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120-552: Westerly High School is a public high school located in Westerly, Rhode Island , United States. The school is part of Westerly Public Schools. Various incarnations of a high school have been serving students in Westerly since shortly after the American Civil War . Three buildings in the first century (1870–1960) The first Westerly High School was built at 32 Elm Street in 1870. It cost $ 10,000 to build. After about 30 years,

240-412: A "flex" science room. Meanwhile, the old science classrooms were converted into general classrooms. This work was completed by April 2011. Heavy duty work was done on most of the remainder of the buildings until December 2011. After all the classrooms were touched up, the library was renovated with a new carpet. The desktop computers were replaced with laptops. In the fall of 2012, a classroom within

360-712: A CDP which is coextensive with the entire town. CDPs are only recognized within towns, not cities. Because the primary role of CDPs is to establish "place" data for communities located in unincorporated areas, a CDP cannot be within an incorporated place. Since the Census Bureau recognizes New England cities as incorporated places, a CDP cannot be within a city. Data users from outside New England should be aware that New Englanders usually think in terms of entire towns (i.e., MCD data), making CDP data of marginal local interest. Since virtually all territory in New England outside of Maine

480-742: A beachfront community with small amounts of nightlife and several hotels; Potter Hill, where the Town Forest is located; Shelter Harbor; Watch Hill , with beaches and summer cottages; Weekapaug ; White Rock; and Winnapaug, with public golf courses. The town holds a number of annual events, such as the Pawcatuck River Duck Race in April, Virtu Art Festival in May, Shakespeare in the Park and the Summer Pops (hosted by

600-455: A borough or city can span more than one town. In practice, though, most cities in Connecticut today do not function any differently from their counterparts elsewhere in New England. See the section below on boroughs and villages for more background on this topic. There are far fewer cities in New England than there are towns, although cities are more common in heavily built-up areas, and most of

720-479: A borough, a city can cover only a portion of a town rather than being coextensive with the town. This is rare today—only one or two examples remain—but it was more common in the past. At least one borough historically spanned more than one town: the borough of Danielsonville originally laid over parts of Killingly and Brooklyn , until the Brooklyn portion petitioned to be reorganized as a fire district and concurrently

840-521: A city, it is coextensive and consolidated with the Town of Hartford; governed by a single governmental entity with the powers and responsibilities of the Town being carried out by the entity referred to as the City of Hartford. In legal theory though not in current practice Connecticut cities and boroughs could be coextensive (covering the same geography as the town) without being consolidated (a single government); also

960-420: A fair number of unincorporated, named communities that lie within the incorporated territory of a municipality. Connecticut is one of two New England states to have any type of incorporated general-purpose municipality below the town level, namely incorporated boroughs (Vermont has incorporated villages). There are nine remaining in the state, with one, Naugatuck , having consolidated with the town. Additionally,

1080-452: A few cases in Maine where a township or gore does not border any other unorganized land, it is treated as its own MCD rather than being folded into a larger UT. In theory, a CDP could probably be defined within an MCD representing an unorganized area. Due to the extremely sparse population in most such areas, however, there are few if any cases in which the Census Bureau has actually done so. For

1200-490: A historical example in New Hampshire, see Plantation number four . Most areas of New England never developed municipal forms based on the compact populated place concept. This contrasts with states with civil townships, which typically have extensive networks of villages or boroughs that carve out or overlay the townships. Two of the New England states do have general-purpose municipalities of this type, however, to at least

1320-518: A household in the town was $ 44,613, and the median income for a family was $ 53,165. Males had a median income of $ 37,887 versus $ 26,800 for females. The per capita income for the town was $ 24,092. About 4.3% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line , including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over. The most frequent ancestries among the town's population are Italian (34.2%), Irish (17.9%) and English (14.2%). Many Italians moved to Westerly from Italy around

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1440-470: A limited extent. Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . Such areas remain a part of their parent town, but assume some responsibilities for municipal services within their boundaries. In both states, they are typically regarded as less important than towns, and both seem to be in decline as institutions. In recent decades, many boroughs and villages have disincorporated, reverting to full town control. The term "village"

1560-474: A list of all New England towns and other town-level municipalities, see the following articles: Note: All population statistics are from the 2020 United States census . Connecticut contains 169 incorporated towns. Put into terms that are equivalent to the other New England states, 20 are cities/boroughs and 149 are towns. (As discussed in the Cities section of Other types of municipalities in New England above,

1680-399: A middle school housing grades 5–7, and the high school housed 8–12. By 1989, the school made efforts to become more accessible to the handicapped. An elevator was added, the handicap ramp was redesigned, and a dumb waiter was installed in the auditorium. To accommodate the growing population, the library and the cafeteria were also enlarged. These renovations did not impress officials from

1800-461: A normal-sized town, these areas were known by a variety of names, including gores , grants, locations, purchases, surpluses, and strips. Sometimes these areas were not included in any town due to survey errors (which is the technical meaning of the term "gore"). Sometimes they represent small areas that were left over when a particular region was carved into towns, not large enough to be a town on their own. Some appear to have simply been granted outside

1920-550: A part of a town — within Barnstable, the seven villages correspond to districts for fire, water, sewer and elementary schooling, for instance. (In Maine and New Hampshire, the term "village corporation" is used for a type of special-purpose district.) Many villages also are recognized as places by the United States Postal Service (some villages have their own post offices , with their names used in mailing addresses) or

2040-520: A particular municipality. All municipalities titled as cities are classified as incorporated places, even if their population-distribution pattern is no different from that of a typical town; towns are never classified as incorporated places, even if they are thoroughly built up. The ambiguity over whether certain municipalities in Massachusetts should be classified as cities or towns, and the Census Bureau's inconsistent handling of these municipalities (see

2160-413: A result, Maine has developed more of an infrastructure for administration of unincorporated and unorganized areas than the other New England states. The existence of this fallback probably explains why Maine has had significantly more towns disincorporated over the years than any other New England state. There have been numerous instances of towns in Maine disincorporating despite populations that numbered in

2280-513: A similar purpose to MCDs in other states in terms of governmental function or civic-identity importance. New England towns are classified as MCDs not because they are not "incorporated" but rather the data that the census gathers on places is analyzed based on different models (those of compact settled places and open rural places) that is not well represented by the New England Town system of organization. In order to better fit their own purposes,

2400-412: A single compact populated place. Plantations in Maine are similarly classified as MCDs. That New England towns serve, in essence, the same function as incorporated places in other states, but are not treated as incorporated places by the Census Bureau, can be a source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that New England towns are not incorporated, or necessarily serve

2520-423: A somewhat different manner from that of the other New England states. In these areas, towns were often "chartered" long before any settlers moved into a particular area. This was very common in the mid to late 18th century—although there were towns which predated that period and were not part of this process in southeastern New Hampshire, such as Exeter . Once there were enough residents in a town to formally organize

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2640-423: A town and a city have become blurred. Since the early 20th century, towns have been allowed to modify the town meeting form of government in various ways (e.g., representative town meeting , adding a town manager ). In recent decades, some towns have adopted what effectively amount to city forms of government, although they still refer to themselves as towns. As a practical matter, one municipality that calls itself

2760-719: A town and another that calls itself a city may have exactly the same governmental structure. With these changes in town government, a reluctance to adopt the title of city seems to have developed, and few towns have officially done so since the early 20th century. In Massachusetts, nine municipalities ( Agawam , Barnstable , Braintree , Franklin , Palmer , Randolph , Southbridge , West Springfield and Weymouth ) have adopted Mayor-Council or Council-Manager forms of government in their home rule charters, and are therefore considered to be legally cities, but nevertheless continue to call themselves "towns". They are sometimes referred to in legislation and other legal documents as "the city known as

2880-426: A town disincorporated or a plantation surrendered its organization). The remaining eight counties contain significant amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory. Most of these areas are in very sparsely populated regions, however. Only about 1.3% of the state's population lives in areas not part of a town, city, or plantation. (Since the 2000 Census, two towns, Madrid and Centerville, have disincorporated. Thus, at

3000-550: A town government, no further action was necessary to incorporate. This practice can lead to inconsistencies in the dates of incorporation for towns in this region. Dates given in reference sources sometimes reflect the date when the town was chartered, which may have been long before it was settled, and not the date when its town government became active. In other parts of New England, some "future towns" were laid out along these lines, but such areas would not be formally incorporated as towns until they were sufficiently settled to organize

3120-551: A town government. A typical town in the northern three states was laid out in a 6-by-6-mile (9.7 by 9.7 km) square. Each contained 36 sections, 1 mile (1.6 km) squares or 640 acres (260 ha). One section was reserved for the support of public schools. This was copied when the Continental Congress laid out Ohio in 1785–87. Many early towns covered very large amounts of land. Once areas had become settled, new towns were sometimes formed by breaking areas away from

3240-557: A town meeting as its legislative body; instead, a city's legislative body is an elected representative body, typically called the city council or town council or board of aldermen . City governments are typically administered by a mayor (and/or city manager ). In common speech, people often generically refer to communities of either type as "towns", drawing no distinction between the two. The presence of incorporated boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont has influenced

3360-460: A unique type of entity called a plantation . Beneath the town level, Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . In addition to towns, every New England state has incorporated cities. However, cities are treated in the same manner as towns under state law, differing from towns only in their form of government. Most cities are former towns that changed to a city form of government because they grew too large to have

3480-475: A very rudimentary organization that does not rise to the level of an organized general-purpose municipal government (e.g., a town clerk 's office exists for the purpose of conducting elections for state or federal offices). In general, unorganized areas fall into one of the three categories below. During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as town boundaries were being drawn up, small areas would sometimes be left over, not included in any town. Typically smaller than

3600-647: A village built in 1732, following the partition of Hopkinton remained shared between both Hopkinton and Westerly with the Bradford Village Historic District . Physician, American Revolution general, and Rhode Island Supreme Court justice Dr. Joshua Babcock was born in Westerly. Rhode Island Governor and Chief Justice Samuel Ward also lived here for many years. During the American Revolution , Westerly did not play any major battles compared to

3720-528: Is Westerly Public Schools , including the Westerly High School , the Westerly Middle School, Westerly High School Career and Tech (WHS- CTE ), and the local elementary schools, State Street Elementary School, Springbrook Elementary School, and Dunn’s Corners Elementary School. Westerly has a mayor–council government system, which the mayor is called the council president. The current mayor

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3840-553: Is William J. Aiello since 2022. The Town of Westerly has other positions, including the school committee, and administration, with town manager being Shawn Lacey. Terms of the local council, senator and representative in the Rhode Island General Assembly last two-years, and school committee officials having four-year terms. Westerly has a set budget of $ 102 million for the Westerly Police Department in

3960-469: Is a town on the southwestern coastline of Washington County , Rhode Island , United States, first settled by English colonists in 1661, and incorporated as a municipality in 1669. Westerly is a beachfront community on the south shore of the state with a population of 23,359 as of the 2020 census. The Pawcatuck River flows on the western border of Westerly, and was once renowned for its own species of Westerly salmon , three of which are displayed on

4080-627: Is approximately 5 miles away and can be reached by Connecticut Route 2 and by Rhode Island Route 3 . New England town Towns date back to the time of the earliest English colonial settlement , which predominated in New England, and they pre-date the development of counties in the region. Areas were organized as towns as they were settled, throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Town boundaries were not usually laid out on any kind of regular grid, but were drawn to reflect local settlement and transportation patterns, often affected by natural features. In early colonial times, recognition of towns

4200-411: Is incorporated, CDPs do not really serve the same purpose as they do elsewhere; CDPs in New England invariably represent territory that is not "unincorporated", but part of a larger incorporated town. The extent to which such an area has its own distinct identity can vary, but is not usually as strong as identification with the town as a whole. There are numerous instances where the Census Bureau recognizes

4320-433: Is no area that is outside the bounds of a municipality. Using usual American terminology, there is no "unincorporated" land in Massachusetts. Of the 351 municipalities, the number that are cities and the number that are towns is a matter of some ambiguity. Depending on which source is consulted, anywhere from 39 to 53 are cities. The ambiguity is the result of questions around the legal status of municipalities that have since

4440-499: Is one of the few states in the region that is an exception to this rule; the Massachusetts Constitution requires a town to have a population of at least 10,000 people before it can switch its government from a town meeting form to a city form. Nevertheless, even without a hard and fast population limit for city status, the practical threshold to become a city seems to be higher in the three southern New England states than in

4560-481: Is sometimes used in New England to describe a distinct, built-up place within a town or city. This may be a town center , which bears the same name as the town or city (almost every town has such a place), or a name related to that of the town, or a completely unrelated name. The town of Barnstable, Massachusetts , for example, includes the villages of Barnstable Village , West Barnstable , Centerville , Marstons Mills , Osterville , Cotuit , and Hyannis . Except for

4680-460: Is sufficiently populated to be covered by a town or a city. In colonial times, Massachusetts also used the term "plantation" for a community in a pre-town stage of development (Maine originally got the term from Massachusetts, as Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820, when it became a state via the Missouri Compromise ). The term "plantation" had not been much used in Massachusetts since

4800-871: The Chorus of Westerly ) in June, and Riverglow in July. In recent years, the Westerly-Pawcatuck Chamber of Commerce's events have attracted many visitors, including big screen movies on the beach through July and August, Westerly's Columbus Day parade in October, and several beachfront events. Also, the Westerly-Pawcatuck Veterans Board of Control hold two of the oldest parades in the United States. The Memorial Day Parade started in 1867, held in May on Memorial Day, and

4920-606: The Georgia State Capitol . The four trolley lines of the Groton and Stonington Street Railway , Norwich and Westerly Railway , Pawtucket Valley Street Railway, and the Ashaway and Westerly Railway converged in Westerly and shared track between the railroad station and Dixon House Square downtown. The lines were built in the 1890s and 1900s and ran until the 1920s. Because of the towns location, Westerly would be devastated in 1938 by

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5040-637: The Guild Guitar Company , founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge in New York City, moved production to Westerly, and continued to make their well-respected archtop , acoustic , and solid body guitars there, until 2001, when they were bought by Fender Musical Instruments and production was moved to Corona, California . In 2012, Hurricane Sandy left beaches along the Westerly shoreline devastated and nearly unrecognizable, including Misquamicut . Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee stated that Misquamicut

5160-659: The Hurricane of 1938 , with the village of Napatree Point being completely destroyed, along with Misquamicut, Galilee, Jerusalem, Green Hill, and Quonochontaug being heavily destroyed, with a storm surge of 12–15ft all along the coast of Rhode Island . Many factories, mines, houses, and more structures collapsed during the hurricane, and the New Haven and Hartford Railroad was damaged, shutting down transport to Westerly, RI. Following this, westerly would be struck again 6 years later in 1944, and again1954 by major hurricanes. In 1966,

5280-556: The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), who criticized Westerly High School’s facilities. Discussion was made about building a new school in Dunn’s Corners, but this idea was widely panned. Instead, voters approved expansion to the middle and high schools. The high school and other schools underwent renovation and modification in the mid-1990s. Work at the high school included four new classrooms, moving

5400-497: The United States Census Bureau (which recognizes some villages as census-designated places and tabulates census data for them). Towns with an example of the former, such as Richmond, Rhode Island , do not have a post office themselves, but instead use villages in town or villages in nearby towns as a mailing address. This leads to a weaker town identification in such towns, with residents more strongly identifying with

5520-549: The United States Census Bureau does not classify New England towns as "incorporated places". They are instead classified as " minor civil divisions " (MCDs), the same category into which civil townships fall. The Census Bureau classifies New England towns in this manner because they are conceptually similar to civil townships from a geographic standpoint, typically exhibiting similar population-distribution patterns. Like civil townships, but unlike most incorporated municipalities in other states, New England towns do not usually represent

5640-425: The eastern seaboard . Its quarries produced blue granite, in addition to pinks and reds. The Smith Granite Company employed many granite cutting craftsmen and was one of the town's major employers until the quarries stopped operating in the 1950s. Hundreds of examples of their work can be seen on the battlefields of Gettysburg and in city squares, municipal buildings, cemeteries throughout the United States, and even

5760-446: The 1840s, and for many years prior to the 1860s Vermont had just one city. Even Massachusetts, historically New England's most populous state, did not have any cities until 1822, when Boston was granted a city form of government by the state legislature. In most of New England, population is not a determining factor for what makes a city or town, and there are many examples of towns with larger populations than nearby cities. Massachusetts

5880-717: The 18th and 19th centuries as what might be termed "future towns", but never saw enough settlement to actually commence operation of a formal town government. All three of the northern New England states also include at least one unorganized township that was once a town but has disincorporated and reverted to unorganized territory, generally due to population loss. Maine also has some unorganized townships that were once organized as plantations. Maine has significantly more unorganized territory than Vermont or New Hampshire. Fewer than 100 Vermont residents and fewer than 250 New Hampshire residents live in unorganized areas. In Maine, by contrast, about 10,000 residents live in unorganized areas. As

6000-489: The 18th century. Massachusetts also once had "districts", which served much the same purpose. They were considered to be incorporated, but lacked the full privileges of a town. On August 23, 1775, in order for more representation for the Revolutionary War, 36 towns in Massachusetts and 6 in Maine were incorporated, effectively eliminating the district meaning. Maine and Rhode Island are also known to have made limited use of

6120-457: The 1970s, through home-rule petition, adopted corporate charters approved by the state legislature with forms of government that resemble city government and do not include elements traditionally associated with town government (especially, a board of selectmen and a town meeting). Of the fourteen communities that have done so, all but three call themselves a "town" in their municipal operations, and are usually referred to by residents as "towns", but

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6240-499: The 1980s. In 1981, three elementary schools closed: Bradford, High Street, and State Street. This led to an extremely crowded high school that, at some times, housed students in grades 7–12. By 1987, State Street Elementary had reopened, which eliminated the seventh grade from the high school. By 1990, the district was more stable, with Bradford Elementary reopened. (High Street Elementary School never reopened.) The elementary schools housed students up to fourth grade , Babcock became

6360-624: The 2024–2025 fiscal budget. Westerly, RI has a general crime rate of 10 per 1000 residents, with most crime happening in Downtown Westerly , and along the coast. Westerly has a total crime rate that is 59% lower than the national average per 100,000 residents. Westerly is marked as one of the safest towns within the entirety of the United States , with 68 violent incidents per 100,000 residents. In total, there are 0.62 daily crimes (0.04 violent daily crimes and 0.57 daily property crimes) in

6480-450: The 20th century, however. One late instance was the separation of Sugar Hill, New Hampshire , from the town of Lisbon in 1962. It has not taken place anywhere in New England in the last fifty years; boundary changes of any type are fairly rare. Towns are the basic building block of the New England municipality system, although several other types of municipalities also exist. Every New England state has cities . In addition, Maine also has

6600-475: The CDP. At the same time, not all built-up places with significant populations are recognized as CDPs. The Census Bureau has historically recognized relatively few CDPs within urbanized areas in particular. Many towns located in such areas do not contain any recognized CDPs and will thus be completely absent from Census materials presenting the population of "places". Greenwich, Connecticut, is one prominent example. While

6720-545: The CT-RI Norwich-New London NECTA (defined at the municipal level ). Westerly sits atop a glacial moraine , a series of small hills of debris left behind by receding glaciers in the last Ice Age. A pristine sample of the moraine encompasses a 140-acre (0.57 km ) preserve owned in perpetuity by the Westerly Land Trust. Within the trust land are the rare kettle formations that extend out under

6840-410: The Census Bureau, can be another source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that cities are incorporated but towns are not, or that cities and towns represent two fundamentally different types of entities. The Census classifies New England municipalities strictly based on whether they are towns or cities, with no regard to the actual population-distribution pattern in

6960-448: The Census only counts cities and certain fully urbanized towns as "places" in its categorization. In other towns, those with small built-up central villages, the Census designates one or more census-designated places (CDPs) and considers all other land to be parts of "minor civil divisions". This classification is done only for the Census's own data analysis, and otherwise has no connection to

7080-463: The Crumb Quarry, began operations, the first quarry in Westerly, to produce Westerly White and Blue granite. The Westerly area was known for its historically important (1870-1950s) granite mining and stone-cutting industry, which quarried a unique stone known as Westerly granite. This pinkish granite is ideal for statuary and has been used in numerous government buildings of several states on

7200-514: The Killingly portion was renamed Danielson by the General Assembly. There are no legal restrictions in Connecticut that would prevent a city or borough today from similarly overlaying the territory of more than one town, provided it is not consolidated with one of the underlying towns. Cities actually developed earlier in Connecticut than in the other New England states, and were originally based on

7320-620: The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office considers all fourteen to be legally cities. Other sources within state government often refer to all fourteen municipalities as towns, however. The U.S. Census Bureau listed all as towns through the 1990 Census. For the 2000 Census, some were listed by the Federal government as towns and some as cities, a situation that continues in Census materials since 2000. Massachusetts appears to be

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7440-466: The Statistics and Superlatives section below), further blurs matters. To fill in some of the "place" data, the Census Bureau sometimes recognizes census-designated places (CDPs) within New England towns. These often correspond to town centers or other villages, although not all such areas are recognized as CDPs. In cases where a town is entirely or almost entirely built-up, the Census sometimes recognizes

7560-512: The Town of ..." Greenfield, in December 2017, dropped the "town" designation, which some called "embarrassing" and which legislators said made paperwork more difficult. Common parlance labeling a community a "city" or a "town" may have more to do with its current size, whether its current size or its historical size and reputation. In addition to towns and cities, Maine has a third type of town-like municipality not found in any other New England state,

7680-524: The Town of Greenwich appears in MCD materials, the Census Bureau does not recognize Greenwich as a "place". In New Hampshire and Vermont, the Census Bureau treats each individual unorganized entity (township, gore, grant, etc.) as an MCD. In Maine, it seems, due to the extent of unorganized area, the Census Bureau typically lumps contiguous townships, gores, and the like together into larger units called "unorganized territories" (UTs), which are then treated as MCDs. In

7800-611: The U.S., except that it uses the town as its basic unit rather than the county. Even though the Census Bureau does not treat New England towns as "incorporated places", it does classify cities in New England as such. The rationale behind this is that cities are likely to be more thoroughly built-up and therefore more readily comparable to cities in other states than towns are. Boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont are also treated as incorporated places. That New England states, in general, regard cities and towns on equal footing, yet they are handled in two different ways by

7920-556: The US Census Bureau treats Groton Long Point as a borough, as an act of the state legislature gives it the same powers as a borough, although it has never formally organized as one. They were once more numerous. Many of those that remain are very small. Connecticut also has at least one remaining city ( Groton ) that is within, but not coextensive with, its parent town . A second non-coextensive city, Winsted , still exists on paper, but its government has been consolidated with that of

8040-694: The USA average), and receives about 1,087 mm (42.8 in) of precipitation annually. Westerly consists of a number of small villages. Downtown Westerly on the Pawcatuck River is the municipal seat of the area, with the old town post office, library, YMCA, railroad station, former police headquarters (the current headquarters is located on Airport Road), granite buildings, and Wilcox Park. Other villages include Avondale, with antique colonial-style and Queen Anne-style homes; Bradford , with its own post office and postal code; Dunn's Corners; Mastuxet; Misquamicut ,

8160-579: The Veterans Day Parade started in 1917, held in November on the Saturday of Veterans Day week. As of the census of 2000, there were 22,966 people, 9,402 households, and 6,130 families residing in the town. The population density was 763.3 inhabitants per square mile (294.7/km ). There were 11,292 housing units at an average density of 375.3 units per square mile (144.9 units/km ). The racial makeup of

8280-470: The actual organization or legal status of New England towns. The census bureau does uniquely recognize towns, however, in that it classifies metropolitan areas in New England on the basis of town boundaries rather than county boundaries as it does in other parts of the U.S. Unique to New England is the New England city and town area , which is analogous to Metropolitan Statistical Areas in other parts of

8400-472: The art teachers were displaced from their classrooms on the second floor of the 1977 wing. The child development classroom was also permanently moved to Babcock. Two additional Babcock Hall classrooms (215 and 216) were renovated, along with ten classrooms in the Ward Building. New classrooms had new floor tiles and ceiling tiles with fans, in addition to interactive white board technology. In February 2011,

8520-505: The borough concept. At one time, all cities were non-coextensive; the practice of making cities coextensive with their towns was a later adaptation intended to mimic the city concept that had emerged in the other New England states. Over time, many non-coextensive cities have expanded to become coextensive with their parent town. As with boroughs, many have also disincorporated and reverted to full town control. These two trends have combined to make non-coextensive cities very rare in recent times;

8640-625: The boundary with New York State , housing the Stratford Shoal Light , is not part of any town and is administered directly by the United States Coast Guard . In general, inhabited minor off-shore islands are administered as part of a nearby town and in some cases, are their own independent towns, such as the town of Gosnold , Massachusetts, which encompasses the Elizabeth Islands . Unlike municipalities in most other states,

8760-407: The building was too small to support the town's population. This led to the construction of a new building on Broad and Granite Street, which was completed in 1903. The high school's population began to rise in the late 1920s. This led to the construction of Babcock Junior High School on Highland Avenue, which reduced the high school population to include only students in grades 10–12. Despite this,

8880-415: The built-up area around a town center as a CDP, resulting in a CDP that bears the same name as the town. In these cases, data for the CDP is, in general, meaningless to local residents, who seldom draw any particular distinction between the built-up area around the town center and outlying areas of the town. A local source citing data for such a community will almost always use the data for the entire town, not

9000-434: The district concept. Districts have not been at all common since the first half of the 19th century, and there have not been any districts anywhere in New England in over a century. Maine is the only New England state that currently has a significant amount of territory that is not sufficiently populated to support town governments; thus, it is the only New England state that still needs the plantation type of municipality. For

9120-505: The early history of Westerly contains many references to him and his sons. In 1669, Westerly was named for the settlement's location respective to Rhode Island 's geography, being the westernmost town in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . In 1738, the Town of Charlestown was partitioned off from Westerly, and 19 years later Hopkinton was also partitioned off from Westerly, leaving Westerly in its modern borders. Bradford ,

9240-400: The evolution of cities in those states. In Connecticut in particular, the historical development of cities was quite different from in the other New England states, and at least technically, the relationship between towns and cities is today different from elsewhere in New England. Just as boroughs in Connecticut overlay towns, so do cities; for example, while Hartford is commonly thought of as

9360-484: The exception rather than the rule in the New England system, and the number of New England residents who live in them is extremely small in comparison to those who live in towns and cities, even in Maine. Most such areas are located in very sparsely populated regions. Much of the barely inhabited interior of Maine is unorganized, for example. The majority of the unincorporated areas in New Hampshire are in Coos County , and

9480-477: The first being an EF-1 tornado which went from Stonington, Connecticut to Westerly. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 74.8 square miles (194 km ), of which, 30.1 square miles (78 km ) is land and 44.7 square miles (116 km ) (59.78%) is water. The Bureau includes Westerly in the RI-MA Providence metropolitan area (defined at the county level) but in

9600-797: The hundreds. While these were not large communities, they were large enough to realistically operate a town government if they wanted to, but simply elected not to. In Vermont and New Hampshire, disincorporation has, in general, not been brought up for discussion unless a town's population has approached single digits. In general, coastal waters in the New England states are administered directly by either state or federal agencies and are not part of any town. Several towns, however, have chosen to include all or part of their corresponding coastal waters in their territory. Coastal waters include human-made structures built within them. In Connecticut, for example, an artificial, uninhabited island in Long Island Sound at

9720-490: The incorporated villages in Vermont, these "villages" are not incorporated municipalities and should not be understood as such. Towns do sometimes grant a certain measure of recognition to such areas, using highway signs that identify them as "villages", for example. These informal "villages" also sometimes correspond to underlying special-purpose districts such as fire or water districts, which are separately incorporated quasi-municipal entities that provide specific services within

9840-464: The largest municipalities in the region are titled as cities. Across New England as a whole, only about 5% of all incorporated municipalities are cities. Cities are more common in the three southern New England states, which are much more densely populated, than they are in the three northern New England states. In early colonial times, all incorporated municipalities in New England were towns; there were no cities. Springfield, Massachusetts , for instance,

9960-628: The library was constructed, allowing teachers to conduct classes while using the library’s resources. Since 2009, the high school has had select programs at Tower Street School. Tower Street closed as an elementary school that year and is now a community center. The music program consists of a variety of courses including both academic as well as performing ensembles. Performing Ensembles Include: Chorus, Concert Band, Marching Band, and Jazz Band. 41°22′33.38″N 71°49′8.8″W  /  41.3759389°N 71.819111°W  / 41.3759389; -71.819111 Westerly, Rhode Island Westerly

10080-612: The majority of the unincorporated areas in Vermont are in Essex County . Two additional counties in New Hampshire and three additional counties in Vermont contain smaller amounts of unincorporated territory. In Maine, eight of the state's sixteen counties contain significant amounts of unorganized territory (in essence, those counties in the northern and interior parts of the state). Four other counties contain smaller amounts. Most of these areas have no local government at all; indeed, some have no permanent population whatsoever. Some areas have

10200-709: The nearby Battle of Newport , which happened in Rhode Island. Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Ward Jr was a resident of Westerly, Rhode Island, commanding the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, the only black regiment in the Continental Army , and its important role in the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Rhode Island . In the early 1800s, prior to the War of 1812 , Westerly had become a shipbuilding center under U.S. Navy Officer Oliver Perry, having built Gunboats . In 1834,

10320-413: The new science and technology wing opened. The first floor consists of two physics labs with a prep room separating them, two computer labs, and two woodshops, in addition to pictures of notable physicists and artists. The floor of the entire wing is designed to resemble a DNA molecule. The second floor has three biology labs, three chemistry labs, a teacher office along with several science prep rooms and

10440-532: The office to a room on the first floor adjacent to the handicap ramp, replacing that office with a new expanded library, and remaking the old library into the Guidance Department and Social Services. Also, a fifth elementary school, Springbrook, was opened in the fall of 1996. By the fall of 1995, grades K–5 were at the elementary schools, grades 6–8 at the middle school, and grades 9–12 at the high school. However, these renovations were projected to accommodate

10560-443: The only New England state where this issue has arisen, though other New England states also have municipalities that have adopted what amounts to city forms of government but continue to call themselves "towns". In the other New England states, it does not appear that any need to officially label such municipalities as "cities" has been identified. For purposes of determining the "largest town" and "smallest city", in this article, only

10680-530: The only one currently incorporated is the city of Groton , located in the southwestern part of the town of Groton, Connecticut . In Vermont, if a village becomes a city, it does not continue to overlay its parent town, but breaks away and becomes a completely separate municipality. Most cities in Vermont today are actually former villages rather than former towns, and are much smaller than a typical town in terms of land area. The above process has created several instances where there are adjacent towns and cities with

10800-411: The original existing towns. This was an especially common practice during the 18th and early 19th centuries. More heavily populated areas were often subdivided on multiple occasions. As a result, towns and cities in urbanized areas are often smaller in terms of land area than an average town in a rural area. Formation of new towns in this manner slowed in the later part of the 19th century and early part of

10920-524: The plantation. A plantation is, in essence, a town-like community that does not have enough population to require full town government or services. Plantations are organized at the county level and typically found in sparsely populated areas. There is no bright-line population divider between a town and a plantation, but no plantation currently has any more than about 300 residents. Plantations are considered to be "organized" but not "incorporated." Not all counties have them; in some southern counties, all territory

11040-450: The platform. Additionally, there have been proposals for CT rail to extend its Shore Line East service eastwards to Westerly station. Westerly has U.S. Route 1 and state routes 1A , 3 , and 91 . Route 78 forms a bypass around Westerly downtown and ends near Westerly Airport, with three interchanges in Rhode Island; the other endpoint is in Stonington, Connecticut . Interstate 95

11160-421: The relationship between towns and cities in Connecticut is different from the other New England states, at least on paper; thus, in the technical sense, all 169 of the above municipalities are really towns, with 20 overlaid by a coextensive city or borough of the same name.) Together, these 169 municipalities cover the entire state. There is no unincorporated territory, but, as in all New England states, there are

11280-439: The remaining 32 are organized as plantations. These 485 organized municipalities together cover much of, but not all of, the state's territory. Of Maine's sixteen counties, only four are entirely incorporated. Four other counties are almost entirely incorporated, but include small amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory (three of these four counties were entirely incorporated or organized at one time, but lost that status when

11400-506: The same name. In all cases, the city was originally the "town center" of the town, but later incorporated as a city and became a separate municipality. All three of the northern New England states ( Vermont , New Hampshire , and Maine ) contain some areas that are unincorporated and unorganized, not part of any town, city or plantation. Maine has significantly more such area than the other two states. While these areas do exist, their importance should not be overstated. They are certainly

11520-557: The school was still not big enough to provide a secondary education to the students of Westerly. The Broad Street building was abandoned and replaced with a new building, completed in 1937, on Ward Avenue, one block east of Babcock Junior High School. This building became known as Ward Senior High School, named after Rhode Island colonial governor Samuel Ward . Throughout the 1960s, the Westerly Public Schools underwent transformations. A fifth elementary school (Dunn's Corners)

11640-453: The sea to Block Island . Westerly has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa ), defined as having a mean monthly temperature between 0 and 18 °C (32 and 64 °F) in the coldest month and at least 22 °C (72 °F) in the warmest month. Annually, Westerly has a long warm/hot season from April to mid-November, and a cool/cold season from late November through March. Westerly averages 2300 hours of sunshine annually (higher than

11760-585: The start of the 20th century (particularly from Sicily and Calabria ), and Italian dialects are still spoken at the homes of many older residents. Washington Trust Bancorp Inc., a publicly traded regional bank with operations in Rhode Island and Connecticut, is headquartered in Westerly. Another regional bank centered directly in Southwest Rhode Island is the Westerly Community Credit Union or WCCU. The main school system of Westerly

11880-557: The summer of 2010, most windows were replaced and the 1977 wing was gutted to allow construction of a new science and technology wing. In order to allow for construction, the woodshop was moved to the Babcock Hall Cafeteria. Three classrooms were renovated into computer labs that allowed the remainder of technology teachers to conduct class there until construction was finished. Three Babcock Hall classrooms that were once science labs were converted into two large art classrooms, as

12000-452: The three northern New England states. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, almost every city has at least 10,000 people, and all but a few have at least 20,000. In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, however, there are a number of cities with fewer than 10,000 people, and there are five (three in Maine and two in Vermont) with fewer than 5,000. Over time, some of the distinctions between

12120-399: The time of the 2000 Census, Maine had 22 cities, 434 towns, and 34 plantations, for a total of 490 organized municipalities. Also since the 2010 Census, Sanford adopted a new charter that included designation as a city.) Massachusetts contains 351 municipal corporations, consisting of cities and towns. These 351 municipalities together encompass the entire territory of Massachusetts; there

12240-444: The town of Winchester for many years, making it more of a special-purpose district than a true municipality. Winsted is no longer recognized by the Census Bureau as an incorporated place, although data is tabulated for a Census Designated Place that is coextensive with that of the original city. As of the 2020 census, Maine contains 485 organized municipalities, of which 23 are incorporated as cities, 430 are incorporated as towns, and

12360-536: The town of Westerly. In Westerly, there is the Westerly State Airport , which offers services by New England Airlines . Along with Westerly State Airport, Amtrak also offers services by the Westerly Amtrak Station between Washington, DC and Boston , stopping at the Westerly station near downtown. The station itself was closed in October 2016, but passengers can still board and disembark at

12480-562: The town was 95.17% White , 0.71% Black or African American , 0.57% Native American , 1.99% Asian , 0.34% from other races , and 1.22% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.18% of the population. There were 9,402 households, out of which 29.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.2% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. Of all households, 29.0% were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who

12600-601: The town's official seal. The Pawcatuck River flows from 15 mi (24 km) inland, emptying into Little Narragansett Bay . It also serves as the boundary between Westerly and Pawcatuck, Connecticut . Three large salt ponds lie along the coast of Westerly which serve as shallow, reef-like pools whose outer walls form the long, white beaches for which the town is renowned, such as the Misquamicut State Beach . From west to east, these ponds are Maschaug Pond , Winnapaug Pond , and Quonochontaug Pond . The Westerly area

12720-511: The town’s growth only until 2005. The high school also suffered from "turmoil" and administrative instability in the later part of this era. After being shepherded by only two principals from 1966 to 1989, eight different principals served from 1989 to 1997 with six principals in the latter five years. In 2001, members from the Gilbane Construction Company argued that Westerly should build or expand its schools. The superintendent

12840-621: The usual town structure, sometimes in areas where it was probably not contemplated that towns would ever develop. Over time, those located in more populated areas were, in general, annexed to neighboring towns or incorporated as towns in their own right. No such areas exist today in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Rhode Island, but some remain in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. All three of the northern New England states contain some town-sized unorganized entities, referred to as "unorganized townships" (sometimes, just "townships") or "unorganized towns". Most of these are areas that were drawn up on maps in

12960-451: The village they live in. However, villages or CDPs have no existence as general-purpose municipalities separate from the town (if they even have any legal existence at all), and are usually regarded by local residents as a part of the town in which they are located, less important than the whole. It is possible for a Connecticut borough or Vermont village to become a city. In Connecticut, cities overlay towns just as boroughs do, and, just like

13080-586: Was "our New Jersey," referring to the amount of damage that was received in the State of New Jersey . The damages caused by Hurricane Sandy caused $ 11.3 million dollars in damages, with almost 100,000 power outages reported in Rhode Island . In December of 2019, a shooting happened at the Babcock Village, in which three women ended up shot. The police identified the shooter, and two surviving victims. The shooting

13200-449: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.98. In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.5% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males. The median income for

13320-586: Was a town for the first two centuries of its existence. The entire land areas of Connecticut and Rhode Island had been divided into towns by the late 18th century, and Massachusetts was almost completely covered early in the 19th century. By 1850, the only New England state that still had large unincorporated areas was Maine ; by the end of the 19th century, most areas in Maine that could realistically be settled had been organized into towns. Early town organization in Vermont and much of New Hampshire proceeded in

13440-558: Was added. In addition, Babcock Junior High and Westerly High were renovated. The high school got a new library, new science rooms, new music rooms, and new general classrooms. In the mid–1970s, ninth grade returned to the high school. High enrollment and the extra grade led to the creation of a new gymnasium (Federico Gymnasium) and new classrooms. The new wing – built on a practice field near Park Avenue – comprised home economics classrooms, technology classrooms, art classrooms, and general classrooms. The high school became overcrowded in

13560-539: Was against expanding the current buildings, so attention directed to the construction of new buildings. The most profitable property was known as the Panciera Property, located on Route 1. Ideas included making that a second middle school or an intermediate school. Another idea included building a new high school on Park Avenue, making the high school the middle school, and making Babcock the administration building, or possibly selling it. The idea that won over voters

13680-573: Was done by 66-year old Joseph Giachello, who was found dead in his room after taking the life of 47-year old Julie Cardinal, the manager of the complex. During this shooting, all the schools in Westerly managed by Westerly Public Schools were put into lockdown, although Westerly Public Schools stated: “there is no verifiable threat to any of the buildings.” In August of 2021, Tropical Storm Henri made landfall in Westerly, causing significant damage and power outages. Following Henri’s impacts, in November 2021, three tornadoes were confirmed in Rhode Island,

13800-402: Was installed at Babcock, allowing students to enter from the back, rather than the front. Throughout the 2005–06 school year, Park and Ward Avenues were closed off and made into a quadrangle to ease access between buildings for the high school students. Three years later, the taxpayers of Westerly decided that further renovation at Westerly High School was necessary. The work began in 2010. In

13920-562: Was known as Misquamicut , home to the Narragansett people prior to 1637, before the English had build an outpost, and forced the Narragansett people out of the region by 1661, allowing for the permanent settlement on the coast line. The English village was the home of Elder John Crandall ( c.  1618 –1676), one of Westerly's founding fathers. Crandall settled in Westerly in 1661, and

14040-432: Was known for its historically important granite mining and stone-cutting industry, until the quarries stopped operating in the 1950s. Westerly becomes a notable tourist destination during the summer months when the population nearly doubles. Its well-known beaches include Weekapaug Beach, Westerly Town Beach, Misquamicut State Beach , East Beach, and Watch Hill Beach. Westerly, R.I. prior to English colonization

14160-442: Was settled as a "plantation" (in colonial Massachusetts, the term was synonymous with town) as early as 1636, but the city of Springfield was not established until 1852. The oldest cities in New England date to the last few decades of the 18th century, (e.g. New Haven, Connecticut , was chartered as a city in 1784). In New England, cities were not widespread until well into the 19th century. New Hampshire did not have any cities until

14280-482: Was to build a new middle school on the Panciera property, and combining Babcock Middle and the high school into a high school campus. The property was bought in 2002, and the new Westerly Middle School broke ground in April 2004. After the completion of the middle school, the attention turned to the high school buildings. The high school’s corridors were renovated and select classrooms received new ceiling tiles. A bridge

14400-431: Was very informal, generally connected to local church divisions. By 1700, colonial governments had become more involved in the official establishment of new towns. Towns were typically governed by a town meeting form of government, as many still are today. Towns originally were the only form of incorporated municipality in New England. The city form of government was not introduced until much later. Boston , for instance,

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