1910 Johnston Directory, page 196 (found at Johnston Historical Society
- office)
*Historic Sketch of the Town of Johnston*
The town of Johnston was taken from the western part of Providence and
made a separate town March 6, 1759. The town was named in honor of
Augustus Johnston, who was attorney general at one time.
It is bounded on the north by the town of Smithfield, on the northwest
and east by North Providence and Providence city, on the south by the
town of Cranston and west by Scituate. It contains the Johnston elm
noted for its size, but ruined by the September gale of 1869. On the
Angell farm near the site of the elm are several springs, one of which
is noted for its mineral water.
In the deed conveying the original grant of land from the Indians to
Roger Williams the great hill of “Neutaconkanut,” is mentioned as one of
the boundaries, and in subsequent deeds executed by Roger Williams
himself, to other purchasers. The hill is now located within the
boundaries of the city of Providence. Johnston has within its limits an
Indian burial ground, a soap stone quarry and a place where Indian
pottery was once manufactured.
Shells imbedded in the earth indicated the site of an Indian village,
which flourished here not many generations ago. It may not be generally
known to the present generation, but Bear Ledge in Johnston furnished
the large granite columns and facades of the unique Providence Arcade
built in 1828. The town of Johnston took a conspicuous part in the late
Civil War in 1865.
Hughesdale takes its name from Thomas Hughes, who came here in 1849.
The village of Thornton was originally called Simmonsville in honor of
James S. Simmons who built a mill here in 1835, which was totally
destroyed by fire twelve years later. In 1884 Charles Fletcher erected
the present mill now owned and operated by the British Hosiery Company.
Upper Simmonsville was formerly a thriving manufacturing village until
the great Simmonsville flood of April 13, 1840. Graniteville is a small
village in the northeastern portion of the town. The principal source of
business, however of this place, is carried on in the mills on the
opposite side of the Woonasquatucket river in the town of North Providence.
The population, according the latest census returns of 1910, is 5,936.
In 1900, 4,305. Increase 1,631, or 38.9 per cent. Italians and English
are prominent in settling the country here.