All Pawtucket All The Time

Pawtucket – Your Hometown!

By Ken McGill, Registrar of Voters

City of Pawtucket 

There is a section of our city with beautiful Victorian houses and brick lined sidewalks – we call this neighborhood Quality Hill. The neighborhood is best known for a time when homes were built for the city’s elite, roughly around the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. The main street in Quality Hill is Walcott Street around St. Joseph’s Church and St. Raphael Academy. 

Like many sections of our city, Quality Hill was first settled as farmland in the 17^th and 18 centuries. As I wrote before the neighborhood really came together with the building of luxury houses that started in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries and lasted until the early 20^th century. As the 20^th century went on and the general decline of wealth began in the city another devastating event hit the neighborhood hard – the construction of Route 95. Many of the beautiful dwellings that once adorned Quality Hill were taken for the construction of the highway. Although there are still several of these houses left in the neighborhood and a portion of the area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places many of these once majestic buildings have been turned into apartments.

Results of the 2000 census show the economic decline of the neighborhood since it’s heyday in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Residents of Quality Hill make approximately five thousand dollars less than the citywide average of income. The mean family income for the area is $41,630 and the mean household is just $36,000. There are approximately 1,115 housing units in the neighborhood with 24.2% being owner occupied. If we look at race and age 71% of the residents are white, 13% are Hispanic and just 9% are black. The neighborhood tends to be a little older with 45% of homeowners in the area being age 55 or older. 

As I have said Quality Hill is best known for its beautiful homes and this was highlighted when one of its historic homes – the 1910 William Park House at 24 Walnut St. – was featured on HGTV’s If Wall Could Talk show. Bought in 1998 by Joe Asermely the house has been restored and can now arguably be one of the best properties in Pawtucket. At times, the Pawtucket Preservation Society has even done walking tours of this historic neighborhood.

The neighborhood is quaint with a strong neighborhood association and crime watch. Neighbors’ looking out for neighbors is what it’s all about in Quality Hill. Current asking prices for homes in the neighborhood usually run between $200,000 and $300,000. The multi-family homes in the area run a little higher to $350,000. 

Quality Hill is a great neighborhood where many who no longer can afford to live in places like Boston take a look at the area and fall in love. Even though it’s not the same elegant neighborhood that it was in its yesteryear Quality hill is still a great place to live and that is why Quality Hill is part of Pawtucket – Your Hometown. 

-           Until next week.