Living in Fall River, Massachusetts

Fall River is a South Coast city in Bristol County on Mount Hope Bay, bordering Westport to the south. Its history runs deep: a major 19th-century textile mill city with a strong Portuguese-American community, and home to Battleship Cove, the world's largest collection of WWII naval vessels, including the battleship USS Massachusetts. It's also the city where the famous 1892 Lizzie Borden case took place, and the Lizzie Borden House remains a well-known local landmark today.

The Braga Bridge, carrying I-195 across the Taunton River, connects Fall River to New Bedford and Cape Cod to the east, and to Providence, Rhode Island to the west, making the city a real regional crossroads.

Fall River's identity is closely tied to its mill history, many of the city's old textile mills have been converted into apartments, offices, and retail space, giving certain neighborhoods real architectural character. The city is built across several hills, giving it the nickname "the City of Seven Hills," and the Highlands, a historic district known for its Victorian-era mansions built by the city's mill-owning families, is one of its most recognizable residential neighborhoods. The city is also home to Bristol Community College's main campus.

Fall River Public Schools runs a full system citywide; here are a few, elementary through high school, plus the regional vocational-technical option:

• Spencer Borden Elementary School, public, PreK-5
• William S. Greene Elementary School, public, PreK-5
• Matthew J. Kuss Middle School, public middle school
• James Madison Morton Middle School, public middle school
• Edmond P. Talbot Middle School, public middle school
• B.M.C. Durfee High School, public, grades 9-12
• Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School, public, vocational-technical

Fall River has nine elementary schools in all; see the district's full school list for every option.