Letter: Barrington 300? That anniversary is not until 2070

Posted 4/26/17

To the editor:

I’m a lifelong resident of Barrington who graduated from Barrington High School last year and now attends UMass Lowell where I dorm for most of the schoolyear. I recently …

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Letter: Barrington 300? That anniversary is not until 2070

Posted

To the editor:

I’m a lifelong resident of Barrington who graduated from Barrington High School last year and now attends UMass Lowell where I dorm for most of the schoolyear. I recently returned home from school for a weekend and noticed all the 300th year celebration signs lining County Road through the center of town. Frankly, I just find this celebration to be ridiculous.

Barrington 300 celebration kicked off with preview party.

As you enter town from Warren, the sign welcoming you says, “Established 1770”. In accordance with that date, the town celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1970, which “included a bicentennial ball, a bicentennial parade, and the publication of a bicentennial booklet.” It says this on the town’s own website in the historical overview.

The reason for this seeming mismatch of dates is that Barrington broke off from Swansea and became Barrington, Massachusetts in 1717. All of the current Bristol County was ceded to Rhode Island by Massachusetts in 1747, but at that time Barrington was made a part of Warren. It wasn’t until 23 years later in 1770 that Barrington was made its own town in Rhode Island.

The proper time to be celebrating the 300th anniversary of the town, in my opinion, is 2070. For one thing, celebrating the anniversary this year counts 23 years when the town of Barrington didn’t exist. 

The town’s current government was created in 1770, not 1717. But most of all, it’s simply absurd that the town is celebrating its 300th anniversary 47 years after its 200th.

William Stockhecker

Barrington

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