Number quarries, 113; ports of entry, 9; customs districts, 11. First American newspaper, Boston, 1690; first freight railroad in United States, Quincy; first American library at Harvard College.
Number colleges, 7; education compulsory; schools excellent; school age, 5-15.
Legal interest rate, 6; by contract, any rate.
| RHODE ISLAND. | Rōd I´land. "Little Rhody." |
One of the thirteen original States and smallest in the Union; supposed temporary settlement by Icelanders as early as 1000; settled by Roger Williams at Providence, 1636; last of the thirteen colonies to ratify the Constitution, which it did in 1790.
Area, 1,250 square miles; extreme length, north and south, 47 miles; extreme width, 40 miles. Good harbors at Providence, Bristol, Warren and Newport, the latter one of the finest in the world. Number counties, 5.