City of Woonsocket City Hall

Story

The Woonsocket City Hall, is located at 169 Main Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.Edward Harris, a leading Woonsocket industrialist, constructed the earliest part of the building in 1856, and it was known as the Harris Block, with stores on the first floor, and an auditorium hall seating 1,100 on the third floor. This brick structure has elements of Italianate styling, including round-arch windows and a heavily dentilled cornice. A major Richardsonian Romanesque addition was made to the rear of this structure in 1891. In 1902 the city purchased the building for use as city hall.The building served as the first public library in Rhode Island, housed on the second floor, which is now the Woonsocket Harris Public Library.In March 1860 Abraham Lincoln spoke to a packed crowd in Harris Hall, which at the time contained one of the largest assembly rooms in the state. References and external linksErik Eckilson, "Woonsocket, My Town"