In 1788 Scituate representative, militia general and Supreme Court Justice William West led an armed anti-federalist mob of farmers into Providence to protest the U.S.

In 1915, the Rhode Island General Assembly voted to take 14,800 acres (60 km2) of land in Scituate (38% of the town) to create a reservoir to supply fresh water to greater Providence.

This project resulted in the condemnation of "1,195 buildings, including 375 houses, seven schools, six churches, six mills, thirty dairy farms, eleven ice houses, post offices, and an electric railway system, the Providence and Danielson Railway system".

The reservoir, and a large portion of land surrounding, it is owned and maintained by the Providence Water Supply Board.

The main Scituate reservoir was formed by the construction of a dam across the Pawtuxet River at the former village of Kent.

The Scituate Reservoir is the largest artificial freshwater body of water in the state of Rhode Island.

It and its six tributary reservoirs—which make up a total surface area of 7.2 sq mi (19 km2)—supply drinking water to more than 60 percent of the state population.

The surrounding drainage basin that provides water to the reservoir system covers an area of about 94 sq mi (240 km2), which includes most of the town of Scituate and parts of Foster, Glocester, Johnston, and Cranston.

In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Scituate was the only town in Rhode Island to vote for John McCain, 51%–47% over Barack Obama.

When PCI became Eastern Nazarene College and left in 1919, William Holland purchased the property and moved his Watchman Industrial School and Camp there in 1923.

It was allegedly burned several times by the local Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and 1930s[13] and closed in 1938, although the summer camp operated until 1974.

The Greek Revival buildings and campus are now the Scituate Commons, an apartment complex on Institute Lane.

The Scituate Art Festival,[14] held every Columbus Day weekend since 1967, features over 300 artists and craftspeople displaying and selling their artwork in the picturesque New England village.