Immigrant city

French-Canadian heritage lends an Old-World air

March 14, 2007

BY ELLEN ALBANESE | GLOBE STAFF

'Bienvenu à Woonsocket" reads the mural covering one side of a four-story brick building in Woonsocket's historic downtown, a reminder of this city's French-Canadian heritage. In the late 1800s whole families and even whole villages left the farms of Quebec for the factories of northern Rhode Island. Mill owners recruited the Canadians because they were hardworking and resistant to unions, believing as Roman Catholics that they owed allegiance only to God and family. A French-language daily newspaper was published in Woonsocket until 1942. Daily French-language radio broadcasts continued into the 1960s. Today the American-French Genealogical Society, located in the basement of the First Universalist Church on Earle Street , helps dozens of people each week trace their roots through its ever-expanding collection of primary documents, including more than 10,000 volumes of birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial records from Rhode Island and Canada.

Take a walk through Main Street's historic district, from the Stadium Theatre at Monument Square to the Museum of Work & Culture in Market Square. Along the three-quarters of a mile or so, you'll see buildings dating from the mid-1800s, remnants of the trenches that once ran under the buildings to increase water power to the mills, and a plaque commemorating the spot where Abraham Lincoln once spoke.

The ceiling of St. Ann Arts & Cultural Center (82 Cumberland St., 401-356-0713, 401-767-3777, stannartctr.org ) has been called the best example of fresco art in the country by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It took Italian-born Guido Nincheri eight years to complete his masterpiece in the 1940s, and he used members of the parish as models (one young woman's face appears in 40 angel medallions). Tours are offered Sundays between 1 and 4 p.m., $5.

The Museum of Work & Culture (42 South Main St., 401-769-9675, rihs.org ) is filled with the voices of the city's immigrant textile workers. The museum re-creates the sights and sounds of a working mill, a crowded triple-decker, a 1920s classroom, a church, and a union hall. The Lt. Georges Dubois Veterans Gallery features the Rhode Island boxcar of the Merci Train sent by France to the United States as a gesture of thanks in 1949.

You can't get more central than the family owned and operated Woonsocket Motor Inn (333 Clinton St., 401-762-1224 , $60-$68) in the city's Social Street business area, within walking distance of the library, several banks, and many restaurants.

The Pillsbury House is a bed-and-breakfast in an 1875 home in the upscale North End (341 Prospect St., 401-766-7983, pillsburyhouse.com , $95-$135). There are four guest rooms, each with a private bath.