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A Brief History of Worcester

Photos of Old Worcester

Most of the writers discussed in this report lived in Worcester between 1850 and 1970. Some essential history of Worcester before this time period will be discussed.

In 1668, a tract of land called Worcester was proposed as a plantation. New settlers began arriving in 1674. (Erskine, 14) The Nipmuck Indian tribe decided to reclaim their land and drive out the settlers. Sometime during 1675, all of the settlers left Worcester. Only a few people dared to settle in Worcester; anyone who did was driven out by the Indians. (Erskine, 15)

The first permanent settlers, the families of Gershom Rice, Nathaniel Moore, and Jonas Rice, arrived in 1715. By 1718 there were about 600 people living in Worcester. (Erskine, 20)

Worcester grew and became a town on September 7, 1722. (Erskine, 23) The Indians were still kidnapping and murdering people, which frightened many people away from settling in Worcester. Residents of Worcester kept to their houses and only worked in fields or attended church in large groups with guns at their side.

On April 2, 1731, Worcester was chosen by the General Court to become the new county seat. Worcester County was made up of five towns taken from Suffolk County and seven towns from Middlesex County. (Erskine, 25) While Worcester lacked waterpower and good transportation over the hills, it now held the county seat; Worcester would prosper for the next hundred years.

Worcester could not join in the Industrial Revolution without power or good transportation. In 1822, the construction of a canal was discussed. The canal would run from Worcester to Providence, Rhode Island, following the Blackstone River. (Erskine, 52) Construction began in 1826, bringing a population of Irish workmen to Worcester. The canal was completed in 1828. (Erskine, 53) The canal proved to be an unreliable source for transportation and waterpower. It froze in the winter and eroded the banks in the spring. When there was drought, the canal would dry up.

Worcester could not support any large textile mills because of the lack of reliable waterpower. Instead, smaller mills in Worcester made the tools and machines needed by others. There was a great demand for highly skilled and sober workers, which led to the initiation of a temperance movement in Worcester. (Erskine, 54)

In 1829, the legislature proposed a railroad from Boston to Worcester and continuing on to Springfield. The first locomotive arrived in Worcester on July 4, 1835. People were sure that the railroad would solve Worcester's problems. A third railroad, to Providence, was added in 1847, which made Worcester the center of a network of railroads. The canal closed the same year. (Erskine, 58)

Worcester became a city in 1848, with a population of about 17,000. (Southwick, 3) The first mayor elected was Levi Lincoln, a distant relative of Abraham Lincoln. (Erskine, 66) Mechanical industry prevailed in Worcester with Ichabod Washburn's wire factory and different factories renting space and power in William Merrifield's buildings, which were powered by a steam engine.

Not only was Worcester becoming an industrial city, it was also becoming a well known abolitionist city. In 1854, three fugitive slaves had been arrested in Boston, despite the statute forbidding the arrest of fugitive slaves by police in Massachusetts. Nine-hundred people from the Worcester area protested in Boston, including Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Later that year, Asa Butman, the same man who arrested the fugitive slaves in Boston, traveled to Worcester looking for another runaway slave. (Erskine, 74) A mob nearly lynched Butman, but George Hoar, Stephen Foster, Martin Stowell, and Higginson, all staunch abolitionists, protected him from the crowd. Higginson accompanied Butman back to Boston by carriage. (Erskine, 75)

A meeting place was needed to hold industrial conventions for the industry oriented city. Mechanics Hall was built in 1857, but the poor economy that year overshadowed its brilliance. There was still no uniform currency for the United States. Worcester shipped many of its products west by railroad and received Western currency that had no value in the East. Manufacturers were forced to barter their goods, and paid their employees with goods instead of cash wages. It was one of the worst economies Worcester had faced. (Erskine, 78)

The Civil War coincided with the collapse of Worcester's economy. Three-thousand nine-hundred and seventy-two men from Worcester fought in the Civil War. (Erskine, 79) Meanwhile, in 1862, the city hired men to build a causeway over Lake Quinsigamond. The project was finished the next year. Material needed by the army, such as cloth, guns, wire, and leather goods, were manufactured in Worcester and, in turn, this helped the economy.

Worcester's economy remained stable because of the diversity of industries in Worcester. With a growing population, triple-decker housing became more popular. Each floor was a separate apartment identical to the other two floors, and received fresh air and sunshine. Triple-deckers proved to be healthier housing than tenements in other cities. (Erskine, 90)
With the stable economy, a new city hall was opened in 1898 and the old city hall was torn down a few months later. The new city hall represented Worcester's hopes and dreams for the future of the city. (Southwick, 49)

Between 1870 and 1920 many Europeans settled in Worcester. In 1895, almost 32,000 residents, a third of the population, were immigrants. (Southwick, 38) Immigrants came to Worcester to work for the many industrial wire and steel companies such as Washburn and Moen, Morgan Construction Company, Wyman-Gordon Company, Leland Gifford, and over 1,000 other companies. Shrewsbury Street was mostly Irish. Quinsigamond Village, Belmont Hill, and the Greendale area were occupied by Swedes. The French lived in the Wall Street-Hamilton Street area. Water Street and Providence Street were heavily Jewish. (Southwick, 42)

The center of the city was crowded: almost half of the population lived within walking distance of city hall. (Erskine, 115) It was estimated that the population would grew to 300,000 by 1970. (Erskine, 113) In 1910, the city began to have problems with traffic congestion and sewage. Cars lined the narrow streets and trolley cars blocked intersections. There was no waterway to carry off the sewage, so people used the canal to carry off their waste. Eventually sewer lines were added and a sewage-disposal plant was created. (Erskine, 118)

When the stock market collapsed in October, 1929, Worcester was hit hard. The population stopped growing, banks were no longer trusted, and unemployment was high. By 1932, about one-quarter of the population was unemployed and those who were employed were working at greatly reduced wages. Building the New Auditorium provided some people with employment; it was finished in September, 1932. (Erskine, 124)

World War II brought with it a revived economy. Worcester factories filled orders for the war, creating jobs and decreasing unemployment. Young men registered for the draft starting in October, 1940, and began to leave for the service. There were plenty of jobs now; the problem now was finding skilled workers to fill them. (Erskine, 127)

When the war ended, the economy was still thriving but now Worcester needed to face the fact that it was a 19th century city living in the 20th century. The three main problems of the city were the inadequate water resources, the old schools, and the poor streets. Streets, highways, and railroads were relocated in order to improve the traffic problems. Today the city is still struggling to improve itself and bring more business to Worcester.