The territory, which in 1862 became the town of East Providence was in the mainstream of early American history. The original settlement and development of the area take us back to two of the most famous movements in our history - the coming of the Pilgrims to Plymouth, and the Puritans to the Boston area. Both groups contributed settlers, ideas, and disagreements to the early history of East Providence. East Providence was first settled in 1636. Earlier in that year, Roger Williams and his followers were banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded a new community called "Seacunke", (Seekonk). Shortly thereafter Roger Williams and his group were informed by the Governor that their land was within territorial limits claimed by the colony of Massachusetts. Williams' party quickly departed and settled nearby, starting what would eventually become the City of Providence. In 1862, when East Providence was incorporated as a part of Rhode Island, many older residents of the community could boast of having lived in 3 towns and 2 states without ever having moved. In 1862 the westerly part of Seekonk was annexed to Rhode Island and incorporated as a town, which was named East Providence. Thus, settling the Massachusetts-Rhode Island Boundary question. East Providence's proximity to Providence, and strong ties with Rhode Island, made this action inevitable.
The city of East Providence is situated between the urban center of Rhode Island and rural southeastern Massachusetts. A large proportion of the city is bordered by bodies of water: The Seekonk and Providence Rivers to the west, Narragansett Bay to the south, and the Running and Ten Mile Rivers (including the James V. Turner Reservoir and Central Pond) along most of its eastern border. The land east of the Seekonk River was occupied by the Wampanoag Indians. Their villages were not permanent, but were moved with seasonal and agricultural changes. The Indian civilization nearly vanished by the turn of the eighteenth century, but had left East Providence with two legacies: the names Wampanoag and Sachem are used for everything from shopping areas to country clubs, and Indian trails have formed major present day transportation routes. Today, East Providence is a growing city with easy accessibility. Its modern development has been attributed to its central location on an available waterway, its modern highway and railroad routes, and to the suburban outgrowth from the City of Providence.
- Population: The population count for The City of East Providence as of April 1, 2000, was 48,688. This represented a -3.36% decrease (1,692 persons) from the 1990 population of 50,380.
- Rank: In 2000 East Providence ranks 5th in population among Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns.
- Median Age: In 2000 the median age of the population in East Providence was 39.6.
- Age Distribution: In 2000, 78.3% or 38,142 persons residing in East Providence were 18 years of age or older. 36,628 were 21 and over, 10,432 were 62 and over, and 9,203 were 65 and over.
- Population Density: The 2000 population density of East Providence is 3,632 persons per square mile of land area. East Providence contains 13.41 square miles of land area (34,718,794 Sq. meters) (8,579.27 acres) and 3.21 square miles of water area (8,307,862 square meters) (2,054.39 acres).
- Housing Units: The total number of housing units in the The City of East Providence as of April 1, 2000, was 21,309. This represented an increase of 501 units from the 20,808 housing units in 1990.
Of the 21,309 housing units 779 were vacant. 73 of the vacant units were for seasonal of recreational use.
- Households: In 2000, there are 20,530 households in East Providence with an average size of 2.33 persons. Of these, 12,850 were family households with an average family size of 2.99 persons.
- Race:
>Total Population of One Race: 46,724
>White: 42,111
>Black of African American: 2,445
>American Indian and Alaska Native: 225
>Asian: 559
>Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 23
>Some Other Race: 1,361
>Total Population of two or More Races: 1,964
>Hispanic or Latino: In 2000, 922 persons of Hispanic origin resided in East Providence. This represented 1.9% of the population. An increase of 77 or 9.1% from the 1980 Hispanic population of 845.
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