Union Village or "Bank Village" is a village and historic district located in
North Smithfield
North Smithfield is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States, settled as a farming community in 1666 and incorporated into its present form in 1871. North Smithfield includes the historic villages of Forestdale, Primrose, Waterf ...
and
Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Woonsocket ( ), is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 43,240 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Being Rhode Island's northernmost city, Woonsoc ...
, United States on
Rhode Island Route 146A. Union Village developed because it was at the crossroads of old
Great Road (
Smithfield Road Historic District) (connecting
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in some religions
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
and
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...
) and Pound Hill Road (connecting the
Blackstone River
The Blackstone River in the United States is a river that flows through Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It is long with a drainage area of 475 mi2 (1229 km2). It drains into the tidal river, Pawtucket River at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Pawtuck ...
falls to
Chepachet and
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
).
History
Union Village was originally named Bank Village, and was the site of the first bank in northern Rhode Island, in 1805. The area was part of the original Edward Inman-John Mowry purchase from the Native Americans in 1666. Richard Arnold Jr. settled in the Union Village area in the late 17th century and the area was predominantly a farming community. In the 1800s the Bank in the village was called the Union Bank and the village received its name from the bank. The house containing the bank vault is still intact (2007). The Village was also home to the Bushee Academy, a prominent school in the nineteenth century. Union Village served as a way stop for travelers on the way to Boston, Worcester and Connecticut, and it was a commercial center through the 1820s. The
Marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...
allegedly dined at Seth Allen Tavern in Union Village when visiting the United States in 1824-25.
Today
There are numerous Federal-style houses, the "
Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage & Cemetery" (Quaker) and a large historic cemetery in the area. Wright's Farm on Woonsocket Hill Road has a popular dairy and pastry shop.
A area of the village in North Smithfield, between Westwood Road and Woonsocket Hill Road, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1978.
Notable person
*
Emeline S. Burlingame, suffragist
[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/article86.html ]
Images
Image:union village milestone.JPG, Peleg Arnold
Peleg Arnold (1751–1820) was a lawyer, tavern-keeper, jurist, and statesman from Smithfield, Rhode Island (now North Smithfield). He represented Rhode Island as a delegate to the Continental Congress in the 1787–1788 session. He later serv ...
's 1774 milestone
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...
on old Great Road across from the Quaker Meeting House
Image:1812 House.JPG, Union Village house built in 1812
Image:Union Village House RI.JPG, historic Union Village house
Image:Seth Allen Tavern.JPG, Seth Allen Tavern
Image:Smithfield Friends Meeting House.jpg, Smithfield Friends Meeting House, Parsonage & Cemetery
Image:Peleg Arnold tavern North Smithfield RI.JPG, Peleg Arnold Tavern
See also
*
External links and references
Federal Writers Project, ''Rhode Island: A Guide to the Smallest State'' (Houghton Mifflin: Boston, 1937), pg. 378Union Village info
*Walter Nebiker, ''The History of North Smithfield'' (Somersworth, NH: New England History Press, 1976).
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Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Rhode Island
Villages in Providence County, Rhode Island
North Smithfield, Rhode Island
Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Villages in Rhode Island