Fall River, Massachusetts
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Fall River is a city located in Bristol County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 91,938. The current mayor of Fall River is Edward M. Lambert Jr. The city's motto is "We'll Try."
The city is home to Battleship Cove, which houses the USS Massachusetts, the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., and the submarine USS Lionfish. The Fall River high school is named Durfee High.
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History
Fall River was first settled in 1670 and was officially incorporated in 1812. It was formerly a part of Freetown, Massachusetts until 1803, at which time it was incorporated as the Town of Troy. The name was officially changed to Fall River in 1834.
The city's name comes from Falling Water, the translation of Quequechan, a Native American name. Settlers from Plymouth Colony purchased part of what is now Fall River from the Wampanoags, a Native American tribe, in 1659. In the Battle of Freetown, fought in 1778 during the Revolutionary War in America, the townspeople put up a strong defense against a British force.
From the 1870s until the 1920s, Fall River was the largest center in the United States for the manufacture of cotton textiles. The industrial history of Fall River began in 1811 when Colonel Joseph Durfee and several investors built the first cotton mill. The mill was driven by the river that emptied into a small pond near the waterfront. Two years later the Troy Mill, the first of the great granite structures at the foot of the Quequechan River, was built and Fall River's cotton spinning era had begun in earnest. After a decade of building, Fall River and the surrounding town's populations began to increase steadily. By 1830, the town had seven textile mills, a steamboat to Providence and Newport, a newspaper, and a population of 4,159. This growing trend continued and, by 1872, eighteen new mills and fifteen new corporations were started as Fall River went on to become one of the textile capitals of the nation.
The pay roll per week in 1887 was $118,005; the weekly production of print cloths was 175,000 pieces; the cloth produced was 480,500.000 yards (439,000 m); bales of cotton consumed, 210,550; tons of coal, 159,550; oil, 172,350 US gal (652 m³); and starch, 1,981,000 lb (899,000 kg). To run the mills, I I water-wheels were in operation, of a total of 1,555 horsepower (1160 kW), and 106 steam-engines of a total power of 36,805 hp (27,445 kW).
The period from 1847 to 1937 was marked by the Fall River Line, America's most luxurious steamship line connecting rail travellers from Boston with New York. The Fall River Line Pier is maintained today along with the Fall River Marine Museum so that visitors can see and relive the glory of that era.
On August 4, 1892, Fall River was the scene of the murder allegedly committed by Lizzie Borden, remembered in a nursery rhyme. Borden was ultimately acquitted of this charge.
Geography
Fall River is located at 41°41'53" North, 71°8'49" West (41.698102, -71.146994)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 99.0 km² (38.2 mi²). 80.3 km² (31.0 mi²) of it is land and 18.6 km² (7.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 18.84% water.
The city lies on the eastern border of Mount Hope Bay, at the mouth of the Taunton River, and the greater portion is built on hillsides rising quite abruptly from the water's edge to a height of more than 150 feet (46 m). From the summits of these hills the country extends back in a comparatively level table-land, on which a large section of the city now stands, and two miles (3 km) eastward from the shore lies a chain of deep and narrow ponds, eight miles long (13 km), of an average width of three-quarters of a mile, and covering an area of 3,500 acres (14 km²). These ponds are supplied by springs and brooks, draining a water- shed of 20,000 acres (80 km²), and are connected with the sea by a stream which, originally flowing unconfined over an almost level course for more than a mile, in the last half-mile (800 m) of its progress rushes down the hillside in a narrow, precipitous, rocky channel. In this distance the total fall is about 132 feet (40 m). and the volume of water 122 cubic feet per second (3.5 m³/s).
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 91,938 people, 38,759 households, and 23,565 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,144.3/km² (2,963.7/mi²). There are 41,857 housing units at an average density of 521.0/km² (1,349.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 91.16% White, 2.48% African American, 0.19% Native American, 2.16% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.43% from other races, and 2.55% from two or more races. 3.31% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Fall River hosts one of the biggest Portuguese-speaking communities in the USA. It seemes that 60% of the population claims to be of Azorean origin, mostly from Sao Miguel Island. There are smaller, but significant presences of other Portuguese-speaking communities, such as other Azorean Islanders, Portugueses from mainland Portugal, Cape Verdeans, Brazilians, Angolans, etc.
There are 38,759 households out of which 29.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.3% are married couples living together, 16.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 39.2% are non-families. 34.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 14.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.32 and the average family size is 3.00.
In the city the population is spread out with 24.1% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 82.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $29,014, and the median income for a family is $37,671. Males have a median income of $31,330 versus $22,883 for females. The per capita income for the city is $16,118. 17.1% of the population and 14.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 25.4% of those under the age of 18 and 17.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
External links
- Fall River Homepage (http://www.fallriverma.org/)
- Fall River Chamber of Commerce (http://www.fallriverchamber.com/)
- Template:Mapit-US-cityscale