Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester, Massachusetts City of Worcester City Hall - Worcester, Massachusetts DCU Center - Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester - MA Antiquarian - Society 2.jpg Worcester Public DCU Center, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester Public Library Flag of Worcester, Massachusetts Flag Official seal of Worcester, Massachusetts Location in Worcester County and the state of Massachusetts Location in Worcester County and the state of Massachusetts Worcester, Massachusetts is positioned in the US Worcester, Massachusetts - Worcester, Massachusetts County Worcester Worcester (/ w st r/ wuuss-t r, small-town pronunciation: [ w st ] wuuss-t ) is a town/city and the governmental center of county of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States.
Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Enumeration the city's populace was 181,045, making it the second most crowded city in New England after Boston. Worcester is positioned approximately 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston, 50 miles (80 km) east of Springfield and 40 miles (64 km) north of Providence.
Due to its locale in Central Massachusetts, Worcester is known as the "Heart of the Commonwealth", thus, a heart is the official motif of the city.
Worcester was considered its own region for centuries; however, with the encroachment of Boston's suburbs in the 1970s after the assembly of Interstate 495 and Interstate 290, it now marks the periphery of the Boston-Worcester-Providence (MA-RI-NH) U.S.
See also: Timeline of Worcester, Massachusetts History and corner contemporary of Worcester, Massachusetts The town was again abandoned amid Queen Anne's War in 1702. Finally in 1713, Worcester was permanently resettled for a third time by Jonas Rice. Named after the town/city of Worcester, England, the town was incorporated on June 14, 1722. On April 2, 1731, Worcester was chosen as the governmental center of county of the newly established Worcester County government.
In the 1770s, Worcester became a center of American revolutionary activity.
British General Thomas Gage was given knowledge of patriot ammunition stockpiled in Worcester in 1775.
Also in 1775, Massachusetts Spy publisher Isaiah Thomas moved his radical journal out of British occupied Boston to Worcester.
On July 14, 1776, Thomas performed the first enhance reading in Massachusetts of the Declaration of Independence in front of the Worcester town hall.
He would later go on to form the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester in 1812. During the turn of the 19th century Worcester's economy moved into manufacturing.
However, the manufacturing trade 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 town/city transformed into a transit hub and the manufacturing trade flourished. Worcester was officially chartered as a town/city on February 29, 1848. The city's industries soon thriving immigrants of primarily Irish, French, and Swedish descent in the mid-19th century and later many immigrants of Lithuanian, Polish, Italian, Greek, Turkish and Armenian descent. Immigrants moved into new triple-decker homes which lined hundreds of Worcester's expanding streets and neighborhoods. Worcester Common in 1907, established in 1669 Worcester would turn into a center of machinery, wire products and power looms and boasted large manufacturers, Washburn & Moen, Wyman-Gordon Company, American Steel & Wire, Morgan Construction and the Norton Company.
In 1908 the Royal Worcester Corset Factory was the biggest employer of women in the United States. 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. 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. On June 9, 1953 a F4 tornado touched down in Petersham, Massachusetts northwest of Worcester.
The tornado tore through 48 miles of Worcester County including a large region of the town/city of Worcester.
Damage at Assumption College after the 1953 Worcester Tornado After World War II, Worcester began to fall into diminish as the town/city lost its manufacturing base to cheaper alternatives athwart the nation and overseas.
Worcester felt the nationwide trends of boss away from historic urban centers.
A huge region of downtown Worcester was completed for new office towers and the 1,000,000 sq.
Worcester Center Galleria shopping mall. After only 30 years the Galleria would lose most of its primary tenants and lose its appeal to more suburban shopping malls around Worcester County.
In the 1960s, Interstate 290 was assembled 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. In the late 20th century Worcester's economy began to recover as the town/city period into biotechnology and healthcare fields. The UMass Medical School has turn into a prestige in biomedical research and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park has turn into a center of medical research and development. Worcester hospitals Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Health Care have turn into two of the biggest employers in the city.
Worcester's many colleges, including the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Clark University, UMass Medical School, Assumption College, MCPHS University, Becker College, and Worcester State University, attract many students to the region and help drive the new economy.
On December 3, 1999 a homeless man and his girlfriend accidentally started a five-alarm fire at the Worcester Cold Storage & Warehouse Company.
In recent decades, a renewed interest in the city's downtown has brought new investment and assembly to Worcester.
A Convention Center was assembled along the DCU Center arena in downtown Worcester in 1997. 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. In 2000, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences assembled a new ground in downtown Worcester. In 2007 WPI opened the first facility in their new Gateway Park center in Lincoln Square. In 2004, Berkeley Investments proposed demolishing the old Worcester Center Galleria for a new mixed-used evolution called City Square.
Worcester has a total area38.6 square miles (100 km2).
Worcester is known as the Heart of the Commonwealth, because of its adjacency to the center of Massachusetts.
The Blackstone River forms in the center of Worcester by the confluence of the Middle River and Mill Brook.
The Blackstone Canal was once an meaningful 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 veiled up.
Worcester is one of many metros/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 including Indian Hill, Newton Hill, Poet's Hill, and Wigwam Hill.
Worcester's humid continental climate (Koppen Dfb) is typical of New England.
Fifteen years later, Worcester was hit by a tornado that killed 94 citizens .
Climate data for Worcester, Massachusetts (Worcester Regional Airport), 1981 2010 normals, extremes 1892 present Main article: Neighborhoods of Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester and the encircling areas, looking north from 3700 feet (1128 m).
Census, Worcester had a populace of 181,045, of which 88,150 (48.7%) were male and 92,895 (51.3%) were female.
In terms of race and ethnicity, Worcester's populace was 69.4% White, 11.6% Black or African American, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 6.1% Asian (3.0% Vietnamese, 0.9% Chinese, and 0.8% Asian Indian), <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 8.4% from Some Other Race, and 4.0% from Two or More Races (1.2% White and Black or African American; 1.0% White and Some Other Race).
Worcester County $31,537 $65,223 $81,519 802,688 299,663 See also: List of mayors of Worcester, Massachusetts The mayor has no more authority than other town/city councilors, but is the ceremonial head of the town/city and chair of the town/city council and school committee.
Initially, Plan E government in Worcester was organized as a 9-member council (all at-large), a ceremonial mayor propel from the council by the councilors, and a council-appointed town/city manager.
Downtown Worcester, with City Hall (1898) at right In 1983, Worcester voters again decided to change the town/city charter.
Worcester's history of civil progressivism includes a number of temperance and abolitionist movements.
It was a prestige in the women's suffrage movement: The first nationwide convention advocating women's rights was held in Worcester, October 23 24, 1850. 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.
On October 19, 1924, the biggest gathering of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) ever held in New England took place at the Agricultural Fairgrounds in Worcester.
For enhance safety needs, the City of Worcester is protected by both the Worcester Fire Department and the Worcester Police Department.
Originally directed by Worcester City Hospital and later by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, "Worcester EMS" operates exclusively at the advanced life support (ALS) level, with two paramedics staffing each ambulance.
UMass Memorial EMS operates the EMS Communications Center, which is a secondary PSAP and provides emergency medical dispatch (EMD) services to Worcester and other communities.
By the mid-19th century Worcester was one of the biggest manufacturing centers in New England.
Worcester's many universities and universities make college studies a considerable existence in the city's economy.
Hanover Insurance was established in 1852 and retains its command posts in Worcester.
Polar Beverages is the biggest autonomous soft-drink bottler in the nation and is positioned in Worcester.
The biotechnology and technology industries have helped spur primary expansions at both the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology positioned in close-by Shrewsbury advanced the oral contraceptive pill in 1951.
Downtown Worcester used to boast primary Boston retailers Filene's and Jordan Marsh as well Worcester's own department stores Barnard's and Denholm & Mc - Kay.
In October 2013, Worcester was found to be the number five town/city for investing in a rental property. 3 City of Worcester 5,128 Worcester's enhance schools educate more than 23,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The fitness consists of 33 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 7 high schools, and 13 other learning centers such as magnet schools, alternative schools, and special education schools.
The Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science was established in 1992 as a enhance secondary school positioned at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Worcester Technical High School, or Worcester Tech.'s graduating class of 2014 was honored by having president Barack Obama as the speaker at their graduation ceremony.
Twenty-one private and parochial schools are also found throughout Worcester, including the city's earliest educational institution, Worcester Academy, established in 1834, and Bancroft School, established in 1900.
The most known enhance schools include North High School, South High School, Doherty High School, Abby Kelley Foster, Worcester Technical High School and Burncoat High School.
Boynton Hall, 1868, designed by Worcester architect Stephen Earle, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Warner Memorial Theater, opened 1932, designed by Drew Eberson, Worcester Academy Worcester is home to a several institutes of higher education.
At 175 acres (0.71 km2), it has the biggest campus in Worcester.
Becker College is a private college with campuses in Worcester and Leicester, Massachusetts.
The Worcester ground was established in 1887, and the two campuses consolidated into Becker College in 1977.
The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Worcester Campus homes 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.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1865) is an innovative prestige in engineering education and partnering with small-town biotechnology industries.
Worcester State University is a public, 4-year college established in 1874 as Worcester Normal School.
Many of these establishments participate in the Colleges of Worcester Consortium.
This autonomous, non-profit collegiate association includes academic establishments in Worcester and other communities in Worcester County, such as Anna Maria College in neighboring Paxton.
Worcester is the home of Dynamy, a "residential internship program" in the United States. The organization was established in 1969.
See also: List of citizens from Worcester, Massachusetts Much of Worcester culture is synonymous with Boston and New England culture.
Worcester has many traditionally ethnic neighborhoods, including Quinsigamond Village (Swedish), Shrewsbury Street (Italian) Kelley Square (Irish and Polish) Vernon Hill (Lithuanian) and Union Hill (Jewish).
Shrewsbury Street is Worcester's traditional "Little Italy" neighborhood and today boasts many of the city's most prominent restaurants and eveninglife. The Canal District was once an old easterly European neighborhood, but has been redeveloped into a very prominent bar, restaurant and club scene. Worcester is also famously the former home of the Worcester Lunch Car Company.
Worcester is home to many classic lunch car diners including Boulevard Diner, Corner Lunch, Chadwick Square Diner, and Miss Worcester Diner.
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 biggest St.
Worcester is also the state's biggest center for the arts outside of Boston.
The Worcester County Poetry Association sponsors readings by nationwide and small-town poets in the town/city and the Worcester Center for Crafts provides craft education and skills to the community.
Worcester is also home to the Worcester Youth Orchestras. Founded in 1947 by Harry Levenson, it is the 3rd earliest youth orchestra in the nation and regularly performs at Mechanics Hall.
Elm Park Iron Bridge Worcester Massachusetts The Elm Park Iron Bridge Worcester Massachusetts 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 Burnside Fountain, also known as the Turtle Boy statue is a small-town landmark positioned on the Worcester Common The American Antiquarian Society has been positioned in Worcester since 1812.
The city's chief exhibition is the Worcester Art Museum established in 1898.
The exhibition is the second biggest art exhibition in New England, behind the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. From 1931 to 2013, Worcester was home to the Higgins Armory Museum, which was the sole exhibition dedicated to arms and armor in the country. Its compilation and endowment were transferred and integrated into the Worcester Art Museum, with the compilation to be shown in a new loggia slated to open in 2015.
The Worcester Memorial Auditorium is one of the most prominent buildings in the city.
Built as a World War I war memorial in 1933, the multipurpose auditorium has hosted many of the Worcester's most famous concerts and sporting affairs.
Main article: Sports in Worcester, Massachusetts 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.
The town/city will host Worcester Railers HC of the ECHL, which will begin 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 AHL was formerly represented by the Worcester Ice - Cats from 1994 to 2005.
The city's former experienced baseball team, the Worcester Tornadoes, started in 2005 and was a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball League.
The Worcester County Wildcats are part of the New England Football League, is a semi-pro football team, and play at Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium.
Worcester's universities 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 universities and Universities in Worcester correspond with division II and III.
The Unitarian-Universalist Church of Worcester was established in 1841.
Worcester's Greek Orthodox Cathedral, St.
Worcester is home to a dedicated Jewish population, who attend five Jewish churchs, including Reform congregation Temple Emanuel Sinai, Congregation Beth Israel, a Conservative Jewish house of worship established in 1924, and Orthodox Congregation Tifereth Israel - Sons of Jacob (Chabad), home of Yeshiva Achei Tmimim Academy.
The first Armenian Church in America was assembled in Worcester in 1890 and consecrated on January 18, 1891 as "Soorp Purgich" (Holy Saviour).
Main article: Media of Worcester, Massachusetts The paper, known locally as "the Telegram" or "the T and G", is wholly owned by Gate - House Media of Fairport, New York. WCTR, channel 3, is Worcester's small-town news tv station, and WUNI-TV, channel 27, is the only primary over-the-air broadcast tv station in Worcester.
Radio stations based in Worcester include WCHC, WCUW, WSRS, WTAG, WWFX, WICN and WXLO.
I-190 links Worcester to MA 2 and the metros/cities of Fitchburg and Leominster in northern Worcester County.
Worcester is also served by a several smaller Massachusetts state highways.
Route 9 runs almost the entire length of the state, connecting Boston and Worcester with Pittsfield, near the New York state border.
Route 12 also connected Worcester to Webster before I-395 was completed.
Route 20 touches the southernmost tip of Worcester near the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Worcester is the command posts of the Providence and Worcester, a Class II barns operating throughout much of southern New England.
Worcester is also the end of the Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
In October 2008 the MBTA added 5 new trains to the Framingham/Worcester line as part of a plan to add 20 or more trains from Worcester to Boston and also to buy the track from CSX Transportation. Train passengers may also connect to additional services such as the Vermonter line in Springfield.
Buses operate intracity as well as connect Worcester to encircling central Massachusetts communities.
The WRTA also operates a shuttle bus between member establishments of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium.
The Worcester Regional Airport, owned and directed by Massport lies at the top of Tatnuck Hill, Worcester's highest.
On Tuesday March 13, 2012, Direct Air canceled its entire charter program (including service to Worcester) due to financial reasons, leaving the passenger terminal at Worcester Regional Airport empty. In 2013, Jet - Blue announced that it would service ORH, and service began in November 2013. It presently provides daily service from ORH to Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando, Florida. Massport has announced plans to install a Category III landing fitness at ORH to combat takeoff and landing enigma caused by routine fog at the airport. The Worcester State Insane Asylum Hospital (1833) was the first hospital in the United States established to treat mental illnesses. Worcester is home to the University of Massachusetts Medical School, ranked fourth in major care education among America's 125 medical schools in the 2006 U.S.
News & World Report annual guide "America's Best Graduate Schools". The medical school is in the top quartile of medical schools nationally in research funding from the NIH and is home to highly respected scientists including a Nobel laureate, a Lasker Award recipient and multiple members of the National Academy of Sciences and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Vincent Hospital at Worcester Medical Center in the downtown region rounds out Worcester's major care facilities.
Reliant Medical Group was the creator of Fallon Community Health Plan, a now autonomous HMO based in Worcester, and one of the biggest community maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the state.
Sewage disposal services are provided by the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, which services Worcester as well as some encircling communities.
United Kingdom Worcester, United Kingdom (1998) National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester, Massachusetts List of tallest buildings in Worcester, Massachusetts North High School (Worcester, Massachusetts) Worcester Public Library Worcester State Hospital ^ a: The US Enumeration estimated that Worcester surpassed Providence in 2006 by 199 citizens .
In the 2010 Census, Worcester's roughly 181,000 inhabitants surpassed Providence's roughly 178,000.
How do you say 'Worcester?', archived from the initial on May 4, 2015, retrieved August 1, 2015 "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Worcester city, Massachusetts".
"Valentines weren't invented in Worcester, but they have special history here".
History of Worcester, Massachusetts, pp.
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.
"Worcester, MA History | at the dawn of the American Industrial Revolution".
City of Worcester, Massachusetts.
"Worcester & Worcester Common".
City of Worcester, Massachusetts.
"Washburn and Moen Worcester's Worldwide Wire Manufacturuer".
"Worcester, MA Driving Tour & Guide to Blackstone Canal Historic Markers".
Worcester Memories, pp.
Worcester Memories, pp.
Worcester Memories, pp.
Worcester Memories, pp.
Worcester Business Journal.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
"Worcester's Canal District Banks On National Park Designation".
"Station Name: MA WORCESTER RGNL AP".
"Worcester (city), Massachusetts".
"Considering Worcester's Charter" (PDF).
"Worcester, MA History".
City of Worcester, Massachusetts.
City of Worcester CAFR, p.
"Worcester - Enrollment/Indicators".
"Worcester - Directory Information".
"How do you say 'Worcester?'".
Worcester Center for the Performing Arts.
"The Worcester Youth Orchestras Founded in 1947 - Home".
The Worcester Youth Orchestras Founded in 1947.
City of Worcester, Massachusetts Public Works and Park.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester "Jet - Blue's Worcester service takes off in first two years - The Boston Globe".
"Flights from Worcester, MA Airport brought to you by Fly - ORH".
Worcester, Massachusetts: "The Heart of the Commonwealth." History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September 1836.
Worcester Directory, Worcester, Mass.: Sampson & Murdock Co., 1920 "From Bondage to Belonging: The Worcester Slave Narratives", B.
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.
Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester Public Library Worcester Regional Research Bureau Worcester Public Schools official website Colleges of Worcester Consortium Worcester Business Directory 91.3 - FM WCUW - Worcester's Community Radio Station UMass Memorial's EMS Service for the City of Worcester 2011 Crash Report for Worcester, MA Worcester Municipalities and communities of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States
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Worcester, Massachusetts - Cities in Massachusetts - Cities in Worcester County, Massachusetts - County seats in Massachusetts - Early American industrialized centers - Populated places established in 1673 - 1673 establishments in Massachusetts - Worcester, MA-CT urbane region - University suburbs in the United States
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