Main South (or South Main) is a neighborhood in southern

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. The area's eponymous feature is Main Street, the central roadway of the city. Main South experienced rapid economic development from the 1890s until the 1950s.

History

The history of the Main South neighborhood began when, in the 1840s, congressman

Eli Thayer Eli Thayer (June 11, 1819 – April 15, 1899) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1857 to 1861. He was born in Mendon, Massachusetts. He graduated from Worcester Academy in 1840, from Brown University in 1845, and in 1 ...

, a prominent abolitionist, bought land in southern Worcester in anticipation of rapid economic development. Thayer sold the land without extensive development in order to finance the

New England Emigrant Aid Company The New England Emigrant Aid Company (originally the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company) was a transportation company founded in Boston, Massachusetts by activist Eli Thayer in the wake of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed the population of ...

, which sent abolitionist settlers to

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

in order to ensure that it would not become a

slave state In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were not. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states ...

. Development began in the 1850s. In the 1880s, industrialist

Jonas Gilman Clark Jonas Gilman Clark (February 1, 1815 – May 23, 1900) was an American businessman, and the founder of Clark University. He started his business career in Massachusetts, before moving to California in the 1850s. He had a successful entrepre ...

bought land and founded

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

in 1887.History and map of Main South
Clark University The Main South area has a history as a rough neighborhood, known for prostitution and hard drugs starting in the 1970s and that impression has stuck with the area, despite the fact that the Worcester Police Department has done a great deal to reduce the drug trade, and there has been some fairly successful urban renewal projects, particularly involving Clark University.

Prominent locations

Woodland Street Historic District The Woodland Street Historic District is a historic housing district in the Main South area of Worcester, Massachusetts. It consists of 19 Victorian houses that either face or abut on Woodland Street, between Charlotte and Oberlin Streets. ...

Franklin Wesson House The Franklin Wesson House is an historic house at 8 Claremont Street in the Main South neighborhood of Worcester, Massachusetts. It is one of the finest High Gothic Victorian houses in the city. It was designed by architect Amos Porter Cutting ...

* University Park *

South Unitarian Church The South Unitarian Church is an historic church building at 888 Main Street in the Main South neighborhood of Worcester, Massachusetts. The Romanesque Revival building was designed by Earle & Fisher and was built by the Norcross Brothers in 1894 ...

Worcester Corset Company Factory The Worcester Corset Company Factory is an historic factory building at 30 Wyman Street in Worcester, Massachusetts in the Main South neighborhood. The oldest part of the factory was built in 1895, with expansion of the facilities taking place up ...

References

External links

Main South Community Development Corporation

Is Main South really headed north?

Worcester Magazine ''Worcester Magazine'' is a weekly free alternative media magazine in Worcester, Massachusetts. Established in 1976, the magazine is distributed at more than 400 locations across Central Massachusetts. It is published weekly on Thursdays. Business ...

, June 3, 2010
17 arrested in prostitution sting in Main South neighborhood
Worcester Telegram & Gazette, September 10, 2010 Neighborhoods in Worcester, Massachusetts {{WorcesterCountyMA-geo-stub