Scituate at a Glance:

The town of Scituate is located in Providence County, Rhode Island. Scituate was first settled in 1710 by emigrants from Scituate, Massachusetts. The original spelling of the town's name was "Satuit", a native Indian word meaning "cold brook" or "cold river." It was part of Providence until 1731.
Scituate was once made up of a multitude of small villages, including North Scituate, Hope, Ashland, Clayville, Elmdale, Fiskeville, Glenn Rock, Harrisdale, Jackson, Kent, Ponaganset, Potterville, Richmond, Rockland, Saundersville, and South Scituate. Foster was incorporated as a separate town in 1781, taking the western half of Scituate.
In 1915, the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to take 14,800 acres of land in Scituate (38% of the town) to create a reservoir to supply fresh water to greater Providence. This project resulted in the condemnation of "1,195 buildings, including 375 houses, seven schools, six churches, six mills, thirty dairy farms, eleven ice houses, post offices, and an electric railway system, the Providence and Danielson Railway system". The hamlets of Kent, Richmond, Rockland, South Scituate, Ashland, Saundersville, Ponaganset and parts of North Scituate and Clayville disappeared forever.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 54.8 square miles, of which 6.1 square miles is water. The Scituate Reservoir is the largest freshwater body of water in the state of Rhode Island. It has an aggregate capacity of 39 billion U.S. gallons and a surface area of 5.3 square miles. It and its six tributary reservoirs—which make up a total surface area of 7.2 square miles—supply drinking water to more than 60 percent of the state population. The surrounding drainage basin that provides water to the reservoir system covers an area of about 94 square miles, which includes most of the town of Scituate and parts of Foster, Glocester, Johnston, and Cranston. The Scituate Reservoir is operated by Providence Water Supply Board.
Scituate's governmental structure is composed of a seven-member Town Council.