Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
1895 - Worcester

Worcester, a city and one of the capitals of Worcester co., Mass., on Blackstone River, in lat. 42° 16' 17" N., lon. 71° 48' 13" W., and on several railways, the chief of which are the Boston & Albany, the Providence & Worcester, the Norwich & Worcester, the Worcester, Nashua & Rochester, and the Fitchburg. It is 44 miles S.W. of Boston, 43 miles N.W. of Providence, R.I., and is near the geographical centre of the state. It is laid out rather with reference to the irregular and diversified surface than to any mathematical plan, and has an unusually large number of fine buildings, public and private, numerous lines of street railway on which both electric and horse-cars are used, a good water supply from two distinct sources, gas- and electric light-works, an extensive drainage system with the largest works for the purification of sewage by chemical precipitation in America, and a well-organized fire department. The city has important manufactures of a very great variety of articles, such as farm-implements, boots and shoes, woollens, cottons, all kinds of machinery, furniture, card-clothing, stone-ware, tools, carpets, wire goods, boilers, hardware, musical instruments, arms, wrenches, corsets, skates, envelopes, &c., the manufacture of boots and shoes being a leading industry: in this single branch there are 26 manufactories, producing about $5,000,000 worth of boots and shoes yearly. For the manufacture of woollen goods there are about 14 establishments. The iron-manufacture is, however, the first in importance, one branch of it, that of wire, employing several thousand men, the wire-mills being the most extensive in the world. Worcester has 6 national banks, 4 savings-banks, a clearing-house, 4 private banking-houses, and 5 insurance companies, and is the seat of publication of 4 daily and 2 weekly newspapers, besides a variety of other periodical publications. One weekly newspaper, the 'Massachusetts Spy,' has been published consecutively for 123 years. It has many important public institutions, among which are 2 extensive state lunatic hospitals, a city hospital, a home for aged women, a home for old men, an orphans' home, an Odd-Fellows' home, built and maintained by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, a Young Men's and a Young Women's Christian Association, each owning a handsome and beautifully-equipped building. The system of public instruction is very effective, with schools of every grade. Among the more noted institutions are the Jesuit College of the Holy Cross, with extensive buildings (the principal educational establishment of the Roman Catholics in New England), Clark University (founded in 1887 for post-graduate work in the departments of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and education, offering liberal fellowships and scholarships in these departments to advanced men), Worcester Academy (a Baptist school with a large endowment), the State Normal School, the Highland Military Academy, the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (a well endowed institution, with costly workshops and laboratories, and a fine school-building), 2 convents, schools for Roman Catholic children, a music school, the Worcester Natural History Society (with a fine building, valuable cabinets, and a park of 40 acres, on which is maintained for two months yearly a summer camp and school for boys), the Worcester County Musical Association (which holds a great music festival yearly), the American Antiquarian Society (with a library of 90,000 volumes and valuable cabinets), the Worcester Society of Antiquity (which also has a handsome building with library and interesting historical collection), a free public library and reading-room with more than 70,000 volumes, a county law library, a mechanics' association with library and reading-room, and a horticultural hall and library. There are 76 churches of various denominations, and also several independent religious societies. The Union Depot, for the principal railways, is a large, handsome, and expensive granite building. The county court-houses, and the high-school building, among the finest in New England, are notable and costly structures. There are 11 public parks well distributed in different parts of the city, with an area in the aggregate of nearly 400 acres. In the central park is a soldiers' monument, also a monument to the memory of Colonel Timothy Bigelow, of the Revolutionary army. Another park borders on Lake Quinsigamond, a picturesque sheet of water nearly six miles long, which is the chief suburban pleasure-resort. Worcester (at first called Quonsigamog or Quinsigamond) was settled in 1675, but afterwards abandoned on account of Indian attacks; permanently settled in 1713; incorporated as a town in 1684, and as a city in 1848. It has for some years ranked as the second city of the state in population. From its numerous schools it has been called 'the Academic City,' and, from its situation and its political and social influence, 'the heart of the commonwealth.' Within the city limits are several suburban villages, the area of the municipality being over 36 square miles. As a railway centre, Worcester has also a large and increasing trade. Its population has rapidly increased since 1860. Pop. in 1850, 17,049; in 1860, 24,960; in 1870, 41,105; in 1875, 49,265; in 1880, 58,291; in 1885, 68,389; in 1890, 84,655.

Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World Containing Notices of Over One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Places ... Joseph Thomas January 1, 1895 J.B. Lippincott

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