The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Cranston
industrial city (1990 pop. 76,060), Providence co., central R.I., a residential suburb of Providence; inc. as a town 1754, as a city 1910. Its manufactures include machinery, plastics, rubber products, and chemicals. The city was named for Samuel Cranston, a colonial governor of Rhode Island. In the 19th cent., Cranston was an important textile center. The Friends Meeting House (1729) and several pre-Revolutionary buildings still stand.
