The Italians maintained their Old World atmosphere in Pontiac
During much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries mill owners
sought to keep costs down and profits high by hiring cheap labor. As a
result, by the 1930s, Pontiac Village had become host to a number of
immigrant groups. The Irish were fairly well established there by mid
century and, during the period following the Civil War, they were
joined by French Canadians. In the latter part of the nineteenth
century, the impact of the Swedish immigrants became obvious as many
left Vastergotland and Gottenburg to settle in Pontiac.
The Italian Immigration
By the turn of the century, a tremendous wave of immigration began
which added the Italians to Pontiac's growing number of foreign-born
workers. Carmela E. Santoro, in her The Italians in Rhode Island, notes
that while Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine mariner, led the first
recorded European visit to Rhode Island in 1524, the real impact of the
Italians came nearly four centuries later. She notes, "Large scale
Italian immigration to Rhode Island did not begin until the late
nineteenth century." Any attempt to determine the number of Italians in
Rhode Island before 1850 is difficult as nativity information was not
collected in the federal census before that time.
From Fornelli to the Pawtuxet Valley
The records show that by 1900 there were nearly 9,000 residents who
were born in Italy. Charles Carroll, author of Rhode Island, Three
Centuries of Democracy, tells us, "An impressive immigration of
Italians during the next decade carried the number of residents of
Rhode Island born in Italy to 27,287 in 1910." Most of those who took
part in the great migration from 1898 to 1932 were from southern Italy
and, while they were predominantly farmers, they came to work in the
mills. Many of those who settled in the Pawtuxet Valley were hired by
B. B. & R. Knight Company mills in Natick and Pontiac.
They came from Fornelli, a walled medieval town in the Campobasso
Province of Italy, about fifty miles north of Naples. One typical
Italian immigrant from Campobasso was Antonio DiFranco, who came to
Natick in 1904 when he was twelve years old. He worked in the mills
when the average weekly take home pay for textile workers was $14. In
most mills of the Pawtuxet Valley, the Italian immigrants averaged
less, often getting only $10.00 per week. They lived in company housing
where the rent was low, approximately $1.25 per week.
Carroll in his encyclopedic work points out that, "Even low wages,
measured by American standards, were high wages to Italians." "The
Italians," he adds, "were frugal in habit and taste...." They adjusted
their expenditures to their earnings, and often more than one family
would share a house.
Below the Tracks
During World War I and the period immediately following it, the textile
industry boomed in Pontiac, Apponaug, and Natick as war contracts
brought the factories in the Pawtuxet Valley to full production. The
section of Pontiac below the tracks, on what was then Railroad Street
and is now West Natick Road, was inhabited by Italian and French
Canadian workers, most of whom lived in company houses and paid rent to
the B. B. & R. Knight Company. As in these areas and in sections of
Natick, so many Italian immigrants came that they were able to
establish a culture unique to the area. Carroll notes, "The Italian
sections maintained an Old World atmosphere; the shopkeepers offered
Italian foods for sale, filling the windows with piles of hard cheeses
and rows of fresh cream cheeses, with fresh and dried sausages and
other meats fresh cut or cured in Italian fashion.…”
The grocery store very often was the center of village life for the
immigrants. Here, the "old timers" would often congregate to gossip,
tell stories of their adventures, or reminisce about the "old days" in
the "old country." Often, news of the village in Italy or of relatives
was transmitted here as well.
The story of Pontiac Village and its people will be continued.
Mama,
Papa and Jeff Santille on the porch of their store in Pontiac. The
store once housed the Fortunate Finds bookstore which specialized in
Rhode Island materials and which attracted. Noted Rhode Island
Historians.
Courtesy of Millie Longo