Pawtucket is a Rhode Island city founded in 1671. It was home to the father of the American Industrial Revolution, Samuel Slater. The construction of his historic textile mill, called Slater Mill, marked the beginning of said revolution in 1793. Since then Pawtucket has shifted out of textiles with only a few specialty manufacturers remaining and has grown to hold 300 diversified industries with the most prominent being jewelry, silverware, and metals.
Pawtucket houses nearly 73,000 residents with a median age of 35.4 as of the 2000 census. It is a diverse city home to many cultures resulting in a spectrum of sights, sounds, and flavors. Its neighborhoods have all improved greatly over the last decade as the city's developmental policies focus on improving the quality of residential areas and expanding emplyoment. With an emerging interest and concentration on the arts, Pawtucket has introduced performing arts as well as incorporated visual arts into the community.
