On Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m., the Cranston Historical Society cordially invites members of the community to attend the 186th birthday celebration buffet honoring Governor William Sprague.

Enjoy the company of history enthusiasts at this informal fundraising event. Presentations about the Sprague family will intrigue attendees, as well as artifacts on display not usually shown to the public belonging to Governor Sprague and family.

William Sprague IV was born in Cranston on Sept. 12, 1830, and died in Paris on Sept. 11, 1915. He served as Rhode Island’s 27th governor from 1860 to 1863, and as U.S. senator from 1863 to 1875. On Nov. 12, 1863, he married the daughter of Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, the beautiful and quite politically minded Katherine Jane Chase – he was 33 and she was 23.

The Sprague Mansion is located in what was once called Spragueville, also known as Cranston Village. A federal style mansion built between 1770 and 1864, it stands as a tribute to Rhode Island’s textile history. Three generations of the Sprague family resided here. In 1808, it was from this house that the Sprague family established a calico cloth printing mill – the A&W Sprague Works, now Cranston Print Works.

To reserve your place, call 401-944-9226 to RSVP and send a check by Sept. 15 at $18 per person payable to the Cranston Historical Society, 1351 Cranston St., Cranston, RI 02920. For more information, visit cranstonhistoricalsociety.org.

The Cranston Historical Society and its museums, Sprague Mansion and colonial Joy Homestead, are 501(c)(3) historical, educational, and non-profit entities. Events help support the museums.