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Founded in 1694, Tiverton has grown from its origins as a farming community into a picturesque summer resort and residential suburb. The town was originally incorporated as a part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1746 the final settlement of a long colonial boundary dispute between Rhode Island and Massachusetts annexed Tiverton to Rhode Island by Royal Decree, along with bordering towns along the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay: Barrington, Bristol and Little Compton, as well as the town of Cumberland, to the north of Providence. Tiverton was then incorporated as a town of Rhode Island in 1747. Until itâs annex, Tiverton controlled the area of East Freetown, Massachusetts as an outpost.
During the Revolutionary War men from the Tiverton outpost took part in the Battle of Freetown, on May 25, 1778. For about three years,from December 1776 to late 1779, Rhode Island proper also known as Aquidneck Island, historically was occupied by the British. During this time Tiverton became a refuge for Americans fleeing the occupation, a mustering place for Colonial forces gathering to drive away the British. The occupying forces eventually withdrew strategically, as General Clinton marshalled his forces for the 1780 British invasion of South Carolina.
In its early days, Tiverton was chiefly a farming community, with some fishing and boat construction. Until 1900 the manufacture of menhaden oil, a fish derivative, was one of the townâs primary industrial pursuits. Cotton and woolen mills were established as early as 1811, when Colonel Joseph Durfee built a spinning mill at Cook Pond in what it now the city of Fall River, Massachusetts.
In 1856, the northern part of the town separated from Tiverton and was re-named Fall River, Rhode Island by the Rhode Island General Assembly. Then, on March 1, 1862, in a decision made by the United States Supreme Court, Fall River was made part of Massachusetts, and the state boundary placed in its current location along State Avenue.
Mark's Stadium is a former soccer stadium located in North Tiverton, Rhode Island. During the 1920s and early 1930s it was the home of Fall River Marksmen, one of the eraâs most successful soccer teams. It is one of the earliest examples of a soccer-specific stadium in the United States. After the demise of the Marksmen, the stadium was used as a home ground by other local teams, most notably Fall River F.C. and Ponta Delgada S.C..
