Rhode Island Real Estate & Relocation Guide

North Smithfield, Rhode Island

Population: 10,618

Located in Providence County

Once forested, the town began as a rural-agrarian community. Most of the early settlers lived on farms, the center of their lives. With the advent of organized industry, early growth centered around water power. Villages developed around the mills, each growing and developing its own unique characteristics.

At 10,497 in 1990, the population of North Smithfield puts it 28 out of 39 communities in the state. Median age of residents is 39; those 65 or older account for 18 percent of the town. Seventy-two percent of residents have earned a high school degree or more. Housing grew to 3,835 units, a 9 percent increase from a decade before.

The town has experienced more than 300 years of domestication by settlers, and it is greatly altered from its agrarian beginnings. The land is still there but the lives of the town's occupants are radically different from the earlier residents. The farmer and millwright have been replaced with many diverse occupations, which are carried on outside of North Smithfield's boundaries.

The forest and farmland have been and are being redesigned into residential, industrial, commercial and recreational use. The town has assumed a suburban character but has not lost its early charm, which is so characteristic of North Smithfield. The town never had a central meeting place, although the village of Slatersville was always important, and eventually became the seat of town government.

Blackstone Gorge, with its spectacular views, and the Fort Nature Refuge at Primrose Ledges are two points of interest.