Worcester ( , )
is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
of
Worcester County, Massachusetts
Worcester County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 862,111, making it the second-most populous county in Massachusetts while also b ...
, United States. Named after
Worcester, England
Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north-west of London, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 Census ...
, the city's population was 206,518 at the
2020 census, making it the second-
most populous city
The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the city proper, cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or th ...
in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
after
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Worcester is approximately west of Boston, east of
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
and north-northwest of
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
. Due to its location near the geographic center of Massachusetts, Worcester is known as the "Heart of the Commonwealth"; a heart is the official symbol of the city.
Worcester developed as an industrial city in the 19th century due to the
Blackstone Canal
The Blackstone Canal was a waterway linking Worcester, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island (and Narragansett Bay) through the Blackstone Valley via a series of locks and canals during the early 19th century.
History
The initiative for th ...
and rail transport, producing machinery, textiles and wire. Large numbers of European immigrants made up the city's growing population. However, the city's manufacturing base waned following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Long-term economic and population decline was not reversed until the 1990s, when higher education, medicine,
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
, and new immigrants started to make their mark. The city's population has grown by 28% since 1980, reaching a new all-time high in the 2020 census and experiencing
urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
.
Modern Worcester is known for its diversity and large immigrant population, with significant communities of
Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
,
Brazilians
Brazilians ( pt, Brasileiros, ) are the citizens of Brazil. A Brazilian can also be a person born abroad to a Brazilian parent or legal guardian as well as a person who acquired Brazilian citizenship. Brazil is a multiethnic society, which me ...
,
Albanians
The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
,
Puerto Ricans
Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants.
Overview
The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...
,
Ghanaians
The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 30 million people as of ...
,
Dominicans, and others.
22% of Worcester's population was born outside the United States.
A center of higher education, it is home to eight separate colleges and universities, including
Holy Cross,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
''
, mottoeng = "Theory and Practice"
, established =
, former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886)
, type = Private research university
, endowme ...
(WPI), and
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 ...
. Architecturally, Worcester is notable for its large number of 19th century
triple-decker
A three-decker or triple-decker, in the United States, is a three-story ( triplex) apartment building. These buildings are typical of light-framed, wood construction, where each floor usually consists of a single apartment, and frequently, or ...
houses,
Victorian-era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...
mill architecture
Mill may refer to:
Science and technology
*
* Mill (grinding)
* Milling (machining)
* Millwork
* Textile mill
* Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel
* List of types of mill
* Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...
, and lunch car diners such as
Miss Worcester.
Worcester is the principal city of
Central Massachusetts Central Massachusetts is the geographically central region of Massachusetts. Though definitions vary, most include all of Worcester County and the northwest corner of Middlesex County. Worcester, the largest city in the area and the seat of Worces ...
, and is a regional government, employment and transportation hub. Since the 1970s, and especially after the construction of
Route 146 and interstates
90,
495
__NOTOC__
Year 495 ( CDXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Viator without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1248 ...
,
190
Year 190 (CXC) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Sura (or, less frequently, year 943 ''Ab urbe condita'') ...
,
290, and
395
__NOTOC__
Year 395 ( CCCXCV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Olybrius and Probinus (or, less frequently, year 1148 ...
, both Worcester and its surrounding towns have become increasingly integrated with Boston's suburbs. The Worcester region now marks the western periphery of the Boston-Worcester-Providence (MA-RI-NH) U.S. Census
Combined Statistical Area
Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...
(CSA), or
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...
.
History
Colonial era
![Jonas rice](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Jonas_rice.jpg)
The area was first inhabited by members of the
Nipmuc
The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby part ...
tribe. The native people called the region ''Quinsigamond'' and built a settlement on Pakachoag Hill in
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
.
In 1673, English settlers
John Eliot and
Daniel Gookin
Major-General Danyell “Daniel” Gookin (1612 – 19 March 1687) was a Munster colonist, settler of Virginia and Massachusetts, and a writer on the subject of American Indians.
Early life
He was born, perhaps in County Cork, Ireland, in the ...
led an expedition to Quinsigamond to establish a new Christian Indian "praying town" and identify a new location for an English settlement. On July 13, 1674, Gookin obtained a deed to eight square miles of land in Quinsigamond from the Nipmuc people and English traders and settlers began to inhabit the region.
In 1675,
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...
broke out throughout New England with the Nipmuc Indians coming to the aid of Indian leader
King Philip. The English settlers completely abandoned the Quinsigamond area and the empty buildings were burned by the Indian forces. The town was again abandoned during
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...
in 1702.
Finally, in 1713, Worcester was permanently resettled for a third and final time by
Jonas Rice
Jonas Rice (1672–1753) was the first permanent settler of European descent in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was a founder and prominent citizen of the town. He was elected as a judge to the Court of Common Pleas in Worcester County, Massachuset ...
.
[Worcester Society of Antiquity (1903). ''Exercises Held at the Dedication of a Memorial to Major Jonas Rice, the First Permanent Settler of Worcester, Massachusetts, Wednesday, October 7, 1903.'' Charles Hamilton Press, Worcester. 72pp.] Named after the city of
Worcester, England
Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north-west of London, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 Census ...
, the town was incorporated on June 14, 1722.
On April 2, 1731, Worcester was chosen as the county seat of the newly founded
Worcester County government. Between 1755 and 1758, future U.S. president
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
worked as a schoolteacher and studied law in Worcester.
Growth and industry
![The Star on the Sidewalk, Worcester, Massachusetts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/The_Star_on_the_Sidewalk%2C_Worcester%2C_Massachusetts.JPG)
In the 1770s, Worcester became a center of
American revolutionary
Patriots, also known as Revolutionaries, Continentals, Rebels, or American Whigs, were the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies who rejected British rule during the American Revolution, and United States Declaration of Independence, declared the ...
activity. British
General Thomas Gage
General (United Kingdom), General Thomas Gage (10 March 1718/192 April 1787) was a British Army general officer and Colonialism, colonial official best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as British Comman ...
was given information of patriot ammunition stockpiled in Worcester in 1775. That same year, ''
Massachusetts Spy
''The Massachusetts Spy'', later subtitled the '' Worcester Gazette'', (est.1770) was a newspaper published by Isaiah Thomas in Boston and in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the 18th century.
It was a heavily political weekly paper that was constan ...
'' publisher
Isaiah Thomas moved his radical newspaper out of British occupied
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to Worcester. Thomas would continuously publish his paper throughout the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. On July 14, 1776, Thomas performed the first public reading in Massachusetts of the
Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...
from the porch of the Old South Church, where the 19th-century Worcester City Hall stands today. He would later go on to form the
American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
in Worcester in 1812.
![Corner of Palm and Houghton, Worcester MA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Corner_of_Palm_and_Houghton%2C_Worcester_MA.jpg)
During the turn of the 19th century Worcester's economy moved into manufacturing. Factories producing textiles, shoes and clothing opened along the nearby
Blackstone River
The Blackstone River is a river in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It flows approximately 48 mi (80 km) and drains a watershed of approximately 540 sq. mi (1,400 km2). Its long history of industrial use has left ...
.
However, the manufacturing industry in Worcester would not begin to thrive until the opening of the
Blackstone Canal
The Blackstone Canal was a waterway linking Worcester, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island (and Narragansett Bay) through the Blackstone Valley via a series of locks and canals during the early 19th century.
History
The initiative for th ...
in 1828 and the opening of the
Worcester and Boston Railroad in 1835. The city transformed into a transportation hub and the manufacturing industry flourished.
Worcester was officially chartered as a city on February 29, 1848.
The city's industries soon attracted immigrants of primarily Irish, Scottish, French, German, and Swedish descent in the mid-19th century and later many immigrants of Lithuanian, Polish, Italian, Greek, Turkish and Armenian descent.
Immigrants moved into new
three-decker
A three-decker was a sailing warship which carried her principal carriage-mounted guns on three fully armed decks. Usually additional (smaller) guns were carried on the upper works (forecastle and quarterdeck), but this was not a continuous b ...
houses (which originated in Worcester)
[Charles Nutt, ''History of Worcester and its people'', pg. 473] lining hundreds of Worcester's expanding streets and neighborhoods.
![Front Street and The Common, Worcester, MA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Front_Street_and_The_Common%2C_Worcester%2C_MA.jpg)
In 1831,
Ichabod Washburn
Ichabod Washburn (1798–1868) was an American Congregational deacon and industrialist from Worcester County, Massachusetts. His financial endowments led to the naming of Washburn College, now Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas and the foundat ...
opened the
Washburn & Moen Company. The company would become the largest wire manufacturing in the country and Washburn became one of the leading industrial and philanthropic figures in the city.
Worcester would become a center of machinery, wire products and power looms and boasted large manufacturers, including Washburn & Moen,
Wyman-Gordon
Wyman-Gordon is a company that designs and manufactures complex metal components. Founded in 1883 as a manufacturer of crankshafts for looms, it has a long history of making forged metal components, particularly for the aerospace industry. Wyman-G ...
Company, American Steel & Wire, Morgan Construction and the
Norton Company
Norton Abrasives of Worcester, Massachusetts, USA is the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of abrasives for commercial applications, household, and automotive refinishing usage.
Norton Company was founded in 1885 by a group of ceramists ...
. In 1908, the
Royal Worcester Corset Company was the largest employer of women in the United States.
Worcester would also claim many inventions and firsts. New England
Candlepin bowling
Candlepin bowling is a variation of bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces and the New England region of the United States. It is played with a handheld-sized ball and tall, narrow pins that resemble candles, hence ...
was invented in Worcester by Justin White in 1879.
Esther Howland
Esther Howland (1828–1904) was an artist and entrepreneur who was responsible for popularizing Valentine's Day greeting cards in America.
Early life
Esther Allen Howland, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, was the daughter of Southworth Al ...
began the first line of
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
cards from her Worcester home in 1847.
Loring Coes
Loring Coes (April 22, 1812 – July 13, 1906) was an American inventor, industrialist and Republican politician who invented the screw type wrench, commonly known as the monkey wrench and who served as a member of the Worcester, Massachusetts Ci ...
invented the first
monkey wrench
The monkey wrench is a type of adjustable wrench, a 19th century American refinement of 18th-century English coach wrenches. It was widely used in the 19th and early 20th century. It is of interest as an antique among tool collectors and is st ...
and Russell Hawes created the first envelope folding machine.
[Gaultney, Bruce (2009). ''Worcester Memories'', pg. 7 (1880s).] On June 12, 1880,
Lee Richmond
John Lee Richmond (May 5, 1857 – October 1, 1929) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Boston Red Stockings, Worcester Worcesters, Providence Grays, and Cincinnati Red Stockings, and is best known for pitching the ...
pitched the first perfect game in Major league baseball history for the
Worcester Ruby Legs
The Worcester Worcesters were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team from 1880 to 1882 in the National League. The team is referred to, at times, as the Brown Stockings or the Ruby Legs; however, no contemporary sources from the time exist tha ...
at the
Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds
Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds was a site in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. The grounds are mainly known for having hosted the Worcester Worcesters, a professional baseball team of the National League from 1880 to 1882. As a m ...
.
The first
three-decker homes were built by Francis Gallagher (1830–1911) in Worcester.
Urban changes and recovery
![Worcester tornado damage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Worcester_tornado_damage.jpg)
After World War II, Worcester began to fall into decline as the city lost its manufacturing base to cheaper alternatives across the country and overseas. Worcester felt the national trends of movement away from historic urban centers. The city's population dropped over 20% from 1950 to 1980. In the mid-20th century large
urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
projects were undertaken to try to reverse the city's decline. A huge area of downtown Worcester was demolished for new office towers and the
Worcester Center Galleria
The Worcester Center Galleria, located in Downtown Worcester, Massachusetts, was a two level shopping mall which originally opened on July 29, 1971, as a part of the Worcester Center urban renewal project. The mall, which connected the 100 Front ...
shopping mall.
After only 30 years the Galleria would lose most of its major tenants and its appeal to more suburban shopping malls around Worcester County.
On June 9, 1953, an
F4 tornado touched down in
Petersham, Massachusetts
Petersham is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,194 at the 2020 census. Petersham is home to a considerable amount of conservation land, including the Quabbin Reservation, Harvard Forest, the Swift R ...
, northwest of Worcester. The tornado tore through of Worcester County including a large area of the city of Worcester. The tornado left massive destruction and killed 94 people. The
Worcester Tornado would be the deadliest tornado ever to hit Massachusetts. Debris from the tornado landed as far away as
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...
.
In the 1960s,
Interstate 290 was built right through the center of Worcester, permanently dividing the city. In 1963, Worcester native
Harvey Ball
Harvey Ross Ball (July 10, 1921 – April 12, 2001) was an American commercial artist. He is recognized as the designer of a popular smiley graphic picture, which became an enduring and notable international icon. He never applied for a tradem ...
introduced the iconic yellow
smiley
A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...
face to American culture.
In the late 20th century, Worcester's economy began to recover as the city expanded into
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
and
healthcare
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
fields.
The
UMass Medical School has become a leader in biomedical research and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park has become a center of medical research and development.
Worcester hospitals
Saint Vincent Hospital
Saint Vincent Hospital is a 381-bed hospital located in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded by the Catholic Sisters of Providence of Holyoke in 1893, Saint Vincent's was named after the patron saint of the Sisters' order, Saint Vincent de Paul. In ...
and
UMass Memorial Health Care
UMass Memorial Health (UMM Health) is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the largest healthcare system in Central Massachusetts. It is a not-for-profit/nonprofit healthcare network providing all levels of pri ...
have become two of the largest employers in the city. Worcester's many colleges, including the
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...
,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
''
, mottoeng = "Theory and Practice"
, established =
, former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886)
, type = Private research university
, endowme ...
,
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 ...
, UMass Medical School,
Assumption College,
MCPHS University
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is a private university focused on medical and health-related science programs and located in Boston, Massachusetts. The university provides traditional and accelerated programs of s ...
, and
Worcester State University
Worcester State University (WSU) is a public university in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1874 and enrolls nearly 5,500 undergraduates and over 900 graduate students.
History
Founded in 1874 as the Massachusetts State Normal Sch ...
, attract many students to the area and help drive the new economy.
![Hanover Theatre and Nearby Fountain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Hanover_Theatre_and_Nearby_Fountain.png)
On December 3, 1999, a homeless couple accidentally started a five-alarm fire at the
Worcester Cold Storage & Warehouse Company. The fire took the lives of six firemen and drew national attention as one of the worst firefighting tragedies of the late 20th century.
[Gaultney, Bruce (2009). ''Worcester Memories'', pg. 113 (1970s, '80s & '90s).] President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, Vice President
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
and other local and national dignitaries attended the funeral service and memorial program in Worcester.
Recent investment and growth
In recent decades, a renewed interest in the city's downtown has brought new investment and construction to Worcester. A Convention Center was built along the
DCU Center
The DCU Center (originally Centrum in Worcester, formerly Worcester's Centrum Centre and commonly Worcester Centrum) is an indoor arena and convention center complex in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. The facility hosts a variety of events, ...
arena in downtown Worcester in 1997.
In 2000, Worcester's
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
reopened after 25 years of neglect and a $32 million renovation.
Hanover Insurance
The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. is an insurance company based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was the original name of a property-liability insurance firm established in 1852, and it remained a publicly traded company under that name until the ea ...
helped fund a multimillion-dollar renovation to the old Franklin Square Theater into the
Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts
The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States was originally built in 1904 as the Franklin Square Theatre regularly scheduling burlesque shows, Broadway touring shows and headline acts tra ...
.
In 2000, the
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is a private university focused on medical and health-related science programs and located in Boston, Massachusetts. The university provides traditional and accelerated programs of s ...
built a new campus in downtown Worcester.
In 2007, WPI opened the first facility in their new Gateway Park center in Lincoln Square.
In 2004, Berkeley Investments proposed demolishing the old Worcester Center Galleria for a new mixed-used development called City Square. The ambitious project looked to reconnect old street patterns while creating a new retail, commercial and living destination in the city.
After struggling to secure finances for a number of years, Hanover Insurance took over the project and demolition began on September 13, 2010.
Unum
Unum Group is an American insurance company headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Founded as Union Mutual in 1848 and known as UnumProvident from 1999-2007, the company is part of the Fortune 500. Unum Group was created by the 1999 merger of ...
Insurance and the Saint Vincent Hospital leased into the project and both facilities opened in 2013. The new Front Street opened on December 31, 2012.
In July 2017,
Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor
The lieutenant governor of Massachusetts is the first in the line to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor following the incapacitation of the Governor of Massachusetts. The constitutional honorific title for the office is His ...
Karyn Polito
Karyn Ellen Polito (born November 11, 1966) is an American attorney, businesswoman, and politician serving as the 72nd lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. Polito was a Republican member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the 11th ...
and other
Baker administration transportation officials visited a construction project in the city to highlight $2.8 billion spent during Baker's administration on highway construction projects and improvements to bridges, intersections, and sidewalks.
Worcester has become home to many refugees in recent years. The city has successfully resettled over 2,000 refugees coming from over 24 countries. Today, most of these refugees come from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
,
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
.
Geography
Worcester has a total area of : of land and , comprising roughly 2.59%, of water. Worcester is bordered by the towns of
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
,
Grafton,
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
,
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
,
Millbury,
Paxton,
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
, and
West Boylston.
Worcester is known as the "Heart of the Commonwealth" because of its proximity to the center of Massachusetts. The city is about west of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, east of
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
, and northwest of
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
.
The
Blackstone River
The Blackstone River is a river in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It flows approximately 48 mi (80 km) and drains a watershed of approximately 540 sq. mi (1,400 km2). Its long history of industrial use has left ...
forms in the center of Worcester by the confluence of the Middle River and Mill Brook. The river courses underground through the center of the city, and emerges at the foot of College Hill. It then flows south through Quinsigamond Village and into Millbury. Worcester is the beginning of the
Blackstone Valley
The Blackstone Valley or Blackstone River Valley is a region of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It was a major factor in the American Industrial Revolution. It makes up part of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and Nation ...
that frames the river. The
Blackstone Canal
The Blackstone Canal was a waterway linking Worcester, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island (and Narragansett Bay) through the Blackstone Valley via a series of locks and canals during the early 19th century.
History
The initiative for th ...
was once an important waterway connecting Worcester to Providence and the
Eastern Seaboard, but the canal fell into disuse at the end of the 19th century and was mostly covered up. In recent years, local organizations, including the Canal District Business Association, have proposed restoring the canal and creating a Blackstone Valley
National Park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
.
In November 2018, the administration of
Massachusetts Governor
The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces.
Massachusetts ...
Charlie Baker
Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massach ...
announced a $400,000 grant to streetscape improvements in the Canal District.
Worcester is one of many cities claimed, like
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
,
to be found on seven hills: Airport Hill, Bancroft Hill, Belmont Hill (Bell Hill),
Grafton Hill Union Hill, also referred to as Grafton Hill and originally known as Sagatabscot Hill is a neighborhood in Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts (the second-largest city in New England). Located in the southeastern part of the city and ...
, Green Hill, Pakachoag Hill and Vernon Hill. However, Worcester has more than seven hills, examples of which include Indian Hill, Newton Hill, Poet's Hill, and Wigwam Hill.
Worcester has many ponds and two prominent lakes:
Indian Lake and
Lake Quinsigamond
Lake Quinsigamond (also ''Long Pond'') is a body of water situated between the city of Worcester and the town of Shrewsbury in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 4 miles (6 km) long, between 50 and 85 feet (15 and 26 m) ...
. Lake Quinsigamond (also known as Long Pond) stretches across the Worcester and Shrewsbury border and is a very popular
competitive rowing
Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...
and boating destination.
Climate
Worcester's
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Dfb'') is typical of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
. The weather changes rapidly owing to the confluence of warm, humid air from the southwest; cool, dry air from the north; and the moderating influence of the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Summers are typically hot and humid, while winters are cold, windy, and snowy. Snow typically falls from the second half of November into early April,
[ with occasional falls in October; May snow is much rarer. The ]USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
classifies the city as straddling hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
s 5b and 6a.
The hottest month is July, with a 24-hour average of , while the coldest is January, at . There is an average of only 3.5 days of highs at or above and 4.1 nights of lows at or below per year, and periods of both extremes are rarely sustained. The all-time record high temperature is , recorded on July 4, 1911, the only or greater temperature to date. The all-time record low temperature is , recorded on February 16, 1943.
Worcester is known for being particularly snowy in the cold months, sometimes even experiencing autumn blizzards. The city averages of precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
a year, as well as an average of of snowfall a season, receiving far more snow than coastal locations less than away. Massachusetts' geographic location, jutting out into the North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...
, as well as Worcester's elevation relative to the surrounding terrain, makes the city very prone to Nor'easter
A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...
weather systems that can dump heavy snow on the region. Extreme winters have brought up to of snowfall, as happened in 2005. In late January 2015, a blizzard traversed over the city as it shed almost of snow. This was the highest single-day snowfall total for anywhere in Massachusetts since data collection began in 1892.
While rare, the city has had its share of extreme weather. On September 21, 1938, the city was hit by the brutal New England Hurricane of 1938
The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The storm ...
. Fifteen years later, Worcester was hit by a tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
that killed 94 people. The deadliest tornado in New England history, it damaged a large part of the city and surrounding towns. It struck Assumption Preparatory School, now the site of Quinsigamond Community College.
Neighborhoods
Gallery
File:Worcester Massachusetts.jpg, Worcester and the surrounding areas in 2006, looking north from . Route 146 can be seen under construction.
File:WorcesterMA DodgeParkGazebo.jpg, Dodge Park
File:Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA - Washburn Shops.JPG, Washburn Shops, 1868
File:Cristoforo Colombo Park lion statue.jpg, Cristoforo Colombo Park
File:Cristoforo Colombo Park Belmonte Brothers memorial.jpg, Cristoforo Colombo Park
Demographics
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Worcester had a population of 206,518, of which 104,911 (50.8%) were female and 101,607 (49.2%) were male. In terms of age, 81.0% were over 18 years old and 13.6% were over 65 years old; children under 5 made up 5.2% of the city's population.
In terms of race and ethnicity, Worcester's population as of 2020 was 67.7% White American, White (including Hispanics), 13.0% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 7.2% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 5.2% from Some Other Race, and 6.4% from Two or More Races. Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 23.1% of the population (of whom nearly half were Puerto Rican). Non-Hispanic Whites were 54.4% of the population in 2020, down from 96.8% in 1970. 19.7% of Worcester's population are below the Poverty thresholds (United States Census Bureau), poverty threshold.
Worcester is known for its diversity and large immigrant population, with significant communities of Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
, Brazilians
Brazilians ( pt, Brasileiros, ) are the citizens of Brazil. A Brazilian can also be a person born abroad to a Brazilian parent or legal guardian as well as a person who acquired Brazilian citizenship. Brazil is a multiethnic society, which me ...
, Albanians
The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...
, Puerto Ricans
Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants.
Overview
The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...
, Ghanaians
The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 30 million people as of ...
, Dominicans, and others. 22% of Worcester's population was born outside the United States in 2018.
Income
Data is from the 2015–2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
Government
Worcester is governed by a council–manager government, with a popularly elected mayor. A city council acts as the legislative body, and the council-appointed manager handles the traditional day-to-day chief executive functions.
City councilors can run as either a representative of a city district or as an at-large candidate. The winning at-large candidate who receives the greatest number of votes for mayor becomes the mayor (at-large councilor candidates must ask to be removed from the ballot for mayor if they do not want to be listed on the mayoral ballot). As a result, voters must vote for their mayoral candidate twice, once as an at-large councilor, and once as the mayor. The mayor has no more authority than other city councilors, but is the ceremonial head of the city and chair of the city council and school committee. Currently, there are 11 councilors: 6 at-large and 5 district.
Worcester's first charter, which went into effect in 1848, established a Mayor/Bicameralism, Bicameral form of government. Together, the two chambers—the 11-member Board of alderman, Aldermen and the 30-member Common Council—were vested with complete legislative powers. The mayor handled all administrative departments, though appointments to those departments had to be approved by the two-chamber City Council.
Seeking to replace the 1848 charter, Worcester voters in November 1947 approved a change to Government of Massachusetts#Form of government: city vs. town, Plan E municipal government. In effect from January 1949 until November 1985, this charter (as outlined in chapter 43 of the Massachusetts General Laws) established City Council/City Manager government. This type of governance, with modifications, has survived to the present day.
Initially, Plan E government in Worcester was organized as a 9-member council (all at-large), a ceremonial mayor elected from the council by the councilors, and a council-appointed city manager. The manager oversees the daily administration of the city, makes all appointments to city offices, and can be removed at any time by a majority vote of the council. The mayor chairs the city council and the school committee, and does not have the power to veto any vote.
From 1949 through 1959, elections were by the single transferable vote. Voters repealed that system in November 1960. Despite Nonpartisanism, non-partisan elections, two groups alternated in control of council: the local Democratic Party and a Slate (elections), slate known as the Citizens' Plan E Association (CEA). CEA members included the Republican Party leadership and other groups not affiliated with the regular Democratic Party.
In 1983, Worcester voters again decided to change the city charter. This "Home Rule" charter (named for the method of adoption of the charter) is similar to Plan E, the major changes being to the structure of the council and the election of the mayor. The 9-member Council became 11, 6 at-large and 1 from each city district. The mayor is chosen by popular election, but must also run and win as an at-large councilor.
Politics
Worcester's history of social progressivism includes a number of temperance movement in Massachusetts, temperance and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist movements. It was a leader in the women's suffrage movement: The first national convention advocating women's rights was held in Worcester on October 23–24, 1850.
Two of the nation's most radical abolitionists, Abby Kelley, Abby Kelley Foster and her husband Stephen S. Foster, adopted Worcester as their home, as did Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the editor of ''The Atlantic Monthly'' and Emily Dickinson's avuncular correspondent, and Unitarian minister Rev. Edward Everett Hale.
The area was already home to Lucy Stone, Eli Thayer, and Samuel May Jr. They were joined in their political activities by networks of related Quaker families such as the Earles and the Chases, whose organizing efforts were crucial to the anti-slavery cause in central Massachusetts and throughout New England.
Anarchist Emma Goldman and two others opened an ice cream shop in 1892. "It was spring and not yet warm," Goldman later wrote, "but the coffee I brewed, our sandwiches, and dainty dishes were beginning to be appreciated. Within a short time, we were able to invest in a soda-water fountain and some lovely colored dishes."
On October 19, 1924, the largest gathering of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) ever held in New England took place at the Agricultural Fairgrounds in Worcester. Klansmen in sheets and hoods, new Knights awaiting a mass induction ceremony, and supporters swelled the crowd to 15,000. The KKK had hired more than 400 "husky guards", but when the rally ended around midnight, a riot broke out. Klansmen's cars were stoned and burned, and their windows smashed. KKK members were pulled from their cars and beaten. Klansmen called for police protection, but the situation raged out of control for most of the night. The violence after the "Klanvocation" had the desired effect: Membership fell off, and no further public Klan meetings were held in Worcester.
Robert Waring Stoddard, Robert Stoddard, owner of ''The Telegram and Gazette'', was one of the founders of the John Birch Society.
Sixties era radical Abbie Hoffman was born in Worcester in 1936 and spent more than half of his life in the city.
Public safety
For public safety needs, the City of Worcester is protected by both the Worcester Fire Department and the Worcester Police Department.
UMass Memorial Medical Center provides emergency medical services (EMS) under contract with the city. Originally operated by Worcester City Hospital and later by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, "Worcester EMS" operates exclusively at the advanced life support (ALS) level, with two paramedics staffing each ambulance. UMass Memorial EMS maintains two community EMS stations and operates a fleet of 18 ambulances (including spares), as well as a special-operations trailer, several other support vehicles, and a bike team; the agency responds to an average of 100 emergencies each day. UMass Memorial EMS operates the EMS Communications Center, which is a secondary PSAP and provides emergency medical dispatch (EMD) services to Worcester and other communities.
Economy
By the mid-19th century Worcester was one of New England's largest manufacturing centers. The city's large industries specialized in machinery, wire production, and power looms. Although manufacturing has declined, the city still maintains large manufactures, like Norton Abrasives, which was bought by Saint-Gobain in 1990, Morgan Construction Company, since bought by Siemens and then bought by Japanese company PriMetals Technologies, and the David Clark Company. The David Clark Company pioneered aeronautical equipment including anti-gravity suits and noise attenuating headsets.
Services, particularly education and healthcare, make up a large portion of the city's economy. Worcester's many colleges and universities make higher education a considerable presence in the city's economy.
Hanover Insurance
The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. is an insurance company based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was the original name of a property-liability insurance firm established in 1852, and it remained a publicly traded company under that name until the ea ...
was founded in 1852 and retains its headquarters in Worcester. Unum, Unum Insurance and Fallon Community Health Plan have offices in the city. Polar Beverages is the largest independent soft-drink bottler in the country and is in Worcester.
Worcester is home to the largest concentration of digital gaming students in the United States. The Memorial Auditorium, built as a tribute to World War I veterans of Worcester, is undergoing a renovation and may cater to these Digital Students as a future multimedia and digital center, in conjunction with the twelve Worcester colleges and universities.
As one of the top ten emerging hubs for tech startups, the city's biotechnology and technology industries have helped spur major expansions at both the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute
''
, mottoeng = "Theory and Practice"
, established =
, former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886)
, type = Private research university
, endowme ...
. The Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park hosts many innovative companies including Advanced Cell Technology and AbbVie Inc., AbbVie. The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in nearby Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
developed the oral contraceptive pill in 1951.
Downtown Worcester used to boast major Boston retailers Filene's and Jordan Marsh as well Worcester's own department stores Barnard's and Denholm & McKay. Over time most retailers moved away from downtown and into the suburban Auburn Mall (Auburn, Massachusetts), Auburn Mall and Greendale Mall in North Worcester.
In 2010, the median household income was $61,212. Median family income was $76,485. The per capita income was $29,316. About 7.7% of families and 10.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.1% of those under age 18 and 7.5% of those age 65 or over. In October 2013, Worcester was found to be the number five city for investing in a rental property.
In November 2016, the administration of Massachusetts Governor
The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces.
Massachusetts ...
Charlie Baker
Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massach ...
announced a $2.3 million grant to the city to redevelop its downtown area for greater walkability. In January 2017, Baker signed into law a bill allowing 44 acres of unused Public land#United States, state-owned land on the former Worcester State Hospital campus to be converted into a biomanufacturing industrial park. In November 2017, Baker's administration and the Worcester Business Development Corporation signed a land disposition agreement for the park.
Top employers
According to the city's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top ten employers in the city are:
Education
Primary and secondary education
Worcester Public Schools educate more than 25,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The system consists of 34 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 8 high schools, and several other learning centers such as magnet schools, alternative schools, and special education schools. The city's public school system also administers an adult education component called "Night Life", and operates a Public-access television cable TV station on channel 11. In June 2015, Massachusetts Governor
The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces.
Massachusetts ...
Charlie Baker
Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massach ...
announced a $1.3 million grant to the Elm Park Community School.
Worcester Technical High School opened in 2006, replacing the old Worcester Vocational High School, or "Voke". The city's other public high schools include South High Community School, North High School (Worcester, Massachusetts), North High School, Doherty Memorial High School, Burncoat High School, Burncoat Senior High School, University Park Campus School, and Claremont Academy.
In 2014, Worcester Tech's graduating class was honored by having President of the United States, President Barack Obama as the speaker at their graduation ceremony.
The Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at WPI, Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science was founded in 1992 as a public secondary school at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute
''
, mottoeng = "Theory and Practice"
, established =
, former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886)
, type = Private research university
, endowme ...
.
One notable charter school in the city is Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School, which teaches kindergarten through 12th grade. It is granted status by Massachusetts as a Level 1 school. It is the one of 834 schools in the United States to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.
Twenty-one private and parochial schools are also found throughout Worcester, including the city's oldest educational institution, Worcester Academy, founded in 1834, and Bancroft School, founded in 1900.
Higher education
Worcester is currently home to eight colleges and universities.
* Assumption University (Worcester), Assumption College is the fourth oldest Roman Catholic college in New England and was founded in 1904. At , it has the largest campus in Worcester.
* 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 ...
was founded in 1887 as the first all-graduate school in the country; it now also educates undergraduates and is noted for its strengths in psychology and geography. Its first president was G. Stanley Hall, the founder of organized psychology as a science and profession, father of the child study movement, and founder of the American Psychological Association. Well-known professors include Albert A. Michelson, who won the first American Nobel Prize in 1902 for his measurement of light. Robert H. Goddard, a pioneering rocket scientist of the space age also studied and taught here, and, in his only visit to the United States, Sigmund Freud delivered his five famous "Clark Lectures" at the university. Clark offers one of only two programs leading to a Ph.D. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, the other is offered by Gratz College.
* College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...
was founded in 1843 and is the oldest Roman Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest in the United States. Well-known graduates include Anthony Fauci, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel laureate Joseph E. Murray; former United States Poet Laureate, Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins; Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Basketball Hall of Fame member Bob Cousy; attorney and professional sports' team owner Edward Bennett Williams; College Football Hall of Fame member Gordie Lockbaum; and List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In 2013, Holy Cross was ranked by ''U.S. News & World Report'' as the nation's 25th highest-rated liberal arts college.
* The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is a private university focused on medical and health-related science programs and located in Boston, Massachusetts. The university provides traditional and accelerated programs of s ...
Worcester Campus houses the institution's Doctor of Optometry program, accelerated Doctor of Pharmacy, Post-Baccalaureate Bachelor's in Nursing; Master's in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner, Master's program New England School of Acupuncture, as well as the Master's program in Physician Assistant Studies for post-baccalaureate students.
* Quinsigamond Community College was founded in 1963 and provides associate degree and professional certificate options to its 13,000 students per year. In addition to its main campus, students train and study at multiple program sites throughout Worcester as well as one in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Marlborough and one in Southbridge, Massachusetts, Southbridge.
* The University of Massachusetts Medical School (1970) is one of the nation's top 50 medical schools. Craig Mello, Dr. Craig Mello won the 2006 Nobel Prize for Medicine. The University of Massachusetts Medical School is ranked fourth in primary care education among America's 125 medical schools in the 2006 ''U.S. News & World Report'' annual guide "America's Best Graduate Schools".
* Worcester Polytechnic Institute
''
, mottoeng = "Theory and Practice"
, established =
, former_name = Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science (1865-1886)
, type = Private research university
, endowme ...
(WPI) is a Private university, private research university, focusing on the instruction and research of technical arts and applied sciences. Founded in 1865, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities and now has 14 academic departments with over 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, management, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts. Robert Goddard, the father of modern rocketry, graduated from WPI in 1908 with a Bachelor of Science in physics.
* Worcester State University
Worcester State University (WSU) is a public university in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1874 and enrolls nearly 5,500 undergraduates and over 900 graduate students.
History
Founded in 1874 as the Massachusetts State Normal Sch ...
(WSU) is a public liberal arts and sciences university located on the city's west side. Founded in 1874 as the State Normal School at Worcester, it was the fifth of nine public teacher training colleges in the commonwealth. Today WSU offers 34 undergraduate majors and 30 graduate programs and includes a student body of 6400.
Many of these institutions participate in the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. This independent, non-profit collegiate association includes academic institutions in Worcester and other communities in Worcester County, such as Anna Maria College in neighboring Paxton. It facilitates cooperation among the colleges and universities. One example of this being its inter-college shuttle bus and student cross registration. Worcester is also the home of Dynamy, a "residential internship program" in the United States. The organization was founded in 1969.
Defunct Institutions
Becker College was a private college with campuses in Worcester and neighboring Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
that closed at the end of the 2020–21 academic year. The college was formed in 1977 out of the merger of Leicester Junior College (Founded 1784 as Leicester Academy) and Becker Junior College (1887). In recent years, Becker's video game design program was consistently ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. and Canada. Clark University started an equivalent program, Becker School of Design & Technology, hiring the majority of the faculty from the original program at Becker College, and offering transfers to Becker students.
The Oread Institute was an early women's college that closed its doors in 1934. Founded in 1849 by Eli Thayer it counted among its graduates the founders of Spelman College.
Culture
Much of Worcester's culture is synonymous with broader New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
culture. The city's name is notoriously mispronounced by people unfamiliar with the city. As with the city in England, the first syllable of "cester" (''castra'') is left entirely unvoiced. Combined with a traditionally non-rhotic Eastern New England English accent, the name can be transcribed as "WOOS-tuh" or "WISS-tuh" (the first syllable possibly having a near-close central unrounded vowel).
Worcester has many traditionally ethnic neighborhoods, including Quinsigamond Village (Swedish), Shrewsbury Street (Italian), Kelley Square (Irish and Polish), Vernon Hill (Lithuanian), Union Hill (Jewish), and Main South (Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Vietnamese).
Shrewsbury Street is Worcester's traditional "Little Italy" neighborhood and today boasts many of the city's most popular restaurants and nightlife. The Canal District was once an old Eastern European neighborhood, but has been redeveloped into a very popular bar, restaurant and club scene.
Worcester is also famously the former home of the Worcester Lunch Car Company. The company began in 1906 and built many famous lunch car diners in New England. Worcester is home to many classic lunch car diners including Boulevard Diner, Corner Lunch, Chadwick Square Diner, and Miss Worcester Diner.
There are also many dedicated community organizations and art associations in the city. ''stART on the Street'' is an annual festival promoting local art. The Worcester Music Festival and New England Metal and Hardcore Festival are also held annually in Worcester. The Worcester County St. Patrick's Parade runs through Worcester and is one of the largest St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the state. The city also hosts the second oldest First Night celebration in the country each New Year's Eve. Since 1916, Worcester has also been the home of the Worcester Kiltie Pipe Band, one of the oldest pipe bands in the United States.
Worcester is also the state's largest center for the arts outside of Boston. Mechanics Hall (Worcester, Massachusetts), Mechanics Hall, built in 1857, is one of the oldest concert halls in the country and is renowned for its pure acoustics. In 2008 the old Poli Palace Theatre reopened as the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts
The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States was originally built in 1904 as the Franklin Square Theatre regularly scheduling burlesque shows, Broadway touring shows and headline acts tra ...
. The theatre brings many Broadway shows and nationally recognized performers to the city. Tuckerman Hall, designed by one of the country's earliest woman architects, Josephine Wright Chapman, is home to the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra. The DCU Center
The DCU Center (originally Centrum in Worcester, formerly Worcester's Centrum Centre and commonly Worcester Centrum) is an indoor arena and convention center complex in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. The facility hosts a variety of events, ...
arena and convention holds many large concerts, exhibitions and conventions in the city. The Worcester County Poetry Association sponsors readings by national and local poets in the city and the Worcester Center for Crafts provides craft education and skills to the community. Worcester is also home to the Worcester Youth Orchestras. Founded in 1947 by Harry Levenson, it is the 3rd oldest youth orchestra in the country and regularly performs at Mechanics Hall.
Mechanics Hall is also home to the Worcester Symphony Orchestra formerly known as the New England Symphony Orchestra. Founded in 1974 the Worcester Symphony Orchestra performs classical works regularly at Mechanics Hall in downtown Worcester.
The nickname ''Wormtown'' is synonymous with the city's once large underground rock music scene. The nickname has now become used to refer to the city itself.
Due to its location in Central Massachusetts Central Massachusetts is the geographically central region of Massachusetts. Though definitions vary, most include all of Worcester County and the northwest corner of Middlesex County. Worcester, the largest city in the area and the seat of Worces ...
, Worcester is known as the "Heart of the Commonwealth;" a heart is the official symbol of the city. However, the heart symbol may also have its provenance in lore that the Valentine's Day card, although not invented in the city, was first Mass production, mass-produced and popularized by Worcester resident Esther Howland
Esther Howland (1828–1904) was an artist and entrepreneur who was responsible for popularizing Valentine's Day greeting cards in America.
Early life
Esther Allen Howland, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, was the daughter of Southworth Al ...
. Similarly, the invention of the classic yellow "smiley face" design by Worcester native Harvey Ball has gained it an iconic status in the city. This design is now commonly seen in art and merchandise relating to Worcester, including murals, t-shirts and stickers.
Sites of interest
Worcester has 1,200 acres of publicly owned property. Notable parks include Elm Park (Worcester, Massachusetts), Elm Park, which was laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1854, and the City Common laid out in 1669. Both parks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The largest park in the city is the 549 acre Green Hill Park. The park was donated by the Green family in 1903 and includes the Green Hill Park Shelter built in 1910. In 2002, the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Green Hill Park. Other Parks, include Newton Hill, East Park, Morgan Park, Shore Park, Crompton Park, Hadwen Park, Institute Park and University Park (Worcester, Massachusetts), University Park. Though not within city limits, Tower Hill Botanical Garden is operated by the Worcester County Horticultural Society and is a 20-minute drive northeast of the city in Boylston, Massachusetts, Boylston. The Horticultural Society's former headquarters is now the Worcester Historical Museum, dedicated to the cultural, economic, and scientific contributions of the city to American society. As a former manufacturing center, Worcester has many historic 19th century buildings and on the National Register of Historic Places, including the old facilities of the Crompton Loom Works, Ashworth and Jones Factory and Worcester Corset Company Factory.
The American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
has been in Worcester since 1812. The national library and society has one of the largest collections of early American history in the world. The city's main museum is the Worcester Art Museum established in 1898. The museum is the second largest art museum in New England, behind the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. From 1931 to 2013, Worcester was home to the Higgins Armory Museum, which was the sole museum dedicated to arms and armor in the country. Its collection and endowment were transferred and integrated into the Worcester Art Museum, with the collection now being shown in a new gallery which opened in 2015. The non-profit Veterans Inc. is headquartered at the southern tip of Grove Street in the historic Massachusetts National Guard Armory building.
The Worcester Memorial Auditorium is one of the most prominent buildings in the city. Built as a World War I war memorial in 1933, the multipurpose auditorium has hosted many of the Worcester's most famous concerts and sporting events, and is undergoing a renovation to become a multi media Center and digital arts auditorium, and event Center.
Sports
Since 2021, Worcester has been the home of the Worcester Red Sox, the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. They play their home games at the newly constructed Polar Park (baseball park), Polar Park.
Worcester was home to Marshall Taylor, Marshall Walter ("Major") Taylor, an African American cyclist who won the world one-mile (1.6 km) track cycling championship in 1899. Taylor's legacy includes being the first African American and the second Black people, black athlete to be a world champion (Canadians, Canadian boxer George Dixon (boxer), George Dixon, 1892). Taylor was nicknamed the ''Worcester Whirlwind'' by the local papers.
Lake Quinsigamond
Lake Quinsigamond (also ''Long Pond'') is a body of water situated between the city of Worcester and the town of Shrewsbury in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 4 miles (6 km) long, between 50 and 85 feet (15 and 26 m) ...
is home to the Eastern Sprints, a premier rowing (sport), rowing event in the United States. Rowing (sport), Competitive rowing teams first came to Lake Quinsigamond in 1857. Finding the long, narrow lake ideal for such crew meets, avid rowers established boating clubs on the lake's shores, the first being the Quinsigamond Boating Club. More boating clubs and races followed, and soon many colleges (local, national, and international) held regattas, such as the Eastern Sprints, on the lake. Beginning in 1895, local high schools held crew races on the lake. In 1952, the lake played host to the National Olympic rowing trials.
In 2002, the Jesse Burkett Little League all-stars team went all the way to the Little League World Series. They made it to the US final before losing to Owensboro, Kentucky. Jesse Burkett covers the West Side area of Worcester, along with Ted Williams Little League.
The city hosts the Worcester Railers of the ECHL, which began play in October 2017. Prior to the Railers, the American Hockey League team Worcester Sharks played in Worcester from 2006 to 2015, before relocating to San Jose, California, San Jose. The Sharks played at the DCU Center
The DCU Center (originally Centrum in Worcester, formerly Worcester's Centrum Centre and commonly Worcester Centrum) is an indoor arena and convention center complex in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. The facility hosts a variety of events, ...
as a developmental team for the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks. The AHL was formerly represented by the Worcester IceCats from 1994 to 2005. The IceCats were chiefly affiliated with the St. Louis Blues. The city hosted the Worcester Blades of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) for one season, playing their 2018–19 home games in the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center for that 2018–19 CWHL season, league's final season.
Worcester now hosts the Massachusetts Pirates, an Indoor American football, indoor football team in the Indoor Football League (where they are the defending United Bowl (IFL), United Bowl champions, which started in 2018 at the DCU Center
The DCU Center (originally Centrum in Worcester, formerly Worcester's Centrum Centre and commonly Worcester Centrum) is an indoor arena and convention center complex in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. The facility hosts a variety of events, ...
. The city previously was home to the New England Surge of the defunct Continental Indoor Football League.
The city's former professional baseball team, the Worcester Tornadoes, started in 2005 and was a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball League. The team played at the Fitton Field, Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...
and was not affiliated with any major league team. The Tornadoes won the 2005 Can-Am League title. The team's owner ran into financial difficulties, and the team disbanded after the 2012 season. The Worcester Bravehearts began play in 2014 as the local affiliate of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, and won the league championship in their inaugural season.
Candlepin bowling
Candlepin bowling is a variation of bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces and the New England region of the United States. It is played with a handheld-sized ball and tall, narrow pins that resemble candles, hence ...
was invented in Worcester in 1880 by Justin White, an area bowling alley owner. The Worcester County Wildcats, part of the New England Football League, is a semi-pro football team, and play at Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium.
Golf's Ryder Cup's first official tournament was played at the Worcester Country Club in 1927. The course also hosted the U.S. Open (golf), U.S. Open in 1925 U.S. Open (golf), 1925, and the U.S. Women's Open in 1960.
Worcester's colleges have long histories and many notable achievements in collegiate sports. The College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...
represents NCAA Division 1 sports in Worcester. The other colleges and Universities in Worcester correspond with division II and III. The Holy Cross Crusaders won the 1947 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, NCAA men's basketball champions in 1947 and 1954 National Invitation Tournament, NIT men's basketball champions in 1954, led by future NBA hall-of-famers and Boston Celtic legends Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn.
Religion
According to the U.S. Religion Census 2010, most inhabitants of Worcester County report no religious affiliation. Following None, the largest reported religious denomination is Catholicism. The first Catholics came to Worcester in 1826. They were chiefly Irish immigrants brought to America by the builders of the Blackstone canal. As time went on and the number of Catholics increased, the community petitioned Bishop Fenwick to send them a priest. In response to this appeal, the bishop appointed the Reverend James Fitton to visit the Catholics of Worcester in 1834. A Catholic Mass was first offered in the city in an old stone building on Front Street. The foundation of Christ's Church, the first Catholic church in Worcester (now St. John's), was laid on July 6, 1834. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester was canonically erected on January 14, 1950, by Pope Pius XII. Its territories were taken from the neighboring Diocese of Springfield. The fifth and current bishop is Robert Joseph McManus.
The Unitarian-Universalist Church of Worcester was founded in 1841.
Worcester's Greek Orthodox Cathedral, St. Spyridon, was founded in 1924.
Worcester is home to a dedicated Jewish population who attend five Temple Emanuel Sinai (Worcester, Massachusetts)#Worcester West Side Synagogue history, synagogues, including Reform Judaism, Reform congregation Temple Emanuel Sinai (Worcester, Massachusetts), Temple Emanuel Sinai, Congregation Beth Israel (Worcester, Massachusetts), Congregation Beth Israel, a Conservative Judaism, Conservative synagogue founded in 1924,[About us](_blank)
, Synagogue website. Accessed July 17, 2008. and Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Congregation Tifereth Israel – Sons of Jacob (Chabad), home of Yeshiva Achei Tmimim Academy. Beth Israel and its rabbi were the subject of the book ''And They Shall be My People: An American Rabbi and His Congregation'' by Paul Wilkes.
The first Armenian Church in the Western Hemisphere was built in Worcester in 1890 and consecrated on January 18, 1891, as "Soorp Purgich" (Holy Savior). The current sanctuary of the congregation, now known as Church of Our Savior, Worcester, Armenian Church of Our Savior, was consecrated in 1952.
Worcester is home to America's largest community of Mandaeans, numbering around 2,500. Most Mandaeans in Worcester arrived as refugees from instability in Religion in Iraq, Iraq during the early 21st century.
Media
The ''Telegram & Gazette'' is Worcester's only daily newspaper. The paper, known locally as "the Telegram" or "the T and G", is wholly owned by GateHouse Media of Fairport, New York.
The commonwealth's UniMás station, WUTF-TV, channel 27, is licensed to Worcester, but operates from Needham, Massachusetts, Needham. The region's version of Spectrum News 1 (Massachusetts), Spectrum News 1, which over the years has expanded from a community access channel to a regional cable news channel, is based in the community.
Radio stations based in Worcester include WCHC, WCUW, WSRS, WTAG, WWFX, WICN and WXLO. WCCA-TV shows on channel 194 and provides Community Cable-Access Television as well as a live stream of the channel on the station's website.
Notable people
Infrastructure
Transportation
Worcester is served by several interstate highways. Interstate 290 (I-290) connects central Worcester to Interstate 495 (Massachusetts), I-495 in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Marlboro, the Massachusetts Turnpike, Mass Pike and Interstate 395 (Connecticut–Massachusetts), I-395 in nearby Auburn and the Connecticut city of Norwich, Connecticut, Norwich. Interstate 190 (Massachusetts), I-190 links Worcester to Massachusetts Route 2, Route 2 and the cities of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Fitchburg and Leominster, Massachusetts, Leominster in northern Worcester County. The Pike can also be reached via a connecting segment of Route 146 from Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
.
Worcester is also served by several smaller Massachusetts state highways. Massachusetts Route 9, Route 9 links the city to its eastern and western suburbs, Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
and Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
. Massachusetts Route 9, Route 9 runs almost the entire length of the state, connecting Boston and Worcester with Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Pittsfield, near the New York (state), New York state border. Massachusetts Route 12, Route 12 was the primary route north to Leominster and Fitchburg until the completion of Interstate 190 (Massachusetts), I-190. Massachusetts Route 12, Route 12 also connected Worcester to Webster, Massachusetts, Webster before Interstate 395 (Connecticut–Massachusetts), I-395 was completed. It still serves as an alternative local route. Route 146, the Worcester-Providence Turnpike, connects the city with the similar city of Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
. U.S. Route 20, Route 20 touches the southernmost tip of Worcester near the Massachusetts Turnpike. U.S. Route 20, Route 20 is a coast-to-coast route connecting the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and is the longest road in the United States.
Worcester is the headquarters of the Providence and Worcester, a Class II railroad operating throughout much of southern New England. Worcester is also the western terminus of the Framingham/Worcester Line, Framingham/Worcester MBTA Commuter Rail, commuter rail line run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Worcester (MBTA station), Union Station serves as the hub for commuter railway traffic. Built in 1911, the station has been restored to its original grace and splendor, reopening to full operation in 2000. It also serves as an Amtrak stop, serving the ''Lake Shore Limited'' from Boston to Chicago. In October 2008, the MBTA added 5 new trains to the Framingham/Worcester line as part of a plan to add 20 or more trains from Worcester to Boston and also to buy the track from CSX Transportation. Train passengers may also connect to additional services such as the ''Vermonter (train), Vermonter'' line in Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
.
The Worcester Regional Transit Authority, or WRTA, manages the municipal bus system. Buses operate intracity as well as connect Worcester to surrounding central Massachusetts communities. Worcester is also served by OurBus, Peter Pan Bus Lines and Greyhound Bus Lines, which operate out of Union Station.
Worcester Regional Airport (KORH), owned and operated by Massport since 2010, lies at the top of Tatnuck Hill, Worcester's highest point. The airport has two runways, whose lengths are and , and a $15.7 million terminal. The airport was serviced by numerous airlines from the 1950s through the 1990s. After that, the airport encountered years of spotty commercial service, but it has since been given new life with the arrival of jetBlue, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines.
Healthcare
In 1830, state legislation funded the creation of the Worcester State Hospital, Worcester State Insane Asylum Hospital (1833) and became one of the first new public asylums in the United States. Prior the Worcester State Insane Asylum hospital, all other treatment centers were funded by private philanthropists which neglected treatment for the poor.
Worcester is home to the University of Massachusetts Medical School, ranked fourth in primary care education among America's 125 medical schools in the 2006 ''U.S. News & World Report'' annual guide "America's Best Graduate Schools". The medical school is in the top quartile of medical schools nationally in research funding from the NIH and is home to highly respected scientists including a Nobel laureate, a Lasker Award recipient and multiple members of the National Academy of Sciences and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The school is closely affiliated with UMass Memorial Health Care
UMass Memorial Health (UMM Health) is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the largest healthcare system in Central Massachusetts. It is a not-for-profit/nonprofit healthcare network providing all levels of pri ...
, the clinical partner of the medical school, which has expanded its locations all over Central Massachusetts. St. Vincent Hospital at Worcester Medical Center in the downtown area rounds out Worcester's primary care facilities. Reliant Medical Group, formerly Fallon Clinic, is the largest private multi-specialty group in central Massachusetts with over 30 different specialties. It is affiliated with St. Vincent's Hospital in downtown Worcester. Reliant Medical Group was the creator of Fallon Community Health Plan, a now independent HMO based in Worcester, and one of the largest health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the state.
Utilities and public services
Worcester has a municipally owned water supply. Its water filtration plant is located in Holden near two of the reservoirs. Sewage disposal services are provided by the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, which services Worcester as well as some surrounding communities.
National Grid (USA), National Grid USA is the exclusive ''distributor'' of electric power to the city, though due to deregulation, customers now have a choice of electric ''generation'' companies. Natural gas is distributed by NSTAR (company), NSTAR Gas; only commercial and industrial customers may choose an alternate natural gas supplier. Verizon New England, Verizon, successor to New England Telephone, NYNEX, and Bell Atlantic, is the primary wired telephone service provider for the area. Phone service is also available from various List of United States mobile phone companies, national wireless companies. Cable television is available from Charter Communications, with broadband Internet access also provided, while a variety of digital subscriber line, DSL providers and resellers are able to provide broadband Internet over Verizon-owned phone lines.
Sister cities
Worcester has the following town twinning, sister cities:
* Worcester, England, Worcester, United Kingdom (1998)
* Afula, Israel
* Piraeus, Greece (2005)
* Pushkin, Saint Petersburg, Pushkin, Saint Petersburg, Russia (1987)
See also
* Greater Worcester Land Trust
* List of mill towns in Massachusetts
* List of people from Worcester, Massachusetts
* List of tallest buildings in Worcester, Massachusetts
* ''McCullen v. Coakley''
* Worcester Public Library
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester, Massachusetts
Notes
References
Further reading
* Dubay, Debby (2014). ''Worcester, Massachusetts: "The Heart of the Commonwealth."'' Atglen, PA: Schiffer, Publishing.
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* Wall & Gray. 187
''Atlas of Massachusetts''.
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From Bondage to Belonging: The Worcester Slave Narratives
, B. Eugene McCarthy & Thomas L. Doughton, editors.
Map of Massachusetts.USA
New England
Counties
Berkshire
Franklin
Hampshire and Hampden
Worcester
Middlesex
Essex and Norfolk
Boston – Suffolk
Plymouth
Bristol
Barnstable and Dukes (Cape Cod)
Cities
Springfield
Worcester
Lowell
Lawrence
Haverhill
Newburyport
Salem
Lynn
Taunton
Fall River
New Bedford
These 1871 maps of the Counties and Cities are useful to see the roads and rail lines.
* Beers, D.G. 1872 ''Atlas of Essex County'
Map of Massachusetts Plate 5
Click on the map for a very large image. Also see map o
1872 Essex County Plate 7
External links
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Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
{{Authority control
Worcester, Massachusetts,
Cities in Massachusetts
Cities in Worcester County, Massachusetts
County seats in Massachusetts
Populated places established in 1673
1673 establishments in Massachusetts
Worcester, MA–CT metropolitan area