len, and other textiles,
electroplating, food preparations, jewelry burnishing, lapidary work,
leather, machinery, metallic goods, printing, bleaching, and dyeing. The
capital invested in these industries is chiefly devoted to jewelry
business, and is placed by the report at a total of $2,924,890; the
products are valued at $4,345,809; and the number of employes is set at
3,378. But that census, though substantially correct when made, will not
answer now; for, in the five years elapsed since it was taken, new
factories have been built, new firms have started in business, and old
ones have enlarged their trade.

The spirit of enterprise engendered by the large business interests in
which the leading citizens are engaged is manifest also in the
management of public affairs, and the town is noted for liberal
expenditures of money in the way of substantial improvements. The public
buildings, with the exception of two high-school houses recently
erected, and the new Universalist Church in North Attleboro, a handsome
brick structure, demand no special mention; but its system of abundant
water supply and the provision made for an efficient fire department are
standing advertisements that the town looks carefully after the health
and protection of its citizens and their homes. For many years the
Farmers and Mechanics Association has held an autumnal town fair, where
in its ample grounds and halls are exhibited a fine display of farm
stock, implements and produce, domestic and artistic handiwork, and
manufactured goods of the trades. The grounds contain also a fine
half-mile track, on which is annually made a showing of horses owned in
Attleboro that would compare favorably with any other in the country.
Another organization which attests the live, progressive spirit of the
place is the Board of Trade, to which most of the leading business men
belong. It was established in the spring of 1881, with commodious rooms
and appointments on Washington Street, North Attleboro.

No town in Bristol county has provided more liberally for the education
of youth than Attleboro, and in the larger centres a graded school
system has been adopted; nor is it lacking in the appointed means of
moral improvement, since there are within its limits no less than
fifteen religious societies, holding regular Sunday services. Two weekly
newspapers, the _Advocate_ and the ... are published in the place; there
are also two national banks, one savings bank,