page_title: Pascoag, Rhode Island
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Pascoag, Rhode Island / History
caption_attribution_description: English: 1909 divided back postcard of Wallum Lake station in Pascoag, Rhode Island
context_page_description: Pascoag is a census-designated place and village in Providence County, Rhode Island. The population was 4,577 at the 2010 census. Pascoag is one of eight villages that make up the town of Burrillville.
context_section_description: The name of Burrillville's principal village, Pascoag, named after the stream upon which it is located, probably derives from an Algonquian Indian root. The Nipmuc word for snake was rendered "askug" by Roger Williams in his A Key Into the Language of America, and "askoog" by the Reverend John Eliot in his Algonquian translation of the Bible.
  
   
  Pascoag can trace its origins back to the first half of the 18th century, when a saw mill and other businesses were built in what is now the village center.  In the 19th century, Pascoag became a textile manufacturing town, an industry that continued until after World War II. From 1891 until the 1930s the Woonsocket and Pascoag Railroad operated trains to Pascoag, but the line (currently operated by the Providence and Worcester Railroad) now terminates in Slatersville.
  The horror author H. P. Lovecraft set part of his story "The Horror at Red Hook" (1925) in Pascoag.
  Recent history includes an incident involving groundwater contamination. A test of the groundwater conducted on September 14, 2001, showed that the water contained the ether MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) at levels of over 350 ppb (parts per billion). This was the first public statement concerning the presence of MTBE in Pascoag drinking water, though residents claim to have detected it as early as May 2001. MTBE is a gasoline additive intended to enhance octane levels. It is believed to have come from leaking tanks at a local Exxon Mobil gas station. As the situation was resolved over the following months, nearly 1,500 residents of Pascoag responded by filing a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil through the law offices of Napoli, Kaiser, and Bern. Exxon Mobil has signed off on a $7 million settlement with residents of Pascoag in May 2012, to cover the cost of having the Pascoag Public Utility District bore new wells.
caption: Wallum Lake station in Pascoag in 1909
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