Central Falls is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 19,376 at the 2010 census. With an area of only 1.29sqmi, it is the smallest and most densely populated city in the smallest state, and the 25th most densely populated incorporated place in the United States. It is also one of only four incorporated places in New England that have a higher population density than the city of Boston (ranking fourth, behind the Massachusetts cities of Somerville, Chelsea and Cambridge, all inner suburbs of Boston). The city takes its name from a waterfall on the Blackstone River.In May 2010, Central Falls went into receivership, then filed for bankruptcy August 1, 2011.HistoryPrior to the arrival of Europeans the area was home to Nipmuc, Wampanoag and Narragansett peoples.Central Falls has historic significance as being the site of a major battle during King Philip's War. It was here on March 26, 1676 that Narragansett Indians ambushed Captain Michael Pierce and his Plymouth Colony troops who (with 20 Wampanoag Christian Indians) were pursuing them. Nearly all those ambushed were killed including nine taken prisoner and later tortured to death at nearby Cumberland, Rhode Island. A stone memorial marks the mass grave at the site known as "Nine Men's Misery".