About West Greenwich

The Town of West Greenwich was set off from East Greenwich and incorporated by the General Assembly April 6, 1741. In 1790 the population of the town was 2,054. In 1920 it had dropped to 387 but in 1970 it had increased to 1,841. The 2000 census data lists the population at 5,085.

The original deed was executed June 30, 1709 for 1,100 pounds. It divided West Greenwich, some 35,000 acres of land, from the vacant land in the Narragansett country tract and ran to 13 residents of East Greenwich and Warwick. A petition was submitted in October 1740, to Governor Richard Ward, requesting that this area be set off as a separate town. It wasn't until April 1741 that the General Assembly for the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the request of freemen of this area incorporated West Greenwich is a separate town.
(by Roberta Baker - Bits and Pieces of West Greenwich Memoranda)

Our coat of arms was one of the Coats of Arms of Municipalities in Kent County designed by Howard M. Chapin - one time head of the Rhode Island Historical Society in conjunction with the State Tercentenary Celebration. It is patterned after Greenwich, England in the county of Kent. A silver hour glass on a little blue field, with a golden stripe at the top on which is a red setting sun. The arms are a modification of those of East Greenwich, differenced with the setting sun significant of the west.