Scituate is located just beyond the suburban sprawl of Johnston to the west of Providence. The town was mainly an agricultural settlement, but as more settlers came, water power was developed along its many streams. At Hope, a small village in the southern end of the town, an iron furnace was established in which ore was melted, shipped in from a bog in nearby Cranston. In later years cotton mills were established and several small villages were incorporated.  The City of Providence acquired title to a large area in the northern part of the town, and there, through construction of a large dam, several thousand acres were flooded, establishing the Scituate Reservoir, Providence's main source of water supply.  Today Scituate is best known for its many apple orchards, old farms and long stretches of stone walls dividing the beautiful woodlands.

Government in Scituate, Rhode Island 

Scituate was Established in 1636, Incorporated in 1730
Scituate Form of Government: Seven member Town Council.
Scituate Council Meetings: The second Thursday of each month at 7:30 PM., (Work session on the 4th Thursday of each month at 7:30 PM.) Financial Town Meeting held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April.
Scituate Fiscal Year Begins: April 1

Scituate Town Hall
195 Danielson Pike
North Scituate, Rhode Island 02857
FAX: 647-7220
Hours: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Scituate General Demographic Characteristic 

• Scituate Population: The population count for The Town of Scituate as of April 1, 2005, was 10,324. This represented a 5.39% increase (528 persons) from the 1990 population of 9,796.
• Scituate Rank: In 2005 Scituate ranks 29th in population among Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns.
• Scituate Median Age: In 2005 the median age of the population in Scituate was 39.7.
• Scituate Age Distribution: In 2000, 74.5% or 7,689 persons residing in Scituate were 18 years of age or older. 7,380 were 21 and over, 1,462 were 62 and over, and 1,241 were 65 and over.
• Scituate Population Density: The 2005 population density of Scituate is 212 persons per square mile of land area. Scituate contains 48.68 square miles of land area (126,073,105 Sq. meters) (31,153.58 acres) and 6.11 square miles of water area (15,828,779 square meters) (3,910.38 acres).
• Scituate Housing Units: The total number of housing units in the The Town of Scituate as of April 1, 2005, was 3,904. This represented an increase of 384 units from the 3,520 housing units in 1990. Of the 3,904 housing units 124 were vacant. 22 of the vacant units were for seasonal of recreational use.
• Scituate Households: In 2005, there are 3,780 households in Scituate with an average size of 2.72 persons. Of these, 2,931 were family households with an average family size of 3.12 persons.
• Scituate Race:
  > Scituate Total Population of One Race: 10,264
  > Scituate White Population: 10,131
  > Scituate Black of African American: 30
  > Scituate American Indian and Alaska Native: 7
  > Scituate Asian Population: 60
  > Scituate Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 3
  > Some Other Race in Scituate: 33
  > Scituate Total Population of two or More Races: 60
  > Scituate Hispanic or Latino: In 2005, 77 persons of Hispanic origin resided in Scituate. This represented 0.7% of the population. An increase of 24 or 45.3% from the 1980 Hispanic population of 53. 
  
                                          Scituate, Rhode Island Official Web Site