FALL RIVER, Mass., city, port of entry, in Bristol County, on Mount Hope Bay at the mouth of the Taunton River; on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, 49 miles south of Boston. It is connected with New York by the Fall River line of steamers, with Philadelphia by the Merchants and Miners freight line and with New England seaports by passenger and freight lines of steamers. The area of the city is 41 square miles and it is 200 feet above sea-level. It has a good harbor, sufficiently commodious for the largest steamers and excellent water power, as the Fall River, the outlet of Watuppa Lalce, has a fall of 129 feet in less than half a mile. The water for city uses comes from Lake Watuppa and the waterworks plant is owned by the municipality. The streets are well laid out; many of the buildings are constructed of the granite which is found in the vicinity. It has excellent public and parish schools, notably the B. M. C. Durfec public high school and the Academy La Ste. Union des Sacres Ceeurs; good circulating li braries, a State armory, over half a hundred churches and chapels, daily and weekly news papers and electric street railway connections with neighboring cities and towns. Among educational and charitable institutions are Notre Dame College, the free textile school, free civil service school, the Conservatory of Music, Boys' Club, Home for the Avd. Five public parks have been laid out in various parts of the city, and there are beautiful drives to the suburbs.
Fall River is the largest cotton-milling city in the United States. According to the Federal census of 1910 the city.had 288 manufacturing establishments, employing. $82,086,000 capital and 37,139 ogersons; paying $16,853,000 for wages, and 5,524,000 for materials; and hav ing a combined output valued at $64,146,000. The cotton industry, 42 establishments with $46,000,000 capital, and a combined output valued at $30,000,000. Next in value of output was the dyeing and finishing of textiles ($3,000,000). Other important manufactures were foundry and machine-shop products ($1,000,000) ; bakery products ($600,000). There are also manufactories of calico prints, ging hams, woolen goods, men's hats, fur goods, pianos, knit goods, yam, thread, boots and shoes, spools and bobbins, carriages, rope and twine, rubber, soap, etc. Granite quarrying also
employs a considerable number of men. The city has a number of national banks, with a capital of about $2,500,000 and several savings and co-operative banks. The exchanges at the United States clearing-house during the year ending 30 Sept. 1910 aggregated $61,031,300.
The United States census of manufactures for 1914 showed within the city limits 315 in dustrial establishments of factory grade, em ploying 38,097 persons; 36,834 being wage earners, receiving annually a total of $16,131,M0 in wages. The capital invested aggregated $139,290,000 and the year's output was valued at $64,663,000: of this, $27,502,000 was the value added by manufacture.
The government, under a charter of 1902, is vested in a mayor, chosen annually, a board of aldermen, consisting of 27 members, and subordinate administrative officials. Of these, the school committee of nine members is chosen by popular election. Fall River has an ex cellent system of sewers, is lighted by gas and electricity. It was settkd by g.rantees of the Plymouth Colony, along Mount Hope Bay upon land obtained by treaty with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags. Its inhabitants took a prominent part in the War of King Philip and the territory long remained the hunting ground of the tribe. An Indian reservation is still maintained. The village was included within the limits of Freetown until 1803, when it was incorporated as a separate town under its present name. It was called Troy from 1804 to 1834, when its old name was restored. In 1854 Fall River was chartered as a city and in 1862, on the readjustment of the gassachu7 setts-Rhode Island boundary, a part of the town of Tiverton, R. I., with a population of 3,590, was annexed. On 2 July 1843, a disastrous fire destroyed several buildings and other property. Consult Earl, (A Centennial History of Fall River) (New York 1877). Pop. 125,443, in-. eluding over 50,000 persons of .foreign birth and about 400 of negro descent. The. population includes also a great number of Canadian French.