The New International Encyclopædia/Woonsocket

WOON′SOCKET. A city in Providence County, R. I., 16 miles north by west of the city of Providence, on the Blackstone River, here spanned by a fine bridge, and on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and its leased lines (Map: Rhode Island, B 1). It has the Sacred Heart College and the Harris Institute Library with 15,000 volumes. There are three public parks, and a soldiers' monument. Woonsocket is primarily an industrial city, being especially known for the manufacture of cotton and worsted goods. Other important manufactures include foundry and machine-shop products, knit goods, hosiery, rubber, etc. In the census year 1900 the various industrial establishments had an invested capital of $14,279,361, and a production valued at $15,627,539. The water-works are the property of the city. Population, in 1890, 20,830; in 1900, 28,204. Woonsocket was settled about 1666; in 1867 it was incorporated as a town and in 1888 was chartered as a city. Its area was enlarged in 1871 by the, annexation of a portion of Smithfield. Consult Richardson, History of Woonsocket (Woonsocket, 1876).