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Wikipedia

Worcester, Massachusetts

December 20, 2023

Worcester (/ˈwʊstər/ ⓘ WUUST-ər, locally [ˈwɪstə] ⓘ)[4] is the 2nd most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the 114th most populous city in the United States.[a][5] Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 census,[6] also making it the second-most populous city in New England after Boston.[b] Worcester is approximately 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston, 50 miles (80 km) east of Springfield and 40 miles (64 km) north-northwest of Providence. 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 is the historical seat of Worcester County in central Massachusetts.

Worcester
City
Clockwise from top: the Worcester Skyline; the American Antiquarian Society; Worcester Union Station; Bancroft Tower; Paul Revere Road; a triple-decker house on Catharine Street; and City Hall
Flag
Seal
Nickname(s): 
The City of the Seven Hills, The Heart of the Commonwealth, Wormtown, Woo-town, The Woo
Location within Worcester County
Worcester
Location within Massachusetts
Worcester
Location within the United States
Coordinates: 42°16′17″N 71°47′56″W / 42.27139°N 71.79889°W / 42.27139; -71.79889
CountryUnited States
StateMassachusetts
CountyWorcester
RegionNew England
Historic coloniesMassachusetts Bay Colony
Dominion of New England
Province of Massachusetts Bay
Settled1673
Incorporated as a townJune 14, 1722
Incorporated as a cityFebruary 29, 1848
Named forWorcester, Worcestershire
Government
 • TypeCouncil–manager
 • City ManagerEric D. Batista
 • MayorJoseph Petty (D)
Area
[1]
 • City38.44 sq mi (99.57 km2)
 • Land37.36 sq mi (96.76 km2)
 • Water1.08 sq mi (2.81 km2)
Elevation
480 ft (146 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • City206,518 (US: 114th)
 • Density5,527.78/sq mi (2,134.27/km2)
 • Urban
482,085 (US: 87th)
 • Urban density1,852.1/sq mi (715.1/km2)
 • Metro
980,836 (US: US: 56th)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (Eastern)
ZIP Codes
01601–01610, 01612–01615, 01653–01655
Area code508 / 774
FIPS code 025-82000
GNIS feature ID0617867
GDP$45.393131 billion (as of 2018, in 2012 US chained dollars)[2]
GDP per capita$45,528 per person[2][3]
Websitewww.worcesterma.gov

Worcester developed as an industrial city in the 19th century due to the Blackstone Canal 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. Long-term economic and population decline was not reversed until the 1990s, when higher education, medicine, biotechnology, 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.

Modern Worcester is known for its diversity and large immigrant population, with significant communities of Vietnamese, Brazilians, Albanians, Puerto Ricans, Ghanaians, Dominicans, and others.[8] Twenty-two percent of Worcester's population was born outside the United States.[9] A center of higher education, it is home to eight separate colleges and universities, including the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and Clark University. Architecturally, Worcester is notable for its large number of 19th-century triple-decker houses, Victorian-era mill architecture, and lunch car diners such as Miss Worcester.

Worcester is the principal city of Central Massachusetts, and is a regional government, employment and transportation hub. Since the 1970s, and especially after the construction of Route 146 and interstates 90, 495, 190, 290, and 395, 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 (CSA), or Greater Boston.

History edit

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Worcester, Massachusetts.

Colonial era edit

The area was first inhabited by members of the Nipmuc tribe. The native people called the region Quinsigamond and built a settlement on Pakachoag Hill in Auburn.[10]

In 1673, English settlers John Eliot and Daniel Gookin 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.[11]

In 1675, King Philip's War 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 in 1702.[11]

Finally, in 1713, Worcester was permanently resettled for a third and final time by Jonas Rice.[12] Named after the city of Worcester, England, the town was incorporated on June 14, 1722.[13]

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 worked as a schoolteacher and studied law in Worcester.[14][15]

Worcester also had a role in the start of the American Revolution, with an event that is oft-forgotten. On September 6, 1774, 4,622 militiamen from 37 towns in Worcester County assembled and marched on Main Street, Worcester; they sought to shut down Crown's courts before it could sit for a new session. The event was dubbed the Worcester Revolution, or the Worcester Revolt. Having seized the courthouse, the militiamen waited for the 25 appointees from the crown to arrive, where they were denied entry and later forced to disavow their appointments by King George III. Bloodshed and violence was avoided, with not a shot fired. British authority had been demonstrably overthrown in the American colonies for the first time.[16]

Growth and industry edit

 
The Star on the Sidewalk indicates the spot of the first reading in New England of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.[17]

In the 1770s, Worcester became a center of American revolutionary activity. The Worcester Revolt on September 6, 1774, was an early successful attempt to throw off British rule. British General Thomas Gage was given information of patriot ammunition stockpiled in Worcester in 1775. That same year, Massachusetts Spy publisher Isaiah Thomas moved his radical newspaper out of British occupied Boston to Worcester. Thomas would continuously publish his paper throughout the American Revolutionary War. On July 14, 1776, Thomas performed the first public reading in Massachusetts of the Declaration of Independence from the porch of the Old South Church,[18] where the 19th-century Worcester City Hall stands today. He would later go on to form the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester in 1812.[19]

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.

However, the manufacturing industry in Worcester would not begin to thrive until the opening of the Blackstone Canal 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.[20]

Worcester was officially chartered as a city on February 29, 1848.[13] 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, Armenian, Syrian, and Lebanese descent.[21] Immigrants moved into new three-decker houses (which originated in Worcester) [22] lining hundreds of Worcester's expanding streets and neighborhoods.[23]

In 1831, Ichabod Washburn 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.[21][24]

Worcester would become a center of machinery, wire products and power looms and boasted large manufacturers, including Washburn & Moen, Wyman-Gordon Company, American Steel & Wire, Morgan Construction and the Norton Company. In 1908, the Royal Worcester Corset Company was the largest employer of women in the United States.[25]

Worcester would also claim many inventions and firsts. New England Candlepin bowling was invented in Worcester by Justin White in 1879. Esther Howland began the first line of Valentine's Day cards from her Worcester home in 1847. Loring Coes invented the first monkey wrench and Russell Hawes created the first envelope folding machine.[26] On June 12, 1880, Lee Richmond pitched the first perfect game in Major league baseball history for the Worcester Ruby Legs at the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds.[26] The first three-decker homes were built by Francis Gallagher (1830–1911) in Worcester.[22]

Urban changes and recovery edit

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 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 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2) Worcester Center Galleria shopping mall.[27] 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, northwest of Worcester. The tornado tore through 48 miles (77 km) 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.[28] Debris from the tornado landed as far away as Dedham.[29] In the 1960s, Interstate 290 was built right through the center of Worcester, permanently dividing the city. In 1963, Worcester native Harvey Ball introduced the iconic yellow smiley face to American culture.[30][31]

In the late 20th century, Worcester's economy began to recover as the city expanded into biotechnology and healthcare fields.[32] 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.[32] Worcester hospitals Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health Care have become two of the largest employers in the city. Worcester's many colleges, including the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Clark University, UMass Medical School, Assumption University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and Worcester State University, attract many students to the area and help drive the new economy.

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.[33] President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and other local and national dignitaries attended the funeral service and memorial program in Worcester.[33]

Recent investment and growth edit

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 arena in downtown Worcester in 1997.[34] In 2000, Worcester's Union Station reopened after 25 years of neglect and a $32 million renovation. Hanover Insurance helped fund a multimillion-dollar renovation to the old Franklin Square Theater into the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.[35] In 2000, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences built a new campus in downtown Worcester.[36] In 2007, WPI opened the first facility in their new Gateway Park center in Lincoln Square.[37] 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.[38] After struggling to secure finances for a number of years, Hanover Insurance took over the project and demolition began on September 13, 2010. Unum 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.[39]

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, Iraq, Somalia, Bhutan, Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan.[40]

Geography edit

Worcester has a total area of 38.6 square miles (100 km2): 37.6 square miles (97 km2) of land and 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2), comprising roughly 2.59%, of water. Worcester is bordered by the towns of Auburn, Grafton, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Paxton, Shrewsbury, 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 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston, 50 miles (80 km) east of Springfield, and 38 miles (61 km) northwest of Providence, Rhode Island.

The Blackstone River 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 that frames the river. The Blackstone Canal 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.[41]

Worcester is one of many cities claimed, like Rome, to be found on seven hills: Airport Hill, Bancroft Hill, Belmont Hill (Bell Hill), Grafton Hill, 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 known as Long Pond) stretches four miles (6.4 km) across the Worcester and Shrewsbury border and is a very popular competitive rowing and boating destination.

Climate edit

Worcester's humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) is typical of New England. 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,[42] with occasional falls in October; May snow is much rarer. The USDA classifies the city as straddling hardiness zones 5b and 6a.[43]

The hottest month is July, with a 24-hour average of 70.2 °F (21.2 °C), while the coldest is January, at 24.1 °F (−4.4 °C). There is an average of only 3.5 days of highs at or above 90 °F (32 °C) and 4.1 nights of lows at or below 0 °F (−18 °C) per year, and periods of both extremes are rarely sustained. The all-time record high temperature is 102 °F (39 °C), recorded on July 4, 1911,[44] the only 100 °F (38 °C) or greater temperature to date. The all-time record low temperature is −24 °F (−31 °C), recorded on February 16, 1943.[45]

Worcester is known for being particularly snowy in the cold months, sometimes even experiencing autumn blizzards. The city averages 48.07 inches (1,220 mm) of precipitation a year, as well as an average of 64 inches (160 cm) of snowfall a season,[46] receiving far more snow than coastal locations less than 40 miles (64 km) away.[47][48] Massachusetts' geographic location, jutting out into the North Atlantic, as well as Worcester's elevation relative to the surrounding terrain, makes the city very prone to Nor'easter weather systems that can dump heavy snow on the region. Extreme winters have brought up to 120 inches (300 cm) of snowfall, as happened in 2005. In late January 2015, a blizzard traversed over the city as it shed almost 32 inches (81 cm) of snow. This was the highest single-day snowfall total for anywhere in Massachusetts since data collection began in 1892.[49]

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. Fifteen years later, Worcester was hit by a tornado 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.

Climate data for Worcester Regional Airport (elevation 1,000 feet (300 m)), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1892–present
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 67
(19) 		71
(22) 		84
(29) 		91
(33) 		94
(34) 		98
(37) 		102
(39) 		99
(37) 		99
(37) 		91
(33) 		79
(26) 		72
(22) 		102
(39)
Mean maximum °F (°C) 55
(13) 		54
(12) 		64
(18) 		78
(26) 		85
(29) 		88
(31) 		90
(32) 		88
(31) 		84
(29) 		75
(24) 		66
(19) 		58
(14) 		91
(33)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) 32.3
(0.2) 		35.1
(1.7) 		43.0
(6.1) 		55.7
(13.2) 		66.6
(19.2) 		74.5
(23.6) 		79.8
(26.6) 		78.1
(25.6) 		70.7
(21.5) 		58.9
(14.9) 		47.9
(8.8) 		37.5
(3.1) 		56.7
(13.7)
Daily mean °F (°C) 24.7
(−4.1) 		27.0
(−2.8) 		34.5
(1.4) 		46.1
(7.8) 		56.7
(13.7) 		65.2
(18.4) 		70.8
(21.6) 		69.3
(20.7) 		61.9
(16.6) 		50.6
(10.3) 		40.2
(4.6) 		30.5
(−0.8) 		48.1
(8.9)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) 17.1
(−8.3) 		18.9
(−7.3) 		26.0
(−3.3) 		36.5
(2.5) 		46.8
(8.2) 		55.9
(13.3) 		61.7
(16.5) 		60.5
(15.8) 		53.2
(11.8) 		42.2
(5.7) 		32.5
(0.3) 		23.4
(−4.8) 		39.6
(4.2)
Mean minimum °F (°C) −2
(−19) 		1
(−17) 		9
(−13) 		25
(−4) 		36
(2) 		45
(7) 		54
(12) 		52
(11) 		40
(4) 		29
(−2) 		18
(−8) 		7
(−14) 		−4
(−20)
Record low °F (°C) −19
(−28) 		−24
(−31) 		−6
(−21) 		9
(−13) 		27
(−3) 		33
(1) 		41
(5) 		38
(3) 		27
(−3) 		19
(−7) 		3
(−16) 		−17
(−27) 		−24
(−31)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 3.52
(89) 		3.26
(83) 		4.19
(106) 		4.08
(104) 		3.56
(90) 		4.22
(107) 		3.93
(100) 		4.14
(105) 		4.24
(108) 		4.84
(123) 		4.00
(102) 		4.28
(109) 		48.26
(1,226)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 18.2
(46) 		21.2
(54) 		13.7
(35) 		1.9
(4.8) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.0
(0.0) 		0.0
(0.0) 		1.1
(2.8) 		1.9
(4.8) 		14.9
(38) 		72.9
(185)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 12.2 10.9 12.4 12.6 13.2 11.8 11.0 10.3 9.5 11.5 10.8 12.2 138.4
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 7.5 7.6 4.9 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 1.0 5.6 28.1
Source: NOAA[42][50][51]

Neighborhoods edit

Main article: Neighborhoods in Worcester, Massachusetts

Gallery edit

  •  
    Worcester and the surrounding areas in 2006, looking north from 3,700 feet (1,100 m). Route 146 can be seen under construction.
  •  
    Dodge Park
  •  
    Washburn Shops, 1868
  •  
    Cristoforo Colombo Park
  •  
    Cristoforo Colombo Park

Demographics edit

Historical population
YearPop.±%
17902,095—    
18002,411+15.1%
18102,577+6.9%
18202,962+14.9%
18304,173+40.9%
18407,497+79.7%
185017,049+127.4%
186024,960+46.4%
187041,105+64.7%
188058,291+41.8%
189084,655+45.2%
1900118,421+39.9%
1910145,986+23.3%
1920179,754+23.1%
1930195,311+8.7%
1940193,694−0.8%
1950203,486+5.1%
1960186,587−8.3%
1970176,572−5.4%
1980161,799−8.4%
1990169,759+4.9%
2000172,648+1.7%
2010181,045+4.9%
2020206,518+14.1%
2022205,319−0.6%
source:[52][53]

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.[54]

In terms of race and ethnicity, Worcester's population as of 2020 was 67.7% 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. Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 23.1% of the population (of whom nearly half were Puerto Rican).[55] Non-Hispanic Whites were 54.4% of the population in 2020,[54] down from 96.8% in 1970.[56] 19.7% of Worcester's population are below the poverty threshold.[54]

Worcester is known for its diversity and large immigrant population, with significant communities of Vietnamese, Brazilians, Albanians, Puerto Ricans, Ghanaians,[57] Dominicans, along with Chinese and Indian Americans.[8] 22% of Worcester's population in 2018 was born outside the United States.[9]

Income edit

See also: List of Massachusetts locations by per capita income

Data is from the 2015–2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.[58][59][60]

Rank ZIP Code (ZCTA) Per capita
income 		Median
household
income 		Median
family
income 		Population Number of
households
Massachusetts $43,761 $81,215 $103,126 6,850,553 2,617,497
Worcester County $37,574 $74,679 $96,393 824,772 309,951
1 01602 $36,792 $64,942 $87,092 22,900 9,498
2 01606 $35,354 $65,708 $82,592 19,896 8,159
United States $34,103 $62,843 $77,263 324,697,795 120,756,048
3 01609 $31,337 $45,992 $84,844 21,628 7,859
4 01604 $29,183 $55,665 $66,482 38,191 14,825
Worcester $27,884 $48,139 $63,893 185,143 71,595
5 01607 $25,319 $39,928 $66,875 8,167 3,702
6 01603 $24,415 $42,904 $56,630 19,731 7,327
7 01605 $23,003 $40,390 $46,641 28,533 10,673
8 01610 $18,452 $33,695 $39,928 22,023 7,729
9 01608 $17,598 $31,384 $30,077 4,471 1,916

Government edit

See also: List of mayors of Worcester, Massachusetts

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/Bicameral form of government. Together, the two chambers—the 11-member Board of 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 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.[61]

From 1949 through 1959, elections were by the single transferable vote. Voters repealed that system in November 1960. Despite non-partisan elections, two groups alternated in control of council: the local Democratic Party and a 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.[62]

 
Downtown Worcester, with City Hall (built 1898) at right

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 edit

See also: Mayoral elections in Worcester, Massachusetts
 
Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, erected in 2002

Worcester's history of social progressivism includes a number of temperance and 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.[63]

Two of the nation's most radical abolitionists, 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."[64]

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.[65]

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.

Voter registration and party enrollment as of October 19, 2016 – Worcester[66]
Party Number of voters Percentage
Democratic 44,656 44.75%
Republican 8,583 8.22%
Unenrolled 49,487 47.37%
Political Designations 0 0%
Total 107,686 100%

Public safety edit

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,[67] "Worcester EMS" operates exclusively at the advanced life support (ALS) level, with two paramedics staffing each ambulance.[68] 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.[69] 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.[70]

Economy edit

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 was founded in 1852 and retains its headquarters in Worcester. 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.

 
University of Massachusetts Medical School's Lazare Research Building

Worcester is home to the largest concentration of digital gaming students in the United States.[71] 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,[72] the city's biotechnology and technology industries have helped spur major expansions at both the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park hosts many innovative companies including Advanced Cell Technology and AbbVie. The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in nearby Shrewsbury 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 and Greendale Mall in North Worcester.

In 2010,[73] 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.[74]

In January 2017, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a law allowing 44 acres of unused state-owned land on the former Worcester State Hospital campus to be converted into a biomanufacturing industrial park.[75]

Top employers edit

According to the city's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[76] the top ten employers in the city are:

# Employer # of employees
1 UMass Memorial Health Care 13,745
2 City of Worcester 5,473
3 University of Massachusetts Medical School 4,172
4 Reliant Medical Group 2,680
5 Saint Vincent Hospital 2,450
6 Hanover Insurance 1,800
7 Saint-Gobain 1,652
8 Seven Hills Foundation 1,445
9 Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1,283
10 Community Healthlink 1,200

Education edit

 
Durkin Administration Building

Primary and secondary education edit

Worcester Public Schools educate more than 25,000 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.[77] The system consists of 34 elementary schools, four middle schools, eight high schools,[78] 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.

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, Doherty Memorial High School, Burncoat Senior High School, University Park Campus School, and Claremont Academy.

The Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science was founded in 1992 as a public secondary school at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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 edit

Worcester is currently home to eight colleges and universities.

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.[83] The city is also home to many trade schools such as the Peterson School, Porter and Chester Institute, the Fieldstone School, and the Rob Roy Academy, among others. Additionally, the Worcester Technical High School offers adult education classes.[84]

Defunct institutions edit

Becker College was a private college with campuses in Worcester and neighboring Leicester that closed at the end of the 2020–21 academic year.[85] 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.[86] 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.[87]

Worcester Junior College started as a private junior college in 1905 as a branch of Worcester Youth Men's Christian Association Institute, then its only offering was in auto mechanics. From 1926 to 1942 the college was affiliated with Northeastern University. In 1972 it was merged with the new Central New England College of Technology [CNEC].[citation needed]

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 edit

See also: List of people from Worcester, Massachusetts
 
Mechanics Hall concert
 
Bancroft Tower stands atop Bancroft Hill and was erected in 1900 by Stephen Salisbury III in honor of his childhood friendship with George Bancroft.[88]

Much of Worcester's culture is synonymous with broader New England 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).[4]

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).

 
Boulevard Diner

Shrewsbury Street is Worcester's traditional "Little Italy" neighborhood and today boasts many of the city's most popular restaurants and nightlife.[89] The Canal District was once an old Eastern European neighborhood, but has been redeveloped into a very popular bar, restaurant and club scene.[90]

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 held the second oldest First Night celebration in the country each New Year's Eve until 2017. Since 1916, Worcester has also been the home of the Worcester Kiltie Pipe Band, one of the oldest pipe bands in the United States.[91]

Worcester is also the state's largest center for the arts outside of Boston. Mechanics Hall, built in 1857, is one of the oldest concert halls in the country and is renowned for its pure acoustics.[92] In 2008 the old Poli Palace Theatre reopened as the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.[93] 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 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.[94] 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.[95] Founded in 1974 the Worcester Symphony Orchestra performs classical works regularly at Mechanics Hall in downtown Worcester.

 
Mechanics Hall

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.[96][97][98]

Due to its location in Central Massachusetts, 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-produced and popularized by Worcester resident Esther Howland.[99] 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 edit

 
The Burnside Fountain, also known as the Turtle Boy statue, is a local landmark on the Worcester Common.
 
The Elm Park Iron Bridge

Worcester has 1,200 acres of publicly owned property. Notable parks include 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.[100] 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. 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. 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 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 in Boston.[101] 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.[102] 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 Worcester's most famous concerts and sporting events, and is[when?] undergoing a renovation to become a multimedia and event center.

Sports edit

Main article: Sports in Worcester, Massachusetts

Since 2021, Worcester has been the home of the Worcester Red Sox, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. They play their home games at the newly constructed Polar Park.[103]

Worcester was home to 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 athlete to be a world champion (Canadian boxer George Dixon, 1892). Taylor was nicknamed the Worcester Whirlwind by the local papers.

 
The College of the Holy Cross' football team (purple)

Lake Quinsigamond is home to the Eastern Sprints, a premier rowing event in the United States. 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. The Sharks played at the DCU Center 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 league's final season.

Worcester now hosts the Massachusetts Pirates, an indoor football team in the Indoor Football League (where they are the defending United Bowl champions, which started in 2018 at the DCU Center. 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 Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross 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 was invented in Worcester in 1880 by Justin White, an area bowling alley owner. The Worcester County Wildcats,[104] 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 in 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 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 NCAA men's basketball champions in 1947 and NIT men's basketball champions in 1954, led by future NBA hall-of-famers and Boston Celtic legends Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn.

Religion edit

 
Trinity Lutheran Church

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.[105] 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.[106]

Religious adherence Worcester County 2010[107]
Religion Number of adherents Percentage
Catholic 348,625 38.01%
Mainline Protestant 49,656 5.4%
Evangelical Protestant 42,006 4.6%
Eastern Orthodox 8,140 0.9%
Jewish 4,605 0.5%
Black Protestant 677 0.01%
Other 15,445 1.68%
None 447,826 48.84%
Total 100%

The Unitarian-Universalist Church of Worcester was founded in 1841. Worcester's Greek Orthodox Cathedral, St. Spyridon, was founded in 1924.

 
Temple Emanuel Sinai

Worcester is home to a dedicated Jewish population who attend five synagogues, including Reform congregation Temple Emanuel Sinai, Congregation Beth Israel, a Conservative synagogue founded in 1924,[108] and 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.

 
Armenian Church of Our Savior

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 Armenian Church of Our Savior, was consecrated in 1952.[109]

Worcester is home to America's largest community of Mandaeans, numbering around 2,500. Most Mandaeans in Worcester arrived as refugees from instability in Iraq during the early 21st century.[110]

Media edit

Main article: Media of Worcester, Massachusetts

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.[111]

The commonwealth's UniMás station, WUTF-TV, channel 27, is licensed to Worcester, but operates from Needham. The region's version of 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.[112]

Notable people edit

Main article: List of people from Worcester, Massachusetts

Infrastructure edit

Transportation edit

Worcester is served by several interstate highways. Interstate 290 (I-290) connects central Worcester to I-495 in Marlboro, the Mass Pike and I-395 in nearby Auburn and the Connecticut city of Norwich. I-190 links Worcester to Route 2 and the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster in northern Worcester County. The Pike can also be reached via a connecting segment of Route 146 from Providence.

 
Union Station, 1911, designed by Watson & Huckel of Philadelphia

Worcester is also served by several smaller Massachusetts state highways. Route 9 links the city to its eastern and western suburbs, Shrewsbury and Leicester. Route 9 runs almost the entire length of the state, connecting Boston and Worcester with Pittsfield, near the New York state border. Route 12 was the primary route north to Leominster and Fitchburg until the completion of I-190. Route 12 also connected Worcester to Webster before 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. Route 20 touches the southernmost tip of Worcester near the Massachusetts Turnpike. Route 20 is a coast-to-coast route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and is the longest road in the United States.[113]

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 commuter rail line run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 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 on 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.[114]

 
Worcester Regional Airport

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 7,000 ft (2,100 m) and 5,000 ft (1,500 m), and a $15.7 million terminal.[115] 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.

Main article: Worcester Regional Airport

Healthcare edit

 
UMass-Worcester Medical School Hospital

In 1830, state legislation funded the creation of the Worcester State Insane Asylum Hospital (1833) and became one of the first new public asylums in the United States.[116] Prior the Worcester State Insane Asylum hospital, all other treatment centers were funded by private philanthropists which neglected treatment for the poor.[116]

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".[81] 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, 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 edit

Worcester has a municipally owned water supply. Its water filtration plant is located in Holden near two of the reservoirs.[117] Sewage disposal services are provided by the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, which services Worcester as well as some surrounding communities.[118]

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 Gas; only commercial and industrial customers may choose an alternate natural gas supplier. 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 national wireless companies. Cable television is available from Charter Communications, with broadband Internet access also provided, while a variety of DSL providers and resellers are able to provide broadband Internet over Verizon-owned phone lines.[citation needed]

Sister cities edit

Worcester has the following sister cities:[119]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Louisville's "balance" population is considered in determining rank among cities in the U.S.
  2. ^ The third largest city is Providence, Rhode Island, with a population of 178,042.[7]

References edit

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  3. ^ In 2012 chained US dollars. Calculated on the basis of the 2018 GDP figure, with the 2010 census-recorded population. Formula: 45.393131*10**9/181045.
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Further reading edit

See also: Bibliography of the history of Worcester, Massachusetts
  • Dubay, Debby (2014). Worcester, Massachusetts: "The Heart of the Commonwealth." Atglen, PA: Schiffer, Publishing.
  • Erskine, Margaret A. (1981). Heart of the Commonwealth: Worcester. Windsor Publications, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89781-030-2.
  • Flynn, Sean (2002). 3000 Degrees: The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men who Fought It. New York: Warner Books.
  • Lincoln, William (1837). History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September 1836. M. D. Phillips.
  • Moynihan, Kenneth J. (2007). A History of Worcester, 1674–1848. The History Press. ISBN 978-1-59629-234-5.
  • Wall & Gray. 1871
  • Worcester Directory, Worcester, Mass.: Sampson & Murdock Co., 1920
  • Sandrof, Irving (1948). Your Worcester Street (PDF). The Franklin Press.
  • "From Bondage to Belonging: The Worcester Slave Narratives", B. Eugene McCarthy & Thomas L. Doughton, editors.
  • . . Counties – , , , , , , , , , . Cities – , , , , , , , , , . . 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 . Click on the map for a very large image. Also see map of .

External links edit

  • Official website
  •   Geographic data related to Worcester, Massachusetts at OpenStreetMap
  • Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce

December 20, 2023
worcester, massachusetts, worcester, wuust, locally, ˈwɪstə, most, populous, city, state, massachusetts, 114th, most, populous, city, united, states, named, after, worcester, england, city, population, 2020, census, also, making, second, most, populous, city, . Worcester ˈ w ʊ s t er WUUST er locally ˈwɪste 4 is the 2nd most populous city in the U S state of Massachusetts and the 114th most populous city in the United States a 5 Named after Worcester England the city s population was 206 518 at the 2020 census 6 also making it the second most populous city in New England after Boston b Worcester is approximately 40 miles 64 km west of Boston 50 miles 80 km east of Springfield and 40 miles 64 km north northwest of Providence 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 is the historical seat of Worcester County in central Massachusetts WorcesterCityClockwise from top the Worcester Skyline the American Antiquarian Society Worcester Union Station Bancroft Tower Paul Revere Road a triple decker house on Catharine Street and City HallFlagSealNickname s The City of the Seven Hills The Heart of the Commonwealth Wormtown Woo town The WooLocation within Worcester CountyWorcesterLocation within MassachusettsShow map of MassachusettsWorcesterLocation within the United StatesShow map of the United StatesCoordinates 42 16 17 N 71 47 56 W 42 27139 N 71 79889 W 42 27139 71 79889CountryUnited StatesStateMassachusettsCountyWorcesterRegionNew EnglandHistoric coloniesMassachusetts Bay ColonyDominion of New EnglandProvince of Massachusetts BaySettled1673Incorporated as a townJune 14 1722Incorporated as a cityFebruary 29 1848Named forWorcester WorcestershireGovernment TypeCouncil manager City ManagerEric D Batista MayorJoseph Petty D Area 1 City38 44 sq mi 99 57 km2 Land37 36 sq mi 96 76 km2 Water1 08 sq mi 2 81 km2 Elevation480 ft 146 m Population 2020 City206 518 US 114th Density5 527 78 sq mi 2 134 27 km2 Urban482 085 US 87th Urban density1 852 1 sq mi 715 1 km2 Metro980 836 US US 56th Time zoneUTC 5 Eastern Summer DST UTC 4 Eastern ZIP Codes01601 01610 01612 01615 01653 01655Area code508 774FIPS code 025 82000GNIS feature ID0617867GDP 45 393131 billion as of 2018 in 2012 US chained dollars 2 GDP per capita 45 528 per person 2 3 Websitewww wbr worcesterma wbr govWorcester developed as an industrial city in the 19th century due to the Blackstone Canal 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 Long term economic and population decline was not reversed until the 1990s when higher education medicine biotechnology 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 Modern Worcester is known for its diversity and large immigrant population with significant communities of Vietnamese Brazilians Albanians Puerto Ricans Ghanaians Dominicans and others 8 Twenty two percent of Worcester s population was born outside the United States 9 A center of higher education it is home to eight separate colleges and universities including the College of the Holy Cross Worcester Polytechnic Institute WPI and Clark University Architecturally Worcester is notable for its large number of 19th century triple decker houses Victorian era mill architecture and lunch car diners such as Miss Worcester Worcester is the principal city of Central Massachusetts and is a regional government employment and transportation hub Since the 1970s and especially after the construction of Route 146 and interstates 90 495 190 290 and 395 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 CSA or Greater Boston Contents 1 History 1 1 Colonial era 1 2 Growth and industry 1 3 Urban changes and recovery 1 4 Recent investment and growth 2 Geography 2 1 Climate 2 2 Neighborhoods 2 3 Gallery 3 Demographics 3 1 Income 4 Government 4 1 Politics 4 2 Public safety 5 Economy 5 1 Top employers 6 Education 6 1 Primary and secondary education 6 2 Higher education 6 3 Defunct institutions 7 Culture 7 1 Sites of interest 8 Sports 9 Religion 10 Media 11 Notable people 12 Infrastructure 12 1 Transportation 12 2 Healthcare 12 3 Utilities and public services 13 Sister cities 14 See also 15 Notes 16 References 17 Further reading 18 External linksHistory editFor a chronological guide see Timeline of Worcester Massachusetts Colonial era edit The area was first inhabited by members of the Nipmuc tribe The native people called the region Quinsigamond and built a settlement on Pakachoag Hill in Auburn 10 In 1673 English settlers John Eliot and Daniel Gookin 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 11 In 1675 King Philip s War 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 in 1702 11 Finally in 1713 Worcester was permanently resettled for a third and final time by Jonas Rice 12 Named after the city of Worcester England the town was incorporated on June 14 1722 13 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 worked as a schoolteacher and studied law in Worcester 14 15 Worcester also had a role in the start of the American Revolution with an event that is oft forgotten On September 6 1774 4 622 militiamen from 37 towns in Worcester County assembled and marched on Main Street Worcester they sought to shut down Crown s courts before it could sit for a new session The event was dubbed the Worcester Revolution or the Worcester Revolt Having seized the courthouse the militiamen waited for the 25 appointees from the crown to arrive where they were denied entry and later forced to disavow their appointments by King George III Bloodshed and violence was avoided with not a shot fired British authority had been demonstrably overthrown in the American colonies for the first time 16 Growth and industry edit nbsp The Star on the Sidewalk indicates the spot of the first reading in New England of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 17 In the 1770s Worcester became a center of American revolutionary activity The Worcester Revolt on September 6 1774 was an early successful attempt to throw off British rule British General Thomas Gage was given information of patriot ammunition stockpiled in Worcester in 1775 That same year Massachusetts Spy publisher Isaiah Thomas moved his radical newspaper out of British occupied Boston to Worcester Thomas would continuously publish his paper throughout the American Revolutionary War On July 14 1776 Thomas performed the first public reading in Massachusetts of the Declaration of Independence from the porch of the Old South Church 18 where the 19th century Worcester City Hall stands today He would later go on to form the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester in 1812 19 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 However the manufacturing industry in Worcester would not begin to thrive until the opening of the Blackstone Canal 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 20 Worcester was officially chartered as a city on February 29 1848 13 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 Armenian Syrian and Lebanese descent 21 Immigrants moved into new three decker houses which originated in Worcester 22 lining hundreds of Worcester s expanding streets and neighborhoods 23 In 1831 Ichabod Washburn opened the Washburn amp 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 21 24 Worcester would become a center of machinery wire products and power looms and boasted large manufacturers including Washburn amp Moen Wyman Gordon Company American Steel amp Wire Morgan Construction and the Norton Company In 1908 the Royal Worcester Corset Company was the largest employer of women in the United States 25 Worcester would also claim many inventions and firsts New England Candlepin bowling was invented in Worcester by Justin White in 1879 Esther Howland began the first line of Valentine s Day cards from her Worcester home in 1847 Loring Coes invented the first monkey wrench and Russell Hawes created the first envelope folding machine 26 On June 12 1880 Lee Richmond pitched the first perfect game in Major league baseball history for the Worcester Ruby Legs at the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds 26 The first three decker homes were built by Francis Gallagher 1830 1911 in Worcester 22 Urban changes and recovery edit 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 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 1 000 000 sq ft 93 000 m2 Worcester Center Galleria shopping mall 27 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 northwest of Worcester The tornado tore through 48 miles 77 km 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 28 Debris from the tornado landed as far away as Dedham 29 In the 1960s Interstate 290 was built right through the center of Worcester permanently dividing the city In 1963 Worcester native Harvey Ball introduced the iconic yellow smiley face to American culture 30 31 In the late 20th century Worcester s economy began to recover as the city expanded into biotechnology and healthcare fields 32 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 32 Worcester hospitals Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health Care have become two of the largest employers in the city Worcester s many colleges including the College of the Holy Cross Worcester Polytechnic Institute Clark University UMass Medical School Assumption University Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Worcester State University attract many students to the area and help drive the new economy On December 3 1999 a homeless couple accidentally started a five alarm fire at the Worcester Cold Storage amp 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 33 President Bill Clinton Vice President Al Gore and other local and national dignitaries attended the funeral service and memorial program in Worcester 33 Recent investment and growth edit 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 arena in downtown Worcester in 1997 34 In 2000 Worcester s Union Station reopened after 25 years of neglect and a 32 million renovation Hanover Insurance helped fund a multimillion dollar renovation to the old Franklin Square Theater into the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts 35 In 2000 the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences built a new campus in downtown Worcester 36 In 2007 WPI opened the first facility in their new Gateway Park center in Lincoln Square 37 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 38 After struggling to secure finances for a number of years Hanover Insurance took over the project and demolition began on September 13 2010 Unum 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 39 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 Iraq Somalia Bhutan Syria Ukraine and Afghanistan 40 Geography editWorcester has a total area of 38 6 square miles 100 km2 37 6 square miles 97 km2 of land and 1 0 square mile 2 6 km2 comprising roughly 2 59 of water Worcester is bordered by the towns of Auburn Grafton Holden Leicester Millbury Paxton Shrewsbury 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 40 miles 64 km west of Boston 50 miles 80 km east of Springfield and 38 miles 61 km northwest of Providence Rhode Island The Blackstone River 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 that frames the river The Blackstone Canal 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 41 Worcester is one of many cities claimed like Rome to be found on seven hills Airport Hill Bancroft Hill Belmont Hill Bell Hill Grafton Hill 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 known as Long Pond stretches four miles 6 4 km across the Worcester and Shrewsbury border and is a very popular competitive rowing and boating destination Climate edit Worcester s humid continental climate Koppen Dfb is typical of New England 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 42 with occasional falls in October May snow is much rarer The USDA classifies the city as straddling hardiness zones 5b and 6a 43 The hottest month is July with a 24 hour average of 70 2 F 21 2 C while the coldest is January at 24 1 F 4 4 C There is an average of only 3 5 days of highs at or above 90 F 32 C and 4 1 nights of lows at or below 0 F 18 C per year and periods of both extremes are rarely sustained The all time record high temperature is 102 F 39 C recorded on July 4 1911 44 the only 100 F 38 C or greater temperature to date The all time record low temperature is 24 F 31 C recorded on February 16 1943 45 Worcester is known for being particularly snowy in the cold months sometimes even experiencing autumn blizzards The city averages 48 07 inches 1 220 mm of precipitation a year as well as an average of 64 inches 160 cm of snowfall a season 46 receiving far more snow than coastal locations less than 40 miles 64 km away 47 48 Massachusetts geographic location jutting out into the North Atlantic as well as Worcester s elevation relative to the surrounding terrain makes the city very prone to Nor easter weather systems that can dump heavy snow on the region Extreme winters have brought up to 120 inches 300 cm of snowfall as happened in 2005 In late January 2015 a blizzard traversed over the city as it shed almost 32 inches 81 cm of snow This was the highest single day snowfall total for anywhere in Massachusetts since data collection began in 1892 49 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 Fifteen years later Worcester was hit by a tornado 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 Climate data for Worcester Regional Airport elevation 1 000 feet 300 m 1991 2020 normals extremes 1892 presentMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high F C 67 19 71 22 84 29 91 33 94 34 98 37 102 39 99 37 99 37 91 33 79 26 72 22 102 39 Mean maximum F C 55 13 54 12 64 18 78 26 85 29 88 31 90 32 88 31 84 29 75 24 66 19 58 14 91 33 Mean daily maximum F C 32 3 0 2 35 1 1 7 43 0 6 1 55 7 13 2 66 6 19 2 74 5 23 6 79 8 26 6 78 1 25 6 70 7 21 5 58 9 14 9 47 9 8 8 37 5 3 1 56 7 13 7 Daily mean F C 24 7 4 1 27 0 2 8 34 5 1 4 46 1 7 8 56 7 13 7 65 2 18 4 70 8 21 6 69 3 20 7 61 9 16 6 50 6 10 3 40 2 4 6 30 5 0 8 48 1 8 9 Mean daily minimum F C 17 1 8 3 18 9 7 3 26 0 3 3 36 5 2 5 46 8 8 2 55 9 13 3 61 7 16 5 60 5 15 8 53 2 11 8 42 2 5 7 32 5 0 3 23 4 4 8 39 6 4 2 Mean minimum F C 2 19 1 17 9 13 25 4 36 2 45 7 54 12 52 11 40 4 29 2 18 8 7 14 4 20 Record low F C 19 28 24 31 6 21 9 13 27 3 33 1 41 5 38 3 27 3 19 7 3 16 17 27 24 31 Average precipitation inches mm 3 52 89 3 26 83 4 19 106 4 08 104 3 56 90 4 22 107 3 93 100 4 14 105 4 24 108 4 84 123 4 00 102 4 28 109 48 26 1 226 Average snowfall inches cm 18 2 46 21 2 54 13 7 35 1 9 4 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 8 1 9 4 8 14 9 38 72 9 185 Average precipitation days 0 01 in 12 2 10 9 12 4 12 6 13 2 11 8 11 0 10 3 9 5 11 5 10 8 12 2 138 4Average snowy days 0 1 in 7 5 7 6 4 9 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 5 6 28 1Source NOAA 42 50 51 Neighborhoods edit Main article Neighborhoods in Worcester Massachusetts Gallery edit nbsp Worcester and the surrounding areas in 2006 looking north from 3 700 feet 1 100 m Route 146 can be seen under construction nbsp Dodge Park nbsp Washburn Shops 1868 nbsp Cristoforo Colombo Park nbsp Cristoforo Colombo ParkDemographics editHistorical populationYearPop 17902 095 18002 411 15 1 18102 577 6 9 18202 962 14 9 18304 173 40 9 18407 497 79 7 185017 049 127 4 186024 960 46 4 187041 105 64 7 188058 291 41 8 189084 655 45 2 1900118 421 39 9 1910145 986 23 3 1920179 754 23 1 1930195 311 8 7 1940193 694 0 8 1950203 486 5 1 1960186 587 8 3 1970176 572 5 4 1980161 799 8 4 1990169 759 4 9 2000172 648 1 7 2010181 045 4 9 2020206 518 14 1 2022205 319 0 6 source 52 53 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 54 In terms of race and ethnicity Worcester s population as of 2020 was 67 7 White including Hispanics 13 0 Black or African American 0 5 American Indian and Alaska Native 7 2 Asian lt 0 1 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 5 2 from Some Other Race and 6 4 from Two or More Races Hispanics and Latinos of any race made up 23 1 of the population of whom nearly half were Puerto Rican 55 Non Hispanic Whites were 54 4 of the population in 2020 54 down from 96 8 in 1970 56 19 7 of Worcester s population are below the poverty threshold 54 Worcester is known for its diversity and large immigrant population with significant communities of Vietnamese Brazilians Albanians Puerto Ricans Ghanaians 57 Dominicans along with Chinese and Indian Americans 8 22 of Worcester s population in 2018 was born outside the United States 9 Income edit See also List of Massachusetts locations by per capita income Data is from the 2015 2019 American Community Survey 5 Year Estimates 58 59 60 Rank ZIP Code ZCTA Per capitaincome Medianhouseholdincome Medianfamilyincome Population Number ofhouseholdsMassachusetts 43 761 81 215 103 126 6 850 553 2 617 497Worcester County 37 574 74 679 96 393 824 772 309 9511 01602 36 792 64 942 87 092 22 900 9 4982 01606 35 354 65 708 82 592 19 896 8 159United States 34 103 62 843 77 263 324 697 795 120 756 0483 01609 31 337 45 992 84 844 21 628 7 8594 01604 29 183 55 665 66 482 38 191 14 825Worcester 27 884 48 139 63 893 185 143 71 5955 01607 25 319 39 928 66 875 8 167 3 7026 01603 24 415 42 904 56 630 19 731 7 3277 01605 23 003 40 390 46 641 28 533 10 6738 01610 18 452 33 695 39 928 22 023 7 7299 01608 17 598 31 384 30 077 4 471 1 916Government editSee also List of mayors of Worcester Massachusetts County level state agency headsClerk of Courts Dennis P McManus D District Attorney Joe Early Jr D Register of Deeds Katie Toomey D Register of Probate Stephanie Fattman R County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis R State governmentState Representative s Jim O Day D David LeBoeuf D Dan Donahue D John Mahoney D Mary Keefe D State Senator s Michael Moore D Harriette Chandler D 1st Worcester district Governor s Councilor s Jen Caissie R Federal governmentU S Representative s Jim McGovern D MA 02 U S Senators Elizabeth Warren D Ed Markey D 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 Bicameral form of government Together the two chambers the 11 member Board of 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 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 61 From 1949 through 1959 elections were by the single transferable vote Voters repealed that system in November 1960 Despite non partisan elections two groups alternated in control of council the local Democratic Party and a 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 62 nbsp Downtown Worcester with City Hall built 1898 at rightIn 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 edit See also Mayoral elections in Worcester Massachusetts nbsp Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial erected in 2002Worcester s history of social progressivism includes a number of temperance and 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 63 Two of the nation s most radical abolitionists 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 64 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 65 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 Voter registration and party enrollment as of October 19 2016 Worcester 66 Party Number of voters PercentageDemocratic 44 656 44 75 Republican 8 583 8 22 Unenrolled 49 487 47 37 Political Designations 0 0 Total 107 686 100 Public safety edit 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 67 Worcester EMS operates exclusively at the advanced life support ALS level with two paramedics staffing each ambulance 68 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 69 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 70 Economy editBy 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 was founded in 1852 and retains its headquarters in Worcester 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 nbsp University of Massachusetts Medical School s Lazare Research BuildingWorcester is home to the largest concentration of digital gaming students in the United States 71 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 72 the city s biotechnology and technology industries have helped spur major expansions at both the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute The Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park hosts many innovative companies including Advanced Cell Technology and AbbVie The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in nearby Shrewsbury 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 amp McKay Over time most retailers moved away from downtown and into the suburban Auburn Mall and Greendale Mall in North Worcester In 2010 73 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 74 In January 2017 Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a law allowing 44 acres of unused state owned land on the former Worcester State Hospital campus to be converted into a biomanufacturing industrial park 75 Top employers edit According to the city s 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 76 the top ten employers in the city are Employer of employees1 UMass Memorial Health Care 13 7452 City of Worcester 5 4733 University of Massachusetts Medical School 4 1724 Reliant Medical Group 2 6805 Saint Vincent Hospital 2 4506 Hanover Insurance 1 8007 Saint Gobain 1 6528 Seven Hills Foundation 1 4459 Worcester Polytechnic Institute 1 28310 Community Healthlink 1 200Education edit nbsp Durkin Administration BuildingPrimary and secondary education edit Worcester Public Schools educate more than 25 000 students in pre kindergarten through 12th grade 77 The system consists of 34 elementary schools four middle schools eight high schools 78 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 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 Doherty Memorial High School Burncoat Senior High School University Park Campus School and Claremont Academy The Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science was founded in 1992 as a public secondary school at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute 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 edit Worcester is currently home to eight colleges and universities Assumption University is the fourth oldest Roman Catholic college in New England and was founded in 1904 At 175 acres 0 71 km2 it has the largest campus in Worcester nbsp Fenwick Hall College of the Holy CrossClark University 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 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 Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Nobel laureate Joseph E Murray former Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins 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 Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas In 2013 Holy Cross was ranked by U S News amp World Report as the nation s 25th highest rated liberal arts college 79 The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences 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 and one in Southbridge 80 nbsp Boynton Hall 1868 designed by Worcester architect Stephen Earle Worcester Polytechnic Institute The University of Massachusetts Medical School 1970 is one of the nation s top 50 medical schools 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 amp World Report annual guide America s Best Graduate Schools 81 Worcester Polytechnic Institute WPI is a private research university focusing on the instruction and research of technical arts and applied sciences 82 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 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 nbsp Warner Memorial Theater opened 1932 designed by Drew Eberson Worcester AcademyMany 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 83 The city is also home to many trade schools such as the Peterson School Porter and Chester Institute the Fieldstone School and the Rob Roy Academy among others Additionally the Worcester Technical High School offers adult education classes 84 Defunct institutions edit Becker College was a private college with campuses in Worcester and neighboring Leicester that closed at the end of the 2020 21 academic year 85 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 86 Clark University started an equivalent program Becker School of Design amp Technology hiring the majority of the faculty from the original program at Becker College and offering transfers to Becker students 87 Worcester Junior College started as a private junior college in 1905 as a branch of Worcester Youth Men s Christian Association Institute then its only offering was in auto mechanics From 1926 to 1942 the college was affiliated with Northeastern University In 1972 it was merged with the new Central New England College of Technology CNEC citation needed 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 editSee also List of people from Worcester Massachusetts nbsp Mechanics Hall concert nbsp Bancroft Tower stands atop Bancroft Hill and was erected in 1900 by Stephen Salisbury III in honor of his childhood friendship with George Bancroft 88 Much of Worcester s culture is synonymous with broader New England 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 4 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 nbsp Boulevard DinerShrewsbury Street is Worcester s traditional Little Italy neighborhood and today boasts many of the city s most popular restaurants and nightlife 89 The Canal District was once an old Eastern European neighborhood but has been redeveloped into a very popular bar restaurant and club scene 90 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 held the second oldest First Night celebration in the country each New Year s Eve until 2017 Since 1916 Worcester has also been the home of the Worcester Kiltie Pipe Band one of the oldest pipe bands in the United States 91 Worcester is also the state s largest center for the arts outside of Boston Mechanics Hall built in 1857 is one of the oldest concert halls in the country and is renowned for its pure acoustics 92 In 2008 the old Poli Palace Theatre reopened as the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts 93 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 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 94 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 95 Founded in 1974 the Worcester Symphony Orchestra performs classical works regularly at Mechanics Hall in downtown Worcester nbsp Mechanics HallThe 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 96 97 98 Due to its location in Central Massachusetts 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 produced and popularized by Worcester resident Esther Howland 99 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 edit nbsp The Burnside Fountain also known as the Turtle Boy statue is a local landmark on the Worcester Common nbsp The Elm Park Iron BridgeWorcester has 1 200 acres of publicly owned property Notable parks include 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 100 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 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 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 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 in Boston 101 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 102 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 Worcester s most famous concerts and sporting events and is when undergoing a renovation to become a multimedia and event center Sports editMain article Sports in Worcester Massachusetts Since 2021 Worcester has been the home of the Worcester Red Sox the Triple A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox They play their home games at the newly constructed Polar Park 103 Worcester was home to 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 athlete to be a world champion Canadian boxer George Dixon 1892 Taylor was nicknamed the Worcester Whirlwind by the local papers nbsp The College of the Holy Cross football team purple Lake Quinsigamond is home to the Eastern Sprints a premier rowing event in the United States 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 The Sharks played at the DCU Center 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 league s final season Worcester now hosts the Massachusetts Pirates an indoor football team in the Indoor Football League where they are the defending United Bowl champions which started in 2018 at the DCU Center 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 Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross 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 was invented in Worcester in 1880 by Justin White an area bowling alley owner The Worcester County Wildcats 104 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 in 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 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 NCAA men s basketball champions in 1947 and NIT men s basketball champions in 1954 led by future NBA hall of famers and Boston Celtic legends Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn Religion edit nbsp Trinity Lutheran ChurchAccording 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 105 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 106 Religious adherence Worcester County 2010 107 Religion Number of adherents PercentageCatholic 348 625 38 01 Mainline Protestant 49 656 5 4 Evangelical Protestant 42 006 4 6 Eastern Orthodox 8 140 0 9 Jewish 4 605 0 5 Black Protestant 677 0 01 Other 15 445 1 68 None 447 826 48 84 Total 100 The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester was founded in 1841 Worcester s Greek Orthodox Cathedral St Spyridon was founded in 1924 nbsp Temple Emanuel SinaiWorcester is home to a dedicated Jewish population who attend five synagogues including Reform congregation Temple Emanuel Sinai Congregation Beth Israel a Conservative synagogue founded in 1924 108 and 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 nbsp Armenian Church of Our SaviorThe 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 Armenian Church of Our Savior was consecrated in 1952 109 Worcester is home to America s largest community of Mandaeans numbering around 2 500 Most Mandaeans in Worcester arrived as refugees from instability in Iraq during the early 21st century 110 Media editMain article Media of Worcester Massachusetts The Telegram amp 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 111 The commonwealth s UniMas station WUTF TV channel 27 is licensed to Worcester but operates from Needham The region s version of 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 112 Notable people editMain article List of people from Worcester MassachusettsInfrastructure editTransportation edit Worcester is served by several interstate highways Interstate 290 I 290 connects central Worcester to I 495 in Marlboro the Mass Pike and I 395 in nearby Auburn and the Connecticut city of Norwich I 190 links Worcester to Route 2 and the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster in northern Worcester County The Pike can also be reached via a connecting segment of Route 146 from Providence nbsp Union Station 1911 designed by Watson amp Huckel of PhiladelphiaWorcester is also served by several smaller Massachusetts state highways Route 9 links the city to its eastern and western suburbs Shrewsbury and Leicester Route 9 runs almost the entire length of the state connecting Boston and Worcester with Pittsfield near the New York state border Route 12 was the primary route north to Leominster and Fitchburg until the completion of I 190 Route 12 also connected Worcester to Webster before 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 Route 20 touches the southernmost tip of Worcester near the Massachusetts Turnpike Route 20 is a coast to coast route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and is the longest road in the United States 113 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 commuter rail line run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 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 on 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 114 nbsp Worcester Regional AirportThe 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 7 000 ft 2 100 m and 5 000 ft 1 500 m and a 15 7 million terminal 115 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 Main article Worcester Regional Airport Healthcare edit nbsp UMass Worcester Medical School HospitalIn 1830 state legislation funded the creation of the Worcester State Insane Asylum Hospital 1833 and became one of the first new public asylums in the United States 116 Prior the Worcester State Insane Asylum hospital all other treatment centers were funded by private philanthropists which neglected treatment for the poor 116 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 amp World Report annual guide America s Best Graduate Schools 81 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 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 edit Worcester has a municipally owned water supply Its water filtration plant is located in Holden near two of the reservoirs 117 Sewage disposal services are provided by the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District which services Worcester as well as some surrounding communities 118 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 Gas only commercial and industrial customers may choose an alternate natural gas supplier 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 national wireless companies Cable television is available from Charter Communications with broadband Internet access also provided while a variety of DSL providers and resellers are able to provide broadband Internet over Verizon owned phone lines citation needed Sister cities editWorcester has the following sister cities 119 Worcester United Kingdom 1998 Afula Israel Piraeus Greece 2005 Pushkin Saint Petersburg Russia 1987 See also editGreater 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 USS Worcester 3 shipsNotes edit Louisville s balance population is considered in determining rank among cities in the U S The third largest city is Providence Rhode Island with a population of 178 042 7 References edit 2020 U S Gazetteer Files United States Census Bureau Retrieved May 21 2022 a b Total Real Gross Domestic Product for Worcester MA CT MSA Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis January 2001 Archived from the original on December 27 2017 Retrieved November 25 2020 In 2012 chained US dollars Calculated on the basis of the 2018 GDP figure with the 2010 census recorded population Formula 45 393131 10 9 181045 a b How do you say Worcester Archived from the original on May 4 2015 Retrieved August 1 2015 Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 50 000 or More Ranked by July 1 2016 Population April 1 2010 to July 1 2016 United States Places of 50 000 Population 2016 Population Estimates United States Census Bureau Population Division May 2017 Archived from the original on September 12 2019 Retrieved July 12 2017 Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics 2010 Demographic Profile Data DP 1 Worcester city Massachusetts U S Census Bureau American Factfinder Archived from the original on February 12 2020 Retrieved March 6 2013 Geographic Identifiers 2010 Demographic Profile Data G001 Providence city Rhode Island U S Census Bureau American Factfinder Archived from the original on February 10 2020 Retrieved March 6 2013 a b Welker Grant November 12 2018 Coming to Worcester The city s immigrant population has shifted in the last decade Worcester Business Journal Retrieved March 21 2021 a b Welker Grant November 12 2018 City of Immigrants Foreign born residents have unusually large impact on Worcester s economy Worcester Business Journal Retrieved March 21 2021 Lincoln William 1862 History of Worcester Massachusetts pp 22 23 Worcester Charles Hersey a b Hassanamisco Indian Museum History Hassanamisco Indian Museum 2013 Archived from the original on August 23 2011 Retrieved December 30 2013 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 a b Worcester MA History at the dawn of the American Industrial Revolution City of Worcester Massachusetts 2007 Archived from the original on March 4 2010 Retrieved March 3 2007 Our History Worcester County Retrieved December 19 2023 John Adams Life Before the Presidency Miller Center millercenter org October 4 2016 Retrieved December 19 2023 Raphael Ray February 12 2013 The True Start of the 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Center September 25 2005 Archived from the original on November 25 2005 Restoration Wrcester Center for the Performing Arts 2013 Archived from the original on December 31 2013 Retrieved December 30 2013 Brown Matthew April 28 2010 College of Pharmacy To Buy Crowne Plaza Property Worcester Business Journal Archived from the original on December 31 2013 Retrieved December 30 2013 Gateway Park at WPI Worcester Polytechnic Institute 2013 Archived from the original on January 2 2014 Retrieved December 30 2013 Kotsopoulos Nick March 17 2010 Hanover buys into CitySquare Worcester Telegram amp Gazette Archived from the original on November 13 2020 Retrieved December 30 2013 Front St connection planned by end of year in Worcester Worcester Telegram amp Gazette December 13 2012 Archived from the original on November 13 2020 Retrieved December 30 2013 Fabos A Pilgrim M Said Ali M Krahe J Ostiller Z 2015 Understanding refugees in Worcester MA Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise Jones D Agostino Steven September 3 2013 Worcester s Canal District Banks On National Park Designation GoLocalWorcester Archived from the original on January 3 2014 Retrieved January 2 2014 a b NowData NOAA Online Weather Data National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Retrieved May 30 2021 United States Department of Agriculture USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map United States National Arboretum Archived from the original on March 3 2015 Retrieved February 19 2015 Daily temperature records National Weather Service 2007 Archived from the original on May 12 2009 Retrieved January 7 2008 Daily temperature records National Weather Service 2007 Archived from the original on May 12 2009 Retrieved January 7 2008 Weather averages Worcester Massachusetts www usclimatedata com Retrieved December 19 2023 Sami Isabel Why Worcester gets more snow than most The Worcester Telegram amp Gazette Retrieved December 19 2023 Weather averages Boston Massachusetts www usclimatedata com Retrieved December 19 2023 Stucker Kyle Record snowfalls Here are the largest single day snowstorms in Massachusetts history Wicked Local Retrieved December 19 2023 Threaded Extremes Archived from the original on March 5 2020 Retrieved November 9 2010 Station Worcester RGNL AP MA U S Climate Normals 2020 U S Monthly Climate Normals 1991 2020 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Retrieved May 30 2021 Census of Population and Housing 1790 2000 U S Census Bureau Archived from the original on April 26 2015 Retrieved March 9 2012 City and Town Population Totals 2020 2022 United States Census Bureau Retrieved November 23 2023 a b c Worcester city Massachusetts State amp County QuickFacts U S Census Bureau Archived from the original on May 5 2012 Retrieved March 22 2022 American FactFinder Factfinder2 census gov Retrieved on August 2 2013 Massachusetts Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Cities and Other Places Earliest Census to 1990 U S Census Bureau Archived from the original on August 12 2012 Murtishi Alban March 6 2017 Worcester s Ghanaian community celebrates 60 years of independence Masslive com Retrieved August 11 2023 SELECTED ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS 2015 2019 American Community Survey 5 Year Estimates U S Census Bureau Archived from the original on May 3 2021 Retrieved May 3 2021 ACS DEMOGRAPHIC AND HOUSING ESTIMATES 2015 2019 American Community Survey 5 Year Estimates U S Census Bureau Archived from the original on May 4 2021 Retrieved May 3 2021 HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES 2015 2019 American Community Survey 5 Year Estimates U S Census Bureau Archived from the original on May 4 2021 Retrieved May 3 2021 Considering Worcester s Charter PDF Worcester Regional Research Bureau April 20 1999 Archived from the original PDF on June 16 2007 Retrieved June 17 2004 Santucci Jack April 2018 Evidence of a winning cohesion tradeoff under multi winner ranked choice voting Electoral Studies 52 128 138 doi 10 1016 j electstud 2017 11 003 ISSN 0261 3794 Archived from the original on November 13 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Retrieved November 15 2018 About us Archived May 12 2009 at the Wayback Machine Synagogue website Accessed July 17 2008 McAfee Andrew Bryce December 2015 Digital History Display A Legacy for The Worcester Armenian Community Worcester Polytechnic Institute Digital WPI Worcester Polytechnic Institute Archived from the original on July 13 2020 Retrieved July 10 2020 These Iraqi immigrants revere John the Baptist but they re not Christians Public Radio International Archived from the original on November 13 2020 Retrieved December 15 2017 GateHouse parent buys T amp G and its parent chain Media Nation 2014 Archived from the original on January 3 2015 Retrieved January 14 2015 WCCA TV 194 www wccatv com Archived from the original on November 13 2020 Retrieved November 13 2020 Ask the Rambler What Is The Longest Road in the United States US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration January 18 2005 Archived from the original on March 11 2007 Retrieved March 2 2007 MBTA board OKs beefed up train service Telegram com Archived from the original on February 13 2012 Retrieved March 23 2012 Worcester Regional Airport Fact Sheet PDF massport com Massachusetts Port Authority July 2019 Archived PDF from the original on November 13 2020 Retrieved April 3 2020 a b Osborn Lawrence A 2009 From Beauty to Despair The Rise and Fall of the American State Mental Hospital Psychiatric Quarterly 80 4 219 231 doi 10 1007 s11126 009 9109 3 PMID 19633958 S2CID 11812547 2020 Water Quality Report PDF City of Worcester Retrieved January 4 2022 Kotsopoulos Nick Worcester sewer use rates may rise 4 5 Telegram amp Gazette Retrieved January 4 2022 Sister Cities Directory Worcester Massachusetts Sister Cities Intl Retrieved June 20 2017 permanent dead link Further reading editSee also Bibliography of the history of Worcester Massachusetts Dubay Debby 2014 Worcester Massachusetts The Heart of the Commonwealth Atglen PA Schiffer Publishing Erskine Margaret A 1981 Heart of the Commonwealth Worcester Windsor Publications Inc ISBN 978 0 89781 030 2 Flynn Sean 2002 3000 Degrees The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men who Fought It New York Warner Books Lincoln William 1837 History of Worcester Massachusetts from its earliest settlement to September 1836 M D Phillips Moynihan Kenneth J 2007 A History of Worcester 1674 1848 The History Press ISBN 978 1 59629 234 5 Wall amp Gray 1871 Atlas of Massachusetts Worcester Directory Worcester Mass Sampson amp Murdock Co 1920 Sandrof Irving 1948 Your Worcester Street PDF The Franklin Press From Bondage to Belonging The Worcester Slave Narratives B Eugene McCarthy amp 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 of 1872 Essex County Plate 7 External links editWorcester Massachusetts at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Definitions from Wiktionary nbsp Media from Commons nbsp News from Wikinews nbsp Quotations from Wikiquote nbsp Texts from Wikisource nbsp Textbooks from Wikibooks nbsp Resources from Wikiversity nbsp Travel information from Wikivoyage Official website nbsp Geographic data related to Worcester Massachusetts at OpenStreetMap Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Worcester Massachusetts amp oldid 1190639071, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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