All Pawtucket All The Time

By: Ken McGill, Registrar of Voters

A few weeks back we took a look at a neighborhood in Pawtucket that I had never heard of – West Riverview. This week I would like to take a look at West Riverview’s sister neighborhood – East Riverview. This neighborhood is directly across the river from West Riverview and encompasses School Street to South Bend Street and Rhode Island Avenue to Division Street. East Riverview is Pawtucket’s third smallest neighborhood.

East Riverview started its development very much like the downtown of our city. During the 17th and 18th centuries it was home to the many entrepreneurs who started businesses in the downtown. By the 19th century housing developments began to spring up for the workers in the textile mills that were along the river. During the beginning of the 20th century West Riverview had hit the end of the building boom in the neighborhood and by the late 20th century many of the manufacturers along the river were long gone.

According to the 2000 census there are 2,584 individuals who live in the neighborhood and 1,100 households. Twenty-nine percent of all residential buildings are owner occupied while seventy percent are renter occupied. The mean family income for the neighborhood is $38,003 while the household income stands at $34,934. Seventy-seven percent of all residents are white while just six percent are listed as black or African American. About twenty percent of all residents in East Riverview live below the poverty line. Seventy percent of all adults have a high-school diploma and one-quarter of the neighborhood reported that they have a college degree. All in all East Riverview is a typical Pawtucket neighborhood.

In the middle of the neighborhood is one of Pawtucket’s most notable icon’s – Memorial Hospital. This 294-bed community hospital, which serves not only Pawtucket but also most of the Blackstone Valley, takes up an entire city block in East Riverview. On October 8, 2008 Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island opened a newly redesigned emergency room. More importantly though Memorial Hospital remains one of the largest employers in the City of Pawtucket employing hundreds.

In addition, East Riverview is known for it’s beautiful recreation facility along the Pawtucket River on School Street called School Street Landing or the Old State Pier. Home to the Slater Fishing Club the School Street Pier is a great site to fish, launch your boat or just park and enjoy the view. The site is also home to the Chinese Dragon Boat Races that are put on every October as part of the city’s Pawtucket Art’s Festival.

Although East Riverview is one of those neighborhoods that I have never heard of it is a section of the city that I think everyone knows very well. That is why East Riverview like its sister West Riverview are special neighborhoods in what we call – Pawtucket Your Hometown.

-     Until next week.