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Wanskuck (Providence, Rhode Island)

USA / Rhode Island / North Providence / Providence, Rhode Island
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Wanskuck is one of two neighborhoods that comprise the North End, an area in the northern part of the city roughly divided by Route 146 and the West River Valley. Prior to the 19th century, the North End was a sparsely settled rural area with only a few farms and houses. Largely unconnected to the developed areas of Providence, the North End was annexed to North Providence in 1765. In the early 1800s, industry first came to the area with the establishment of a small cotton mill on Wanskuck Pond. Soon thereafter, the first village in Wanskuck developed around the mill.

Just after the mid-19th century, corporations began arriving in the area of the North End seeking to capitalize on the natural resources of the West River and its clear-watered ponds. The Wanskuck Company, established in 1862 in the North End, began as a major manufacturer of woolens for the Civil War, and was the driving force in the physical and social evolution of the neighborhood. The textile company constructed several two-family dwellings south of Branch Avenue in order to house its workers. As the Wanskuck Company grew increasingly successful over the next 50 to 60 years, residential and commercial growth followed in the developing village.

The company's need for labor brought skilled English workers and mostly unskilled Irish and French Canadian workers to the area. By the turn of the century, the North End had grown to have an extremely diverse population of Irish, English, German, Scottish, and Italian immigrant families. Italian residents, in particular, became a large part of the community, numbering in the thousands by the first decade of the 20th century. The growing immigrant population, combined with the rapid development of the area, served as the major factors behind North Providence's decision to return the North End to the city of Providence in 1874.

Neighborhood growth continued into the 20th century, spurred mostly by the extension of streetcar service. Trolleys running on Branch Avenue by 1895, and on Douglas Avenue by 1908, fully connected Wanskuck to the rest of the city for the first time. By the 1930s, the North End was a densely settled working and middle-class area for residents working both in and outside the neighborhood. With the close of the Silver Spring Bleaching and Dyeing Company in 1939 and the Wanskuck Company in 1957, the North End was no longer a site of major industry.

As of 2000, the neighborhood was 47.4% Non-Hispanic White, 26.2% Hispanic, 20.6% Black or African American, and 2.4% Asian or Pacific Islander.

The median family income is $26,662, below the city-wide average of $32,058. 29.0% of families live below the poverty line while 12.9% of families receive some form of public assistance.

www.providenceri.com/ONS/neighborhoods/wanskuck
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Coordinates:   41°50'55"N   71°25'55"W
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This article was last modified 12 years ago