24/7 Trauma & Biohazard Cleanup Near Globe Woonsocket, RI

Woonsocket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, and as the state's northernmost city it lies directly south of the Massachusetts state line, with a population of 43,240 at the 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.93 square miles, of which 7.75 square miles is land, it is drained by the Blackstone River, and its ZIP code is 02895.

As of the 2020 census, Woonsocket had a population of 43,240, with 18,287 households and 9,497 families, a median age of 37.2 years, and a population density of 5,582.5 people per square mile.

Before European settlement, the Woonsocket region was inhabited by the Nipmuc, Wampanoag, and Narragansett tribes, and in 1661 the English theologian Roger Williams purchased the area from the Coweset and Nipmucks, referring to modern-day Woonsocket as Niswosakit, while the name may derive from Nipmuc words meaning fox country or at the fork of the river.

Woonsocket Falls Village was founded in the 1820s, and with the Blackstone River providing ample water power the region became a prime location for textile mills, with Edward Harris building his first textile mill in Woonsocket in 1831.

The town of Woonsocket was established in 1867, when three villages in the town of Cumberland, Woonsocket Falls, Social, and Jenckesville, became the town of Woonsocket, and in 1871 three additional industrial villages from Smithfield, Hamlet, Bernon, and Globe, were added, establishing its present boundaries, before Woonsocket was incorporated as a city in 1888.

The growth of industry attracted numerous immigrants, predominantly Quebecois and French-Canadians, and by the time the local textile industry was shuttered during the Great Depression, ethnic French Canadians comprised 75 percent of the population, while as recently as 1980, 70 percent of Woonsocket's population was of French-Canadian descent, and the city has called itself the most French city in the United States.

During the Great Depression the textile economy of Woonsocket came to an effective standstill, but it was revived during World War II, when the city became a major center of fabric manufacturing for the war effort, including production of military uniforms, and in the postwar years the economy diversified into retail, technology, and financial services.

The city is the corporate headquarters of CVS Health, a pharmacy services provider, and it is home to Landmark Medical Center, the Museum of Work and Culture, and the American-French Genealogical Society.

Beginning in 1979, Woonsocket sponsored Autumnfest, an annual cultural festival that takes place on Columbus Day weekend at World War II Veterans Memorial State Park and has become one of the city's most popular events.