Timeline of Worcester, Massachusetts
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Prior to 19th century
[edit]- 1669 – Common established.[citation needed]
- 1719 – Town meeting house built.[1]
- 1722 - incorporated as a town June 14, 1722.
- 1731 - On April 2, 1731, Worcester was chosen as the county seat of the newly founded Worcester County
- 1733 – Court House built.[2]
- 1763 – Old South Meeting house built (approximate date).[1]
- 1775
- Post office established.[1]
- Massachusetts Spy newspaper relocates to Worcester.
- 1776 – July 14, first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Isaiah Thomas.[3]
- 1786 – Worcester Magazine begins publication.[4]
- 1787 – First known printing of the word 'baseball' appears in A Little Pretty Pocket-book, Worcester, MA, by Isaiah Thomas, Rare Book and Special Collections, Library of Congress.[5]
- 1792 – Second Meeting House dedicated.[6]
- 1793 – Associate Library Company active.[7]
19th century
[edit]- 1800 – Independent Gazeteer begins publication.[4]
- 1801 – National Aegis newspaper begins publication.[4]
- 1812 – American Antiquarian Society founded.[4][8]
- 1818 – Worcester Agricultural Society incorporated.[1]
- 1819 – Fraternity of Odd Fellows active.[7]
- 1823 – Massachusetts Yeoman newspaper begins publication.[4]
- 1824 – Town Hall built.[1]
- 1825 – Worcester Lyceum of Natural History founded.
- 1828 – Blackstone Canal opens.
- 1829
- 1830
- Worcester County Colonization Society formed.[9]
- Worcester Social Library active.[7]
- Population: 4,173.[10]
- 1832 – Worcester Law Library Association active.[7]
- 1833
- Tolman carriage factory established.[11]
- Ezra Rice House built.
- 1834
- St. John's Catholic Church established.
- Worcester Palladium newspaper begins publication.[4]
- Worcester Academy established.[12]
- 1835 – Harris' Circulating Library in operation.[7]
- 1838
- P. Young variety store established.[13]
- Christian Reflector newspaper begins publication.[4]
- Rural Cemetery is incorporated.[14]
- 1843 – College of the Holy Cross established.
- 1840
- Worcester County Horticultural Society formed.[1]
- Population: 7,497.[10]
- 1844 – Worcester Almanac begins publication.[1]
- 1845
- 1847 – Worcester Telegraph and Worcester Daily Journal newspapers begin publication.[4]
- 1848
- 1849 – Oread Institute founded.
- 1850
- National Women's Rights Convention held in city.
- Population: 17,049.[10]
- 1851 – Daily Morning Transcript newspaper begins publication.[4]
- 1852 – Worcester Young Men's Christian Association founded.[17]
- 1853
- Worcester Rhetorical Society incorporated.[18]
- Emmanuel Baptist church built.
- Agricultural Fairgrounds in operation (approximate date).[1]
- 1854
- Hope Cemetery laid out.
- Mission Chapel built.
- 1856 – Worcester Employment Society and Highland Military School founded.[1]
- 1857
- Mechanics Hall built.
- Ladies' Collegiate Institute opens.[19]
- 1858 – Worcester Music Festival begins; Frohsinn Gesang Verein chorus formed.[1]
- 1860 – A.H. Word's Select Circulating Library active.[7]
- 1862 – Free Public Library building constructed on Elm Street.[18]
- 1864 – Dale Hospital opens.[1]
- 1865 – Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science founded.[20]
- 1866 – Worcester County Homoeopathic Medical Society formed.[1]
- 1868 – Chamberlain's Circulating Library in operation.[7]
- 1869 – Elwood Adams hardware store in business.[21]
- 1872 – South End commercial circulating library in operation.[7]
- 1873 – Home for Aged Women opens.[1]
- 1874
- Worcester Normal School established.
- Soldiers' Monument dedicated.
- Cathedral of Saint Paul built.
- 1875
- Worcester Society of Antiquity formed.[1]
- Train station built.[citation needed]
- 1876 – Grand Army of the Republic Hall built.
- 1877 – Irvings base ball team active.[1]
- 1879 – Worcester Worcesters base ball team formed (approximate date).[1]
- 1880 – First perfect game in Major League Baseball history pitched by Lee Richmond, pitcher for the Worcester Worcesters.[22]
- 1884
- Worcester bicentennial.[23]
- St. Peters Catholic Church built.
- 1885 – Frederick Daniels House built.
- 1886
- 1887
- Clark University founded.
- Becker's Business College formed.
- Pilgrim Congregational Church built.
- Horseshoers' Union organized.[1]
- 1888 – St. Mark's Episcopal Church built.
- 1889 – Old South Church built, corner Main and Wellington St.[1]
- 1891 – Lothrop's Opera House opens.[24]
- 1892 – New English High School opens.[1]
- 1894 – St. Matthew's Episcopal Church and South Unitarian Church built.
- 1895 – Union Congregational Church built.
- 1897 – Worcester Art Museum School established.[12]
- 1898
- Worcester Art Museum building opens.
- Worcester City Hall built.
- 1899 – Worcester Business Institute established.[12]
20th century
[edit]- 1900
- Population: 118,421.[8]
- Bancroft School established.[12]
- Bancroft Tower in Salisbury Park erected.
- 1901 – Worcester Magazine begins publication.[25]
- 1904
- Assumption College established.
- Shaarai Torah congregation incorporated.
- 1906
- Boulevard Park opens.
- Worcester Lunch Car and Carriage Manufacturing Company founded.
- Labor News begins publication.[4]
- Worcester Domestic Science School established.[12]
- 1907 – Slater Building constructed.
- 1910
- Population: 145,986.[8]
- April 3: President William Howard Taft visits Mechanics Hall to speak about labor issues to a meeting of Brotherhoods in Train Service[26]
- 1911 – Train station rebuilt.
- 1912
- Bancroft Hotel built.
- Burnside Fountain installed.
- 1913 – Greendale Branch Library, Quinsigamond Branch Library and South Worcester Branch Library built.
- 1914
- Park Building constructed.
- September – Fashion Week.[27]
- 1921 – Temple Emanuel founded.
- 1923 – Worcester Panthers baseball team active.
- 1924
- Fitton Field stadium opens.
- Congregation Beth Israel founded.
- 1927
- Foley Stadium built.
- Worcester Airport opens.
- 1931 – Higgins Armory Museum opens.[28]
- 1938 – Worcester Junior College established.
- 1950 – Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester established.
- 1952 – Massachusetts Route 146 highway constructed.
- 1953 – Tornado.
- 1954 – Worcester Area Sports Car Club formed.
- 1955 – Commerce Bank & Trust Company founded.
- 1962 – University of Massachusetts Medical School established.
- 1963
- Smiley created by Harvey Ross Ball.[29]
- Quinsigamond Community College founded.
- 1968 – Worcester Consortium of Universities founded.
- 1971
- Worcester Center Galleria opens.[30]
- Worcester Science Center and Mechanics Tower built.
- 1974
- Worcester Regional Transit Authority established.
- Worcester Plaza built.
- 1975 – Joseph D. Early becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district.
- 1976 – Worcester Magazine begins publication.[31]
- 1980 – New England Summer Nationals automotive festival begins.
- 1982 – Centrum arena opens.
- 1983 – Interstate 190 highway in operation.
- 1986 – Telegram & Gazette newspaper formed.
- 1987
- Greater Worcester Land Trust founded.[32]
- United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts division opens.
- Sister city relationship established with Pushkin, Russia.[33]
- 1988
- Jordan Levy becomes mayor.
- Worcester Historical Museum opens on Elm Street.[34]
- 1991 – Sky Mark Tower built.
- 1994
- Raymond Mariano becomes mayor.
- Worcester Women's History Project founded.[35]
- Worcester IceCats hockey team active.
- 1996
- City website online (approximate date).[36][chronology citation needed]
- Worcester Sharks ice hockey team active.
- Music Worcester Inc. formed.
- 1997 – Jim McGovern becomes U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district.
- 1999 – Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire.
21st century
[edit]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2012) |
- 2000
- Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences campus opens.
- Union Station renovated.[30]
- 2001 – Worcester Public Library main branch renovated.
- 2002 – Tim Murray becomes mayor.
- 2004 – Worcester IceCats hockey team sold and moves out of Worcester.[37]
- 2005 – Worcester Tornadoes baseball team formed.
- 2007 – Konstantina Lukes becomes mayor.
- 2010 – Joseph C. O'Brien becomes mayor.
- 2011 – Worcester Hydra soccer team founded.
- 2012 –
- Joseph Petty becomes mayor.
- Worcester Tornados baseball team's final season.[38]
- 2013 – Higgin's Armory Museum closes.[39]
- 2014 – Worcester Bravehearts baseball team formed.[citation needed]
- 2015 – Worcester Sharks hockey team moves to San Jose.[40]
- 2017 – Worcester Railers hockey team formed.[41]
- 2018 – Massachusetts Pirates indoor football team formed.[42]
See also
[edit]- Worcester history
- List of mayors of Worcester, Massachusetts
- Worcester, Massachusetts Firsts
- Media in Worcester, Massachusetts
- Timelines of other municipalities in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts: Boston, Cambridge, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, New Bedford, Salem, Somerville, Waltham
Images
[edit]-
Town Hall, corner Main and Front St., built 1824 -
Massachusetts Yeoman newspaper published in Worcester ca.1820s -
Dale Hospital, opened in 1864 -
Map of Worcester, 1878 -
Lothrop's Opera House, 1891 advertisement -
Worcester, ca.1905 -
Group photo 1909 in front of Clark University. Front row: Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, Carl Jung; back row: Abraham A. Brill, Ernest Jones, Sándor Ferenczi -
-
Worcester Domestic Science School, 1914 -
Map of Worcester, 1919 -
High-resolution birds-eye-view map of Worcester in 1878
.jpg)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Rice 1893.
- ^ Sanford 1886.
- ^ ""Worcester, July 24…On Monday last a number of patriotic gentlemen of this town…assembled on the green near the liberty pole…"". AAS Catalog Record. 1776-07-24. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
- ^ "Children's Literature". Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ^ Rice 1884.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Davies Project. "American Libraries before 1876". Princeton University. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
- ^ a b c Britannica 1910.
- ^ Report made at an adjourned meeting of the friends of the American Colonization Society, in Worcester County, held in Worcester, Dec. 8, 1830, Worcester: Printed by S. H. Colton and Co., 1831, OCLC 14998249, OL 13522714M
- ^ a b c Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, U.S. Census Bureau, 1998
- ^ Howland 1856.
- ^ a b c d e Homer L. Patterson (1921), Patterson's American Educational Directory, American Educational Co.
- ^ Howland 1853.
- ^ Mildred McClary Tymeson. Rural retrospect: a parallel history of Worcester and its Rural Cemetery. Worcester: Albert W. Rice. 1956. pp. 28-33.
- ^ "Worcester History". www.worcesterma.gov. Worcester City Clerk. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ Address adopted by the Whig State Convention, at Worcester, September 13, 1848, Worcester: s.n., 1848, OCLC 10603162, OL 13509507M
- ^ Alfred S. Roe (1901), The Worcester Young Men's Christian Association, Worcester, Massachusetts, OCLC 9642022
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b Howland 1865.
- ^ Howland 1861.
- ^ Addresses of inauguration and dedication, Worcester, November 11, 1868, Worcester: C. Hamilton, 1869, OL 24651704M
- ^ Elwood Adams Hardware Archived 2011-01-28 at the Wayback Machine History
- ^ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
- ^ Anniversary 1885.
- ^ "Light: A journal of social Worcester and her neighbors". Worcester, Massachusetts: F. E. Kennedy. 1890. OL 14020422M.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Worcester Magazine 1901.
- ^ Staff Writer (10 June 2014). "President Taft's visit to Worcester in 1910 remembered". Worcester Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Worcester Magazine, October, 1914 (Vol. XVII No.10)". Archived from the original on 2013-04-14.
- ^ "Higgins Museum passes into history", Worcester Business Journal, December 31, 2013
- ^ Stamp, Jimmy (March 13, 2013). "Who Really Invented the Smiley Face?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
- ^ a b New York Times 2015.
- ^ Worcester Mag. "About Us". Holden Landmark Corporation. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
- ^ "About | The Greater Worcester Land Trust". www.gwlt.org. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
- ^ "Worcester Sister City Program". International Center of Worcester. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
- ^ Worcester Historical Museum. "Museum History". Retrieved August 17, 2012.
- ^ Worcester Women's History Project (18 October 2008). "About Us". Retrieved August 17, 2012.
- ^ "City of Worcester, MA". Archived from the original on 1996-12-23 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Blues Agree to Sell Worcester IceCats". OurSports Central. 2004-11-09. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ^ Forde, Craig (August 31, 2012). "League shutters Worcester Tornadoes baseball team - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ^ "Higgins Armory Museum to close at the end of 2013". Medieval Warfare. 3 (3): 4. 2013. ISSN 2211-5129. JSTOR 48578228.
- ^ "Sharks Moving AHL Franchise to SAP Center". NHL.com. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ^ "Introducing the Worcester Railers professional hockey team". Worcester Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ^ "The Massachusetts Pirates, a new arena league football team, coming to Worcester". masslive. 2017-11-16. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
Bibliography
[edit]- Published in the 18th-19th century
- Peter Whitney (1793), History of the County of Worcester, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts: Isaiah Thomas, OL 6905743M
- Henry J. Howland (1853), Worcester Almanac, Directory, and Business Advertiser, for 1854, Worcester: H.J. Howland, OCLC 785826916, OL 25278704M
- Heart of the Commonwealth, or, Worcester as it is, Worcester, Massachusetts: Henry J. Howland, 1856, OL 14011107M
- Henry J. Howland (1861), Worcester Almanac, Directory, and Business Advertiser, Worcester: H.J. Howland, OCLC 785827805, OL 25278671M
- Henry J. Howland (1865), Worcester Directory, Worcester: H.J. Howland, OCLC 18580655, OL 25285405M
- Claflin; Black (1870), Five hundred past and present citizens of Worcester, Mass, G. R. Peckham, OCLC 1600205, OL 14008064M
- Franklin P. Rice (1884), The Worcester Book: a diary of noteworthy events in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1657 to 1883, Worcester: Putnam, Davis and Co., OCLC 6676339, OL 7202093M
- 1684, 1884: Celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the naming of Worcester, October 14 and 15, 1884, Worcester, Mass: Printed by order of the City Council, 1885, OL 13988362M
- City of Worcester, Massachusetts: its Public Buildings and its Business, 1886, Worcester: Sanford & Davis, 1886, OL 14050449M
- Baynes, T. S.; Smith, W. R., eds. (1888). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (9th ed.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
- Franklin Pierce Rice (1893), Dictionary of Worcester and Vicinity, Worcester: F. S. Blanchard & Co., OL 14050717M
- Franklin P. Rice, ed. (1899), Worcester of eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, Worcester, Mass: F. S. Blanchard, OCLC 404208, OL 14048656M
- Published in the 20th century
- "Worcester Magazine". 1. Worcester Board of Trade. 1901.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help). See also: v.3 (1902); v.6 (1903); v.14 (1911); v.15 (1912); v.19 (1916) - . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). 1910. pp. 822–823.
- "Worcester", Handbook of New England, Boston: Porter E. Sargent, 1916, OCLC 16726464
- Charles L. Nichols (1918), Bibliography of Worcester (2nd ed.), Worcester: Priv. print., OL 7058897M
- Worcester Bank & Trust Company (1922), Historic events of Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, OCLC 2973056, OL 6642342M
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Richards Standard Atlas of the city of Worcester, Massachusetts. L.J. Richards & Co. 1922 – via State Library of Massachusetts.
- R. W. G. Vail, ed. (1936). "Worcester". Bibliotheca Americana. Vol. 29. New York. OCLC 13972268.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Federal Writers' Project (1937), "Worcester", Massachusetts: a Guide to its Places and People, American Guide Series, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, hdl:2027/mdp.39015014440781
- Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Worcester, MA", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL 4120668M
- Published in the 21st century
- "Long a College Town, Worcester Now Looks the Part", New York Times, January 6, 2015
External links
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to History of Worcester, Massachusetts.
- Items related to Worcester, Massachusetts, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America).
- Map of the city of Worcester, 1889.
- Clark University; Worcester Art Museum (2017), Rediscovering an American Community of Color: The Photographs of William Bullard, 1897–1917. "236 portraits of people of color–- African Americans and people of Native American descent" in the Beaver Brook neighborhood of Worcester
Nickname(s): The City of the Seven Hills, The Heart of the Commonwealth, Wormtown, Woo-town, The Woo | ||
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