Neighborhood of the Week: Pascoag

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

New apartments and homes expected to revitalize historic village in Burrillville.

Pascoag is a quaint village in the northwest corner of the state. Once a thriving mill town, it is now a quiet bedroom community. Markets, restaurants, salons and a wonderful 120-year-old hardware store are all within walking distance.

BURRILLVILLE, R.I. — After years of planning, an effort to revitalize Pascoag village is set to begin in 2016.

Close to 100 new affordable apartments and replacement of some the vacant, deteriorating storefronts along a section of Pascoag Main Street are parts of the plan from NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, a nonprofit community development agency based in Woonsocket.

The $28-million development, called Greenridge Apartments, will include 96 new affordable homes on two sites in Pascoag village. Seventy-five townhouse apartments, named Greenridge Commons, will be built on nine acres on South Main Street.

About one mile away, in the commercial center of Pascoag village, the "Greenridge Downtown" development will include 21 second- and third-floor apartments in three mixed-use buildings. There will be a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom homes. More than 8,000 square feet of new commercial space will be located on the ground level of the new buildings.

One of the new buildings in Greenridge Downtown will be on the site of the former Pascoag Music Hall, later known as Berk's department store, which was damaged by fire in 2002. This will be replaced, along with another building to its northeast, by new construction at 74-84 Pascoag Main Street.

Three other buildings across the street, at 73 to 89 Main Street, will also be replaced with new construction. 

When the Greenridge project is completed, Burrillville will meet the state mandate of having 10 percent of its housing stock be affordable. In addition, the plan includes the preservation of 116 acres through a conservation easement.

Town Planner Tom Kravitz said the new downtown buildings have been designed to fit in with the village's historic character.

"With Pascoag being so remote, the private sector will not assume the risk of operating a business after having to dump tens of thousands of dollars into building code updates," Kravitz said. "Pascoag does not have the disposable income of, say, a Wickford, that can absorb costly historical renovation that complies with new codes. However, as I said, every time there has been new construction in this area, entrepreneurs will take chances on small enterprises. The administration is being very selective and strategic about positioning some properties in a way that lets the private sector take over."

The commercial center of the village includes a small triangular street grid along Pascoag Main Street, Bridge Way, and Sayles Avenue. The Well One medical and dental office complex, across from Brigido's Supermarket and the Pascoag post office, is at the Sayles Avenue and Bridge Way. The Pascoag River runs though this triangle, which is also near the Pascoag Fire Department's headquarters.

A senior housing apartment complex, Bradford Court, is a short distance from the village center. Pascoag village also includes tree-lined residential streets surrounding the commercial center. Along with single-family houses, there are surviving historic multifamily homes that date to Pascoag's era as a mill village.

According to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, Pascoag was named after the Pascoag Indian tribe, a subtribe of the Nipmucs. Settlement dates to about 1746, when saw and grist mills were established there.

Burrillville's biggest growth spurt occurred in the 1840s, when Irish immigrants moved to Pascoag and Harrisville to work in the local woolen mills. The Sayles Mill in Pascoag, also known as the Granite Mill, was the largest mill in town, established by Albert L. Sayles in the early 1800s. In 1873, the Providence and Springfield Railroad began service from Providence to Pascoag. The Sayles Mill was destroyed on May 14, 1981, in a fire that also took the life of a crane operator.

There were close to 15 properties listed for sale in Pascoag last week. The asking prices for the houses ranged from $99,000, for an estate-sale house at 40 East Wallum Lake Rd. that "will need a complete overhaul" and is being sold "as-is," to $645,000 for a five-bedroom, 6,500-square-foot house at 404 Town Farm Rd.

POPULATION (Burrillville, 2010) 15,955

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE (Burrillville, 2014) $208,750 

 Source: Providence Journal  Christine Dunn

Journal Staff Writer