Cranston Rhode Island History & Facts

Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The official population of the city in the 2020 United States Census was 82,934, making it the second largest in the state. The center of population of Rhode Island is located in Cranston. Cranston is a part of the Providence metropolitan area.

Cranston was named one of the "100 Best Places to Live" in the United States by Money magazine in 2006. Cranston ranked 36th on the list of "America's 50 Best Cities to Live" in a 2014 survey done by 24/7 Wall St.

The Town of Cranston was created in 1754 from a portion of Providence north of the Pawtuxet River. After losing much of its territory to neighboring towns and the city of Providence, Cranston itself became a city on March 10, 1910.

Much of the land was purchased by Roger Williams from the Narragansett Indians in 1638 as part of the Pawtuxet Purchase, and the first settler in the area was William Arnold, who was followed shortly by William Harris, William Carpenter, and Zachariah Rhodes. Stephen Arnold, a brother-in-law of Rhodes and William Arnold, built a gristmill on the Pawtuxet falls and laid out the Arnold Road (modern-day Broad Street) connecting it to the Pequot Trail leading to Connecticut. Arnold's son Benedict Arnold became the first Governor of Rhode Island under the charter of 1663. Residents were unable to agree upon a name for a new town for decades, and the Town of Cranston was eventually created by the General Assembly in 1754 from a portion of Providence north of the Pawtuxet River. Historians debate whether the town was named after Governor Samuel Cranston, the longest-serving Rhode Island governor, or his grandson Thomas Cranston, who was serving as Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives at the time that the town was created. In the early 1770s, town meetings were held at the taverns of Caleb Arnold and Nehemiah Knight, where residents voted in favor of a resolution opposing the British Parliament's Coercive Acts; the town heavily supported the Patriot cause during the Revolutionary War. The town lost much of its territory to neighboring towns and the city of Providence over the nineteenth century, and Cranston became a city on March 10, 1910.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 29.9 square miles (77 km2), of which, 28.6 square miles (74 km2) of it is land and 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2) of it (4.54%) is water.

It is roughly three percent of Rhode Island's total land mass.

The Rhode Island Department of Corrections has its headquarters and its adult prison facilities in Cranston. The Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families operates the Rhode Island Training School (RITS), a juvenile correctional facility, in Cranston. The Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles is headquartered in Cranston.

The City of Cranston operates under a mayor-council form of government. General city elections are held on the first Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in even numbered years. Terms for elected officials begin on the first Monday in January of the year following their election. The City Council consists of nine members: six representing each of the City wards, and three city-wide representatives. Council members are elected to a two-year term, and are limited to five consecutive two-year terms. The current Cranston City Council President is Jessica M. Marino, a city-wide representative and first woman to hold the office. Ward 1 Councilmember Lammis J. Vargas is the Vice President. The council elected for the 2023-2025 term has a 5-4 Democratic majority.

Famous Peoples From Cranston Rhode Island

Logan Marshall-Green

Logan Marshall-Green (born November 1, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles in the television series 24, The O.C., Traveler, Dark Blue and Quarry, as well as his roles in the films Devil, Prometheus, The Invitation, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Upgrade and When They See Us.

Marshall-Green was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to teacher parents. He was raised by his mother, Lowry Marshall, in Cranston, Rhode Island, while she taught theatre at Brown University. He has a twin brother named Taylor. They both attended Barrington High School in the early 1990s. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he also wrote for the school newspaper, The Daily Beacon, as an entertainment writer covering the bar, music, and theater scene.

Marshall-Green appeared in both Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2003 and Law & Order in 2004, before landing recurring roles on Fox's The O.C. and 24. Marshall-Green received a Drama Desk Award for his performance in Neil LaBute's play The Distance from Here in 2004.

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