Natick
by
Russell, James, Angel and Mathew
Natick is located in West Warwick, which is in the Pawtuxet Valley. It is
the northeastern most village in West Warwick. You will know when you are
there when you see outstanding landmarks, such as St.
Joseph's Church, Sacred Heart Church, and Providence St. School. St.
Joseph's steeple goes to a point in the sky. Natick has a sewer plant close
to Warwick.
Natick has many hills. In fact, Natick is an Indian name meaning a place
of many hills. Natick is on the Pawtuxet
River. The two branches meet at Riverpoint, a nearby village, and they
flow through Natick and Warwick, and empty into Narragansett Bay. Natick
used to include the Phenix lands. Some of the animals that live there are:
mice, birds,squirrels, fish, and raccoons.
The Pawtuxet River was an important factor in building the mills. The mills
were placed as close as possible, if not a little bit on,
the river. Then the workers dug a small pond, and dammed up the river.
There were 1032 looms in the Natick
Mill that were alive at one time, then the mill burned.
They made textiles in the mill, and it turned out about 11,000,000 (eleven
million) yards of textiles. The mill was once known as the Red
Mill because of its color. All the mills had imports of cotton, and
most had exports of textiles.
Natick is known today as the Italian village, but Italians were the last
wave of immigrants to settle there. Natick's waves of immigrants were: first-
Protestants who were mostly English, second- Irish, last- Italians. The
Italians came to Natick because they wanted to be better businessmen.
The strike of 1922 started in the Valley
Queen Mill, and worked it's way out. The workers in the Valley Queen Mill
wanted less hours, more money, and safer working conditions. Today they
put up a sign which says how many days since the last injury and/or accident.
The workers in the Natick Mill got way out of hand, and declared war on
the owners. The owners took it kind of seriously, and had soldiers with
machine guns on top of the mill and on the streets. The soldiers on top
of the mill had their guns pointed at the workers. The workers were easily
discouraged, and the workers sang songs to encourage
them.
People who worked in the mills got a pay of anywhere from $7 - $13 a week.
They would have to bring their own lunch and eat while they worked. They
hardly ever stopped working the looms. One
lady from the senior center said that her father was the smartest person
in the world, and he only went up to 5th grade in school. He bought the
Natick Mill and started collecting rent. Then he sold it for $15,000, and
back then, if you had that much money, you were like a millionaire. In the
mill houses, there was only one room and there was only coal for heat. Candles
were the only light.
On Wakefield St.., there are two golf courses. The names of them are Midville
Country Club, and West Warwick Country Club. In Natick there is Soluol Chemicals.
Natick still has railroad tracks which remain from mill times. The trains
used to carry people and freight. Now the trains that still run (which are
very few) only carry freight. The three main roads in Natick are: East Avenue,
Wakefield St., and Providence St.. Wakefield St.. used to be an Indian trail.
East Avenue leads out to the malls, and Providence St. has a school.
Natick's borders aren't all villages. Some are other cities or towns. They
are: Westcott, Warwick, and Cranston. Westcott is in the valley. St. Joseph's
Church is the majestic church on the hill with gray concrete around the
foundation and yellow and white around the middle and top. Its steeple looks
about 5 feet tall and goes to a point in the sky. It is a Catholic church.
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