Abraham Lincoln arrived by train in Woonsocket on March 8, 1860 at the invitation of Edward Harris and Latimer Ballou, two prominent city residents who opposed the spread of slavery to the new territories. Just over a week earlier, Lincoln had delivered his famous Cooper Union Address in New York that argued the evils of slavery without calling for an immediate end to slavery in the South. Following his speech in New York, he traveled to Providence, where he gave a similar speech to crowds gathered at Railroad Hall on February 28.

Lincoln then embarked on a 12-day tour of New England, visiting his son at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before returning to Providence. On the morning of March 8, he traveled to Woonsocket on a train packed with supporters and was welcomed by a marching band. That evening, he spoke before crowds reported to be as large as 1,000 in Harris Institute Hall, a space that had been constructed a few years earlier and would not become Woonsocket’s City Hall for another 50 years.

Though the text of his speech was not recorded, historians believe it likely echoed the Cooper Union and Providence addresses. Harris, a wealthy mill owner, was himself known as a fierce abolitionist (he’d previously run for governor with the abolitionist Liberty Party), and his invitation to Lincoln was likely in the hopes that Lincoln’s more moderate message would entice mill-owners who were morally opposed to slavery but concerned about their business interests in the southern states.

That evening, Lincoln stayed at “Oakley”, Edward Harris’s mansion in the city’s North End, before returning west the following day. In the fall, he carried Rhode Island in the popular vote by 61 percent. In commemoration of his visit to the city, a bronze plaque was placed at the entrance Woonsocket’s City Hall.

Credit:  LAUREN CLEM Valley Breeze Staff Writer –  Jul 31, 2019