A family of shipbuilders, seafarers, and farmers, the Drowns settled in Bristol and Warren before the American Revolution. In the late 1700s, Jeremiah Drown began buying land in Barrington, and in 1833 his son Alfred purchased 16 acres there with a house, barn, and corn house. The family also owned other sizeable parcels in the area that became known as Drownsville, later called West Barrington. Starting in 1855, the Providence, Warren, and Bristol Railroad made three stops in Barrington, including one in Drownville. Anticipating a new wave of residents, businessman Henry Staples bought farmland adjacent to the Drowns in 1868, platted it, and started selling house lots from First through Sixth Streets. In the ensuing years, several families, including the Blounts, moved there to begin oystering in the Providence River, and oysters were shipped by train to Providence, Boston, and beyond. In the early twentieth century, farmland that had grown hay and grains for feeding livestock was sold for residential subdivisions. Potatoes, corn, onions, asparagus, broccoli, strawberries, and apples continued to be harvested from market gardens and orchards, and farmers such as Mr. Jencks on Lincoln Avenue sold fresh local produce from horse-drawn wagons, farm stands, and barns. After the 1938 hurricane, the railroad trestles between Providence and Bristol needed so much work that passenger service never returned, though freight trains continued to run until 1976. Eventually Drownville Station fell into disrepair and was torn down. Between 1986 and 1992, the East Bay Bike Path was built on the old railroad bed. In 2005, through the efforts of the Barrington Preservation Society, the Alfred Drown Road section of once bustling Drownville was listed in the National and State Registers of Historic Places.