Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 44

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802

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Worcester

opened, the first step toward making Worcester the greatest industrial city in the United States not on a natural waterway.

In the issue of the National Aegis for August 31, 1814, Worcester frankly regretted that President Madison was not destroyed along with the Capital in the burning of Washington. With similar vigor of conviction, the city entered upon the national scene in 1848 when its delegate to the Whig Convention, Charles Allen, later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, threw a Free Soil meeting at Worcester into an uproar by announcing at the conclusion of the debate on slavery, 'We declare the Whig Party of the Union this day dissolved.'

Hardly had the tumult ceased when the Rev. George Allen, his brother, proposed the memorable resolution, 'Resolved: that Massachusetts wears no chains and spurns all bribes; that Massachusetts goes now and will ever go for free soil and for free men, for free lips and a free press, for a free land and a free world.' This action resulted in the formation of the Free Soil Party in Massachusetts, which paved the way for Lincoln and the Republican Party.

For the women of Massachusetts the anti-slavery movement opened up a new sphere of activity. They willingly undertook to carry on much of the necessary organizational work. Their success led them to feel confi- dent that it was in their power to render public service of an even wider scope. Accordingly the Woman's Rights Convention, which launched the Equal Suffrage Movement, was held at Worcester in 1850.

Quick to see the rise to the challenge of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, Eli Thayer called a meeting in Worcester out of which was organized the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, designed to settle Kansas with Northerners. Due in part to the activities of this committee, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state in 1861.

Worcester witnessed, during the fifty years after the Civil War, the growth of four major industries. A decade prior to the war Ichabod Washburn had improved the process of manufacturing wire, specializing in the manufacture of piano wire. Today the giant plants of the American Steel and Wire Company employ 6000 persons. Their 200,000 wire pro- ducts include ordinary nails, as well as platinum wire valued at $1000 per pound, and the heaviest cable in the country.

The invention of a fancy loom in 1837 by William Crompton, then a resident of Taunton, revolutionized the textile industry. The Crompton Loom Works, later established by him in Worcester, carried on a suc- cessful business for well over a half century, finally consolidating with the Knowles Loom Works. Today it is a 26-acre plant.

In 1875 F. B. Norton made a modest start at producing grinding wheels by the vitrified process. Today the Norton Grinding Company supplies a world-wide market and has several plants in Europe.

The first practical machine for making envelopes was invented by Russell Hawes of Worcester in 1852, and numerous improvements on the ma-

396

Main Street and Village Green

chine were made later. After a number of consolidations the giant United States Envelope Company emerged at the turn of the century, controlling some sixty per cent of the envelope production of the country.

Although these four industries dominate the city's industrial life, there are nearly 1000 other manufacturing units, the products including shoes, slippers, rugs, leather belting, paper-making and textile-making ma- chinery, crankshafts, valentines, Pullman coaches, and screws. In 1929, the peak year, these manufactures were valued at $216,000,000.

FOOT TOUR -2 m.

N. from Franklin St. on Main St.

I. City Hall, erected in 1898 from plans by Richard, Howland, and Hunt, is designed in a modified Italian Renaissance style. The Florentine campanile towers rise 205 feet. Within, on the main stairway, given by Worcester, England, hang the helmets and breastplates of two of Crom- well's soldiers who fell at the battle of Worcester. A Bronze Star set in the sidewalk marks the spot where Isaiah Thomas stood on July 14, 1776, and read, for the first time to a New England audience, the Declaration of Independence.

Through the City Hall onto the Common.

2. Worcester Common today comprises a scant five acres of the twenty acres set aside in 1669 by the proprietors for use as a training field, and to accommodate a meeting house and school building. From 1800 a clock made by Abel Stowell of Worcester kept time in the steeple of the meeting house, and the equipment was completed in 1802 by the purchase of a bell weighing nearly a ton from the foundry of Revere and Sons, Boston. There was not always a spirit of co-ordination between the dials of the clock and the clapper of the bell, for the latter went periodically on striking sprees that lasted until the arrival of its official guardian, or, more often, until the mechanism ran down. In 1888 the bell was moved to the New Old South Church at the corner of Main and Wellington Sts.

3. A Hidden Graveyard lies in the area between Salem Square and the Bigelow shaft. In it are the graves of several hundred citizens buried be- tween 1730 and 1795. In 1854 the headstones were recorded, laid flat on . the graves, and the whole area covered with earth and seeded.

R. from Salem Square into Franklin St .; R. from Franklin St. into Main St .; L. from Main St. into Pearl St .; R. from Pearl St. into Chestnut St.

4. The Worcester Horticultural Society (open), corner of Elm St. was or- ganized in 1840. The building is designed in the Renaissance style. From June I to October I weekly flower shows (free) are held on Thursday afternoons and evenings. There are also a November Chrysanthemum Show and a March Spring Show (both free).

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Worcester

R. from Chestnut St. into Elm St .; L. from Elm St. into Main St .; L. from Main St. into State St.

5. The Natural History Society (open), corner of Harvard St., contains some teeth and bone fragments found at Northborough in 1884. Harvard College scientists pronounced them mastodon bones, the only specimens of their kind found in New England.

Retrace State St .; L. from State St. into Main St .; L. from Main St. at Lincoln Square into Salisbury St.

6. The Municipal War Memorial Auditorium (open), occupies the entire block between Highland, Salisbury, and Harvard Sts. and Institute Rd., and is located at the north end of the Square. It was erected by the City of Worcester in 1933, from plans by Lucius Briggs and Frederick Hirons. Built of Indiana limestone with a base of granite, it is of modified classic design and monumental in proportion. The colonnade at the front of the structure is reached by a wide terrace and a flight of stone steps. Bronze lighting fixtures and great windows ornamented with bronze decorate the principal façade. The World War Memorial Flagstaff, from which the flag, floodlighted at night, is never lowered, rises 90 feet from a base of bronze and granite, directly opposite the Auditorium.

7. The Worcester Historical Society (open 2-5, Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat.), 39 Salisbury St., founded in 1875, has in its collection a typewriter invented by Charles Thurber in 1843, workable, but too slow for com- mercial success. Another relic is a huge iron link, part of the chain that was stretched across the Hudson River at West Point in 1778, thus pre- venting the British in New York and Albany from joining forces.

L. from Salisbury St. into Tuckerman St.

8. The Worcester Art Museum (open daily 9-5; Sun. 2-5), 55 Salisbury St., of modified classic design, was founded in 1896 by Stephen Salisbury III. A sequence of galleries traces the entire history of the fine arts in both the eastern and western hemispheres from prehistoric times to the present.

Works of Hogarth, Gainsborough, Raeburn, Reynolds, Romney, and Mingard, genre pictures by the Dutch painters, and Venetian carnival scenes by Canaletto and Guardi are exhibited in Gallery XIII. In the French collection are 'The Card Player' by Cézanne and 'Girl on a Balcony' and 'The Promenade' by Henri Matisse. There are also two paintings by Claude Monet, 'Waterloo Bridge' and 'Water Lilies,' and works by Derain, Picasso, and others. Portraits by Gilbert, Sully, Peal, Copley, and Inman, landscapes by the Hudson River School, and various works by Earl, Eakin, Whistler, Sargent, Homer, Blakelock, Fuller, Hassam, Hunt, Inness, Metcalf, and Wyant are on display.

Stained-glass exhibits include two windows from the Chapel of Borsham House (English) about 1400, a 13th century window from Strasbourg, a fragment from a window in Chartres Cathedral (13th century French) and the 'Peacock Window' by John La Farge. Among the representative

Salisbury

West

Highland

State

Dix

Wachu sett

School

Ash land

John

Bowdoin

Central

Summer

Walnut St

Elm

Chest nut

Pearl St

Mechanic

Pleasant

Front

Main

Federal

Portland

Tuckerman

Grove

Prescott

Lincoln

Belmont

Boynton

Court St

Laurel

Harvard

WORCESTER

Commercial

TOUR

Salem St

Franklin

Salem

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Worcester

pieces of Eastern art is a collection of Japanese prints showing the work of such masters as Hiroshige and Hokusai. The evolution of American furniture is traced through Chippendale, Sheraton, and Adam.

MOTOR TOUR 1-8 m.

S. from Franklin Square on Southbridge St.

9. Holy Cross College (open), on Mt. St. James, towers high above the city. It was founded in 1843 by the Rt. Rev. Benedict Joseph Fenwick, second Bishop of Boston, and is the oldest Catholic college in New Eng- land. The avowed purpose of the founders was 'the advancement of the arts, the cultivation of the sciences, and the promotion of patriotism, morality, virtue, and religion.'

Fenwick Hall, the Administration Building, and also the oldest one, is capped by two stately towers. St. Joseph's Memorial Chapel (1923), the Dinand Memorial Library (1927), and Kimball Hall (1935) were designed by Maginnis and Walsh, and exemplify the masterly adaptation of the Georgian and French Renaissance styles to modern function. The Library contains 100,000 volumes and a Museum with a notable collection of Jesuit writings. Kimball includes the dining hall and a little theater. Below the college spreads Fitton Field, the athletic field, with a Stadium seating 20,000.

Retrace Southbridge St .; L. from Southbridge St. into Cambridge St .; R. from Cambridge St. into Richards St .; R. from Richards St. into Main St .; L. from Main St. into Maywood St.

Io. Clark University (open), opposite University Park, was founded in 1887 by the gift of Jonas Gilman Clark. At first the institution was de- voted wholly to post-graduate work, Dr. Granville Stanley Hall, as president, receiving the first students in the fall of 1889. Special pro- vision was made in Mr. Clark's will for the establishment of an under- graduate division which was opened in 1902 under a separate president, Caroll D. Wright.

While offering a four-year course leading to the A.B. degree, Clark is still favorably known for its graduate work, approximately a quarter of the student body being enrolled for advanced study. Under Dr. Hall the psychology department was famed throughout the world; Dr. Wallace W. Atwood, President of the University, has elevated the Graduate School of Geography to a similar position of eminence.

WORCESTER MAP INDEX

I. City Hall

2. Worcester Common

3. Hidden Graveyard

4. Worcester Horticultural Society

5. Natural History Society

6. Municipal War Memorial Audito- rium

7. Worcester Historical Society

8. Worcester Art Museum

21. Home of Timothy Paine

400

Main Street and Village Green

The University is situated on a tract of eight acres, bounded by Main, Woodland, Maywood, and Downing Sts. The original building - Jonas G. Clark Hall-faces Main St. and is still the heart of the University. The Library at the corner of Main and Downing Sts. is a more modern structure housing 154,000 volumes and, in a separate wing usually known as the Geography Building, the Graduate School of Geography.

R. from Maywood St. into Park Ave .; L. from Park Ave. into Chandler St. II. Worcester State Teachers' College, 486 Chandler St., was opened in 1874. From 1915-1937 it admitted women students only. In 1937 it again became co-educational. E. Harlow Russell, principal from 1874 to 1909, made this institution a co-pioneer with Clark University in the study of child psychology. In 1917 the Department of Hygiene and Psychology founded the American Journal of School Hygiene, issued monthly since then.

R. from Chandler St. into May St .; R. from May St. into Pleasant St .; L. from Pleasant St. on Highland St.

12. Elm Park, part of the Elm Park System, was (1854) one of the first purchases of land for park purposes made with public funds in the United States. The corner of Highland St. near the Kennedy Memorial was the unofficial starting line in the days of snow racing. The sides of the avenue were lined with family sleighs and pungs, and the whole city turned out to watch the thrilling impromptu races. Finally traffic congestion com- pelled the city to ban the races on the 'Boulevard' and set off an official sleigh race-track elsewhere - which was never used.

L. from Highland St. into Park Ave .; R. from Park Ave. into Salisbury St.

13. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, familiarly known as Worcester Tech., was founded in 1865, by John Boynton of Templeton and from its be- ginning has ranked as one of the leading technical schools of the country.

It has several large and well equipped buildings: the Salisbury Laboratories of Physics and Chemistry, the extensive Washburn Shops, laboratories for civil mechanical engineering, the power laboratory, the foundry, an experimental hydraulic plant, and an electrical engineering laboratory. It was the first school in the country to establish workshops as an adjunct to the training of engineers. Institute Park, directly opposite, was given to the city by Stephen Salisbury. In the park is a Reproduction of the So-Called Norse Mill at Newport, R.I. (see also Tour 15B, CHESHIRE).

Retrace on Salisbury St.

14. The American Antiquarian Society (open Mon .- Fri. except holidays, 9-5) was founded in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas. Its collection of printed Americana and manuscripts is considered one of the most valuable and complete in the country; and its files of newspapers are without rival.

15. The Site of the Birthplace of George Bancroft, early American historian, founder of the Naval Academy and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain (1846-49), is indicated, opposite Massachusetts Ave. by a small boulder bearing a bronze Tablet.

L. from Salisbury St. into Massachusetts Ave.

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Worcester

16. The Trumbull Mansion (private), 6 Massachusetts Ave., was origi- nally located at Trumbull Sq., and was the Second Court House of Worcester. Up its steps marched Judge Artemas Ward through the ranks of Daniel Shays's army. Having reached the courtroom, he opened and adjourned the court, thus upholding its authority.

R. from Massachusetts Ave. into first unmarked street after Metcalf St.

17. Bancroft Tower, a battlemented stone structure, offers the finest ob- servation point in the city.

Retrace on Massachusetts Ave .; R. from Massachusetts Ave. into Salisbury St .; L. from Salisbury St. into Park Ave .; straight ahead into Grove St .; straight ahead into West Boylston St.

18. The John Woodman Higgins Armory (open weekdays 7-6), main- tained by the Worcester Pressed Steel Co., is designed after the castle of Prince Eugene Hohenwefen at Salzburg, Austria. To the right is the Medieval Wing, where silent rows of armor-clad figures stand surrounded by their banners and arms, while at the far end of the hall three mounted knights are poised in medieval pageantry. Behind the mounted figures hangs a Gobelin tapestry that once adorned the palace of Louis XIV. The Higgins Collection of Armor and Mail is unsurpassed in Massachu- setts.

19. Assumption College, founded in 1904, is conducted by the Augustinian Fathers of the Assumption. Emphasis is laid on religious instruction and moral guidance. Situated on a hill in Greendale, the college overlooks one of the most beautiful sections of the city. The main building in the form of a T serves the High School Department, and a large wing built in 1926 is occupied by the College.

20. The Pullman-Standard Car Co. Plant (open), just beyond, are pro- ducers of steam and electric railway cars. Osgood Bradley of Worcester designed the first railroad coach in 1833, and this twenty-passenger affair was first used on the Boston-Worcester railroad. It is claimed that the modern Pullman sleeper was made possible by another Worcester invention - the hinge that operates the upper berth.

Retrace on W. Boylston St .; straight ahead into Grove St. which bears L.

2I. The North Works of the American Steel and Wire Co. (open by special permission) is at 94 Grove St. This was the original plant of Washburn and Moen, pioneers in the drawn wire industry. Nearly opposite the office entrance at No. 183 on the corner of Faraday St., is a Museum with exhibits tracing the development of the industry.

402

Main Street and Village Green

MOTOR TOUR 2-10 m.

N. from Lincoln Square on Lincoln St.

22. The Home of Timothy Paine (private), known as 'Paine the Tory,' is at 140 Lincoln St. Appointed Mandamus Councillor, he was forced by the patriots in 1774 publicly to resign his post. John Adams, some twenty years after his teaching term in Worcester, was a dinner guest in Timothy Paine's home when his host offered a toast to 'the King.' At a nod from Adams, the embarrassed patriots joined in His Majesty's health. Mr. Adams then - so the story runs - offered a toast 'to the Devil.' Con- sternation reigned; no one knew what to do, when Mrs. Paine, smiling, remarked to her husband, 'My dear, as the gentleman has been so kind as to drink to our king, let us by no means refuse to drink to his.'

23. Burncoat Park, L. beyond Brittan Sq., is a 50-acre recreational reservation with skating and ice hockey in winter.

24. Green Hill Park (open), opposite Burncoat Park, is named for Andrew H. Green, a Worcester native who later became known as the 'Father of Greater New York' through his efforts in making civic and public improvements in that city. His birthplace, the Mansion, has been well preserved, and its grounds and gardens have been kept in much their original condition. Herds of elk and bison are pastured within the re- servation. At the northern end is an 18-hole Municipal Golf Course. There are also bowling greens, archery butts, and provisions for tobog- ganing and skiing in winter.

R. from Lincoln St. into Lake Ave.

25. Lake Quinsigamond (recreational parks, boat liveries), a favorite resort for the Indians, was known by them as the 'Place of Long Fishes,' and the earliest settlements of Worcester bore that name. Bordered on the east and west by the hills of Shrewsbury and Worcester, it stretches nearly nine miles, broken by several causeways and bridges. For many years this waterway made Worcester prominent as the home of leading oarsmen, best known of whom, perhaps, is Edward Ten Eyck, the first American to win the Diamond Sculls trophy at Henley, England. Na- tional and college regattas are occasionally held here, and in late years it has been the course for Olympic try-out finals.

26. Lake Bridge, at the junction of Lake Ave. and Belmont St., was con- structed in 1920, and is an important link in the Boston-Worcester Turn- pike (State 9, see Tour 8). It is said that originally local Indians con- structed at this point a grapevine cat-walk crossing which saved them many miles as they made their summer pilgrimages to the sea coast. White men later spanned this narrow gap with a floating bridge buoyed up by logs and casks.

403

Worcester

27. On each side of Lake Avenue lies Lake Park (municipal bath houses, good beach, tennis courts, playgrounds).

R. from Lake Ave. into Park Drive.

28. Davis Tower (open occasionally), the gift of a former Mayor to the city, offers a fine view of the lake. On the Tower is a bronze tablet re- . counting the story of Samuel Lenorson. In 1690 the Lenorson fam- ily came to the new settlement of Quinsigamond, and built their cabin near the present Davis Tower. In the autumn of 1695 young Samuel, the only son, then 12 years old, was stolen by Indians. Nothing was heard from him until the spring of 1697, when, after the sack of Haver- hill, Mrs. Hannah Dustin and her nurse, Mary Neff, were brought to an island at the junction of the Merrimack and Contoocook Rivers as captives. Here they met the Lenorson boy. The three captives killed ten of the savages and escaped to Haverhill. The General Court voted that Samuel be paid £12, Ios. for 'the just slaughter of so many of the Barbarians.'

Straight ahead on Hamilton St .; R. from Hamilton St. into Grafton St .; L. from Grafton St. into Providence St.

29. Worcester Academy (open), 81 Providence St., was founded under the auspices of the Baptist denomination and incorporated in 1834 as the Worcester County Manual Labor High School. The original plant com- prised a tract of 60 acres of land and buildings on Main St. About 1860 it was sold and in 1870 the school moved to Union Hill. The general principles laid down by the founders were: 'That the instruction should be of the first order; that strict moral and religious character should be attained; and that every facility should be afforded for productive labor, to the end that education should be good, but not expensive.'

The Kingsley Laboratories (1897-98) are a group of seven buildings with individual lecture-rooms, stock-rooms, and laboratories for elementary and advanced chem- istry, elementary and advanced physics, physiography, zoology, botany, meteorol- ogy, anatomy, and physiology. Adams Hall is the dining hall. The Gymnasium (1915) contains a swimming-pool and an indoor track. Gage Hall, now a dormi- tory, is the oldest building. The Warner Memorial Theater (1929) was given by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Warner of New York, in memory of their son, Lewis. It con- tains a stage and a complete up-to-date motion-picture equipment.

Retrace Providence St., straight ahead on Grafton St.

30. To the left of the New Union Station is the Old Union Station, built in 1875. It was proposed to raze it when the new one was built, but a committee of local and other architects pleaded for its preservation. This Victorian Gothic structure has an ornate campanile clock tower and was designed by Ware and Van Brunt. It is one of many monuments in this perverse style by the designer of Harvard's Memorial Hall.

III. HIGH ROADS AND LOW ROADS

The tours which follow cover every city, town, and village in the State. If laid end to end they would stretch from Boston to San Francisco, but no traveler, it is hoped, will attempt to lay them end to end, or even to follow them in their entirety. Accordingly, the tours have been so arranged that you may choose the most direct route, if you are in a hurry. If you have more time, a pleni- tude of more devious routes and side trips awaits you.

Tours with a number only (as Tour 1) in general follow express highways. Tours with a number followed by a letter (as Tour 1A) are alternate routes, beginning or ending at an express highway. Although less direct, they are often more interesting.

Unlike Gaul, the tours are divided into two parts: Those that run North to South (and they bear odd numbers); and those that go East to West (and they bear even numbers). There are more odd-numbered tours, because there are more North to South routes.

Side trips off the main road are indicated by smaller type, indented. Side trips always begin and come back to the same point on the tour, so that the through mileage is not affected. Very long tours are divided into convenient sections, with continuous mileage. The mileage will vary, you will find, ac- cording to whether you are driving in the sun or the rain, on a deserted high- way or along a road crowded with traffic, in a luxurious next-year's model with brand-new tires, or in a late '29 with tires worn to a whisper.

Why follow a tour, anyway? Be your own gypsy, running along a main tour until you get tired of it, then branching off on a side trip, and instead of re- turning to the main route, doubling back on another road. The Tour Map on pages 408, 409 will help you to abandon all rules and directions and to make up your own tours; and to assist you, addresses have been given for points of interest whenever possible. If you get lost, consult the State Map in the pocket at the back. If you are still lost, never mind. It's fun being lost in Massachusetts.

Tours beginning or ending at State Lines have indicated in parentheses the nearest large city on the same route in the adjoining State.

For those who prefer to tour by train, railroad lines servicing each area are given at the head of each tour. Or for those who flee this mechanized age, there are foot tours and a 400-mile bridle trail. The only tour, by the way, which was not carefully checked on the road is the Capes to the Berkshires Bridle Trail (Tour 12). There are no horses who can write in Massachusetts.

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Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 44

Author: Publication date: 1937 Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company Number of Pages: 802

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802