Conart Thread Works (employing over 2000 hands), large manufactories of cotton and woollen cloths, steam-engines, fire-engines, &c. The exports and imports amount to several million dollars annually. In 1862 Pawtucket, originally belonging to Massachusetts, became part of Rhode Island. The population in 1880 was 19,030, and in 1884 (estimated) about 23,000.
