USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > The story of Worcester, Massachusetts (1934) > Part 5
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In 1829, Clarendon Harris compiled the first directory and sketched a map of Worces- ter of that year. This map shows how compact Worcester then was with only fifteen streets.
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ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
With the exception of Pleasant Street no street extended over the western hills. Almost in the center of Harrington Corner was a huge elm tree beneath which was a watering trough from which the farmers refreshed their horses before starting the long drive home.
The Common presented a very different appearance from what it does now. Railroad tracks crossed where today the driveway lies immediately behind City Hall. Located on the eastern end was the burial ground bounded by a low stone wall. On the southeast corner stood the South Boys' Primary School, a one- story wooden schoolhouse with cupola and bell. On the present site of the Soldier's Monument was a brick schoolhouse built in 1840. There were four rows of stalls on the north side of the Common used for the exhibition of cattle, swine, and sheep; while on the northwest corner was the Town Hall in the basement of which were stores.
The village aristocrats lived on "Nobility Hill" directly across from the Common. It extended from a point opposite Senator Hoar's monument on the west side of Main Street, southerly to Austin Street. It was similar in appearance to the present Court Hill and on its ridge running north to south stood the Isaac
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Davis house, the Chandler-Barton mansion, and Dr. Joseph Sargent's. On the northwesterly corner of Main and Chatham Streets, Anthony Chase lived. The George T. Rice house occu- pied the southwesterly corner of Main and Chatham Streets. John M. Earle lived next door south and just beyond, where Nobility Hill ended, Samuel H. Colton lived.
It was a dignified, hospitable, and cultured community with time for the little courtesies and formalities which are not permitted by the rush of modern life. The general impression of Worcester was one of beauty; great trees shaded Main Street, their natural beauty enhanced by the trim, well-kept gardens and lawns which surrounded each home. Many of these gardens were quite noteworthy as is evi- denced by the following description Miss Jeanie Lea Southwick has given of the estate of her grandfather, Mr. John Milton Earle, with whom she lived on Nobility Hill from 1857 to 1861:
"Near the barn were small fruit bushes- currant, gooseberries, white and black thimble berries. In my grandmother's recipe book, made in Nantucket in 1819 when preparing for her marriage and coming to Worcester, is a recipe for making currant wine and one of the
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delightful days every summer of my childhood was in helping to pick the currants to make in- to jelly and wine; wash tubs filled with the fruit, two or three bushels, with Aunt Cynthia,
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VIEW OF WORCESTER IN 1838
the colored cook, squeezing and crushing and pressing; and a row of large bags hanging up to drip the juice. Scattered through this garden were fruit trees galore, especially pears. Mr. Earle very early began importing the trees himself and when it came to bulbs he imported every bulb he ever heard of. There
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were also peach, plum, apple, and quince trees planted here and there where there was an available spot. The books concerning many of these imported bulbs and trees were written in French and John Milton Earle taught him- self French so that he could read them. In 1856 'The Flower Garden' or 'Breck's Book of Flowers' was published and this Mr. Earle seized with alacrity and I think wanted to grow in his garden every bulb and flower that was new to him. When we moved out to Home Street one of the advantages was that there was land for a larger garden. John Milton Earle brought from Nobility Hill many plants and after sixty years I still have blossoming in my garden fritillaria, Crown Imperial, a small variety of iris, lily of the valley, crimson, white, pink, and cream peonies, white and gold lilies, and one rose, a 'Baltimore Belle'."
Another very notable garden was that of the Lincoln estate along Pleasant Street between Piedmont and Bellevue. Here Mr. Daniel Waldo Lincoln grew and exhibited two hun- dred varieties of pears. He introduced the Washington and Beurre d'Anjou pears. His grapery extended over one hundred feet and grapes for the market were grown under glass, for then there was no competition in fruit
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raising from western or southern states. In his nursery, located on the corner of Linden and Elm Streets, he also raised silkworms, and here he built a large tank in which to grow aquatic plants, among them the grandest and most wonderful of all-the Victoria Regia lily-the leaves of which are so large that the late Mr. Waldo Lincoln remembered standing on one of the large flat leaves when he was a boy.
The Worcester Historical Society owns a picture of Mr. Frederick Paine and his wife standing beneath a bower of roses over the front doorway of their home, the "Oaks," on Lincoln Street, with beds of larkspur, phlox, Canterbury bells, foxglove, primroses, dahlias, cinnamon pinks, and cornflower growing in sweet profusion on either side of the house. The whole picture is suggestive of the content- ment, peace, reserve, and leisure of the period, for here no one dashed into the house uncere- moniously, but leisurely, knocked carefully with the big brass knocker, and was admitted to a gracious hospitality with old-time courtesy.
Even as these old Worcester homes and gardens record the charm and beauty of living in this era, so do the streets which they bordered perpetuate the names of their owners. In the nomenclature of the city's
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The buildings shown, from left to right, arc: House of Rejoice Newton, Second Parish Church, "Fourth Court House," e." "Third Court House," Salisbury Mansion, and Captain Thomas's Tavern (Exchange Hotel).
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streets is also written the city's history, for here are Indian names, names of old settlers, family names, names of national heroes. Some streets suggest literature, others native trees, while pure fancy dictated the names of others.
Only fifteen streets are listed in the directory and map of Worcester published in 1829 by Clarendon Harris: i.c., Main, Pleasant, Front, Mechanic, Franklin, Grafton, Green, Water, South, Church, Thomas, Central, and Salis- bury. Lincoln Square, Washington Square, Pearl Street, Lincoln Street, and Market Street are shown but not named on this map.
The oldest highway in the city is Main Street which was in use as early as 1673. In those days it was lined with beautiful elm trees and the most imposing of the city's residences. Another very early highway was Jo Bill Road, re-named Institute Road in 1890. Pleasant Street, originally called Hardwick Road, Sum- mer Street, first known as Back Street, and Front Street, laid out in 1785, are the first of the city's streets. Lincoln, Green, and Grafton Streets are almost as old. Mechanic Street was opened in 1787 to make a road into the new burial ground on that street. In 1806, Isaiah Thomas gave to the town the street which still bears his name.
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The town meeting of May 3, 1824, voted that "the street from Abraham Lincoln's store to Broken Hill until it comes to Barber's Road at the guide post be called Salisbury Street." School Street was laid out by one of the early city fathers called Geer Terry and was originally called Terry Street.
The Indians are commemorated in such names as King Philip Road, Massasoit Road, Wachusett Street, and Sagamore Road.
Early settlers are recalled in such names as Henchman, Carter, Lincoln, Paine, Sturgis, Dean, Chandler, and Sever Streets.
Fired with patriotic fervor, Stephen Salis- bury named - Hancock, Concord, Lexington, Prescott, and Otis Streets.
Milton, Dryden, Edgeworth, Bryant, and Whittier Streets honor those literary lights whose names they bear.
Some streets carry the first name of a resident or of the person who assigned a name to them, i.e., Frederick Street named for Frederick Paine; George Street, for General George Hobbs; John Street for Dr. John Green; Winfield and Scott for General Winfield Scott of Mexican War fame; West Street was once called Bliss Street from the name of a resident. An old resident, S. S. Gates, visited the state
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of Illinois and wishing to remind others of his travels, named a street for the state-Illinois.
The Civil War period is recalled in Freeland Street, named in "Free soil" times; and Liberty Street received its name because it was peopled with negroes.
Gov. Levi Lincoln was a lover of trees and therefore named Elm, Maple, Chestnut, Cedar, Walnut, Linden, and Oak Streets. Not to be outdone, Henry H. Chamberlain christened Woodland, Birch, Hawthorne, and Maywood Streets. William Lincoln's garden is recalled in Garden Street which ran past the garden.
Many streets have names of curious origin. The five streets that comprise the "Island" district triangle were named by Perry Thayer who desired that each street should begin with the same letter of the alphabet. Hence we have Lamartine after the French litterateur; Lang- don, a name in Whittier's "Stanzas for the Times"; Lafayette; Lodi, from the Bridge of Lodi; and Lunelle, named after Lunelle Sar- gent. Crescent Street was named from the course it once followed. When land near the present Benefit Street was sold, the money accrued to Worcester Academy so the street laid out at that place was called Benefit Street. Crown Street became the name of the "crown"
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of the hill over which the street was laid out. Many years ago there was a fountain on Belmont Hill whose waters were supposed to have miraculous curative power so at that place we find Fountain Street. King Street bears the family name of Mrs. S. H. Colton, a resident and, of course, the next parallel street was called Queen Street. David S. Messenger named William and Elizabeth Streets in honor of his children. Dix Street was once called Silk Street although no one seems to know why.
Foster, Elm, and Exchange Streets were laid out between the years 1830 and 1840. About this time Lincoln Square was so called in honor of Dr. A. Lincoln who kept a store near where the Court House now stands. Another of the city's prominent squares is named for William Harrington, a tavern keeper and grocer, who, about 1850, bought the corner lot and erected the block at what has since been known as Harrington Corner.
During 1774 about one-fourth of the people in Worcester were Tories and excitement ran high since many were also its leading citizens. Eventually the Tories were made to flee, and marching over Tory Fort Lane built a fort in the pastures of Stone House Hill; thus does Tory Fort Lane get its name.
CHAPTER VIII
THE CIVIL WAR
N OWHERE in Massachusetts was anti- slavery sentiment stronger than in Worcester. As early as 1767 the town instructed its representatives to the General Court to "obtain a law to put an end to that un- Christian and impolitic practice of making slaves in this Province," and in 1784 it in- structed its representative, Joshua Bigelow, to "resist the most distant approaches to slavery."
A convention of the opponents of slavery was held in the Court House in 1819 to oppose admission of Missouri as a slave state. In 1838 eighty clergymen of the county declared against slavery. Anti-slavery societies were organized and addressed by such militant op- ponents of slavery as Stephen and Abby Kelly Foster. The latter lectured on abolition when the lecture platform for women was unpopular. "Slavery must be abolished," she wrote in the Anti-Slavery Bugle. To that end she labored unceasingly in the Webster Anti-slavery So- ciety. Lowell writes of her:
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به عليه
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No nobler gift of heart and brain No life more white from spot or stain Was e'er on Freedom's altar laid, Than hers-the simple Quaker maid.
Living in Worcester during these years was a remarkable group of men who opposed slavery, among whom were Thomas W. Higginson, Edward Everett Hale, Eli Thayer, and Charles Allen. They were not afraid to voice opposition to slavery even if it meant the disruption of a great political party. The Whig convention of Worcester county was held here in 1848 to select a delegate to the National Whig con- vention. Charles Allen brought to Philadel- phia the following defiant resolution of the Worcester county convention: "That in the opinion of the convention no candidate can receive the electoral vote of Massachusetts who is not publicly known to be opposed to slavery." The Whig convention was silent on the question of slavery and nominated Zachary Taylor, who did not know until that moment whether or not he was a Whig or Democrat and was not even certain that he had ever voted. Charles Allen, voicing the sentiment of Worces- ter county, arose amid disorder and said, "I express for myself what I believe to be the sentiment of my state and I say this cannot go
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forth as the unanimous voice of the conven- tion. You put one straw too many on the back of northern endurance. The Whig party is not to be allowed to nominate its own statesman. We declare the Whig party of the Union this day dissolved." Judge Allen bolted the con- vention. But it was not as a bolter from a National convention that he was received on his return to Worcester. A great reception was held in his honor in the old City Hall. The crowd overflowed on the Common on to Front Street and on to Main Street. For two hours Judge Allen spoke, "Most of us have belonged to the Whig party," he said. "We have pro- fessed to be averse to the extension of slavery. The question is not whether we should eradi- cate slavery where it exists, but whether we are opposed to its extension. I didn't eat my words at Philadelphia. Will you at the polls? When I declared the Whig party dissolved I declared a fact." When he had finished, his brother, Rev. George Allen, proposed this memorable resolution : "Resolved: That Mas- sachusetts goes now and will forever go for free soil and free men, for free lips, for a free land and a free world." The Free Soil party was born.
Within six years the Free Soil doctrine of no
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further extension of slavery in the territories was adopted by the new Republican party. And the Republican party of Massachusetts was formed in Worcester in 1854. Judge P. Emory Aldrich and P. W. Taft were members of the committee on resolutions which reported : "That in co-operation with the friends of free- dom in other states we hereby form ourselves into the Republican party of Massachusetts -. "
Worcester was a station along the "Under- ground Railroad," and many an escaped slave found welcome at the "Liberty Farm" on the route to Canada. So when Deputy Marshall Asa Butman arrived here to arrest William Jankins, a respected colored citizen, as an escaped slave, he found such a hot reception that he was glad to escape with his life. For the Spy further inflamed an already dangerous situation by referring to Butman as "The Human Bloodhound," and an angry mob surrounded the American Temperance House where he had registered and threatened to kill him. When Butman brandished a revolver, the Town Vigilance Committee was certain he would be torn to pieces, an act nearly com- pleted "when six or seven colored men dealt him a blow on the knowledge box" felling him to the floor. The crowds constantly increased
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and only an appeal by Senator Hoar prevented mob rule. Stephen Foster, Rev. T. W. Higginson, and other influential men formed a bodyguard to escort him to the railway sta- tion, and even then missiles flew and twice there was a complete halt to rescue Butman from the mob. With a thousand determined men demanding Butman's life, the situation became acute; Stephen Foster assured the crowd that Butman would not set foot in Worcester again, but it did not disperse. Only the quick wit of the City Marshall who smuggled Butman into a hack saved him from the mob.
The Butman riot was a local outbreak; the formation of the New England Emigrant Aid Society was of national importance. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 closed the Louisiana Purchase to slavery above the 36°30' line. The passage of the Kansas- Nebraska Act in 1854 repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened the Louisiana terri- tory to squatter sovereignty, which simply means that the first settlers determined by vote whether it was to be free or slave. Eli Thayer obtained a charter for the New England Emigrant Society for the colonization of Kansas with free men. But the arrival of
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several hundred free men from Massachusetts in Kansas where there was a large number of slaveholders, brought on Civil War which soon spread from the plains of Kansas.
The Civil War is the most important event in our national history. The official records of the war published by the United States Gov- ernment list 2062 engagements of which one hundred and fifty are termed "battles." Even the histories of the Worcester regiments in the war make formidable reading. But we need not study the campaigns in which Worcester regiments took part. Military science is useful only to the students of warfare. The marching and countermarching of armies is of interest only to military experts.
It is sufficient to know that Worcester soldiers fought in every major engagement of the war and died on every battlefield. They fought under McClellan in the disastrous Peninsula Campaign, in all the battles of the Shenandoah until every field and copse became familiar ground, they served in the trenches before Vicksburg, in the Wilder- ness Campaign, and marched with Sherman to the sea. The 3967 men who enlisted during the war served in fifty distinct regiments of infantry, fourteen of cavalry, and five of artillery.
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No sooner had the roar of the assaulting guns at Fort Sumter died away than the Worcester companies were off. The Light Infantry, commanded by Capt. Harrison W. Pratt, was the first company to respond. It was part of the 6th Massachusetts Regiment on the march through the streets of Baltimore. The impatient City Guards, commanded by Capt. A. B. R. Sprague, and the Emmet Guards, commanded by Capt. Michael S. McConville, recruited from young men of Irish blood and descent and the first company of foreign blood to enlist, were held up for three days until the Fifth Regiment was ready. Their terms of enlistment expired July 19, 1861, but as a result of the disastrous battle of Bull Run every man re-enlisted. And so through the war, company after company was recruited, drilled, and seasoned under able commanders.
The most distinguished Worcester soldier of the Civil War was General Charles Devens, who commanded the Fifteenth Regiment. The first engagement of this regiment was at Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861. It was in this battle that Lieut. "Willie" Grout lost his life, shot down while swimming the Potomac. Moved by the report of the death, Henry S. Washburn wrote the "Vacant Chair," a poem
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DALE HOSPITAL, 1865 Now Davis Hall, Worcester Academy
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later set to music and one of the most popular ballads of that period.
The heroic death of Capt. Thomas O'Neil, of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, was long a theme of patriotic addresses to boys and girls by veterans of the war during Memorial Day exercises. There were more members of his family in the war than of any other family in Worcester county. He was mortally wounded in the battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864, and carried to the field hospital. As he lay dying he asked the surgeon if he had received a fatal wound and as he asked the question, the Color Sergeant entered the room and exclaimed: "Captain, I saved the flag!" Captain O'Neil seized the flag and with his dying breath murmured: "Doctor, I am glad to die for the dear old flag, and I only wish I had two lives to give for my country."
Gen. George H. Ward, in whose honor the local Grand Army post is named, was a descendant of General Artemas Ward of Revolutionary fame. He was wounded in the battle of Ball's Bluff and lost his leg. In spite of this handicap, he re-enlisted and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg.
On the "home front," newspapers, clergy, and citizens actively supported the army in the
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Decorated in honor of the return of Worcester troops from the Civil War
MAIN STREET IN 1865
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field. Mass meetings were held in Mechanics Hall and addressed by Senator Hoar, Alex- ander H. Bullock, Isaac Davis, and John B. Gough, the noted temperance lecturer. Women were busily engaged in making bandages and caring for the wounded soldiers. The Dale Hospital was opened in September 1864, and cared for 1182 sick and wounded soldiers.
Business was stimulated by the war; Nathan Washburn manufactured rifle barrels, Osgood Bradley made gun carriages, and George Crompton ran his factories day and night to supply looms for the woolen mills, while Fox and Mayo busily made kerseys for the soldiers.
Lee's surrender, April 9, 1865, was cele- brated by ringing John Boyden's "Secesh Bell." The schools were closed, business was suspended, bonfires were lighted, and the fire department headed a parade along Main Street. For thirty-six hours the celebration of peace continued. A more formal and elaborate celebration was held July 4th, surpassing any- thing of the kind ever held in the city. An arch over Main Street at Harrington Corner bore the mottoes: "The Heart of the Commonwealth greets the Defenders of the Union," and "All Honor to our Gallant Army and Navy," with a list of battles in which Worcester men had
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taken part. Other similar arches were erected at strategic points by George Crompton, Stephen Salisbury, and other prominent citi- zens, and the city was gaily decorated with bunting. A parade composed of all the veterans of the city was headed by Chief Marshal James B. Blake. A dinner held in Mechanics Hall was the crowning event of the celebration.
CHAPTER IX
A CITY OF DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
W ORCESTER is the largest manufacturing city in the world not located on navigable waters. From a hamlet of two hundred people in a little more than two centuries Worcester has grown into a city of 200,000. Why did a city of diversified industries develop in a loca- tion where both natural resources and water power are lacking? The answer is to be found in the history of the industrial development of Worcester.
This history falls naturally into three periods: the first begins with the erection of the first mills along Mill Brook and ends with the passage of the Embargo Act in 1807. This Act stimulated manufacturing and from then until about 1840 there was a considerable increase in the number and type of mills built. The modern period begins with the use of steam as a motive power and rail connection with the south and west.
Capt. John Wing in 1685 built the first saw and grist mills on Mill Brook just north of the
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present Lincoln Square. Captain Wing was a man of prominence in the little Boston of that day, a founder of Old South Church in that city, and keeper of the Castle Tavern. But, even so, his claim to water rights on Mill Brook was challenged by one George Danson of Worcester and thus involved the second settlement in a furious controversy at a time when there was need of common action against the Indians. Several settlers were summoned to Boston to testify and from their testimony considerable knowledge of early Worcester history is gained. These first mills were de- stroyed by the Indians at the time the second settlement was abandoned. When the mills were re-built in 1713, it is interesting to note that among the owners was Cornelius Waldo, the first of the noted Worcester family of that name.
With the success of the settlement assured, additional mills were built. Elijah Chase built the first corn mill near where the Quinsiga- mond Paper Mills were later erected. An old map of Worcester of the year 1784 marks a trip-hammer and saw mill on Tatnuck Brook, and a later one of 1795 locates five grist mills, six saw mills, and one paper mill within the limits of the town.
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Among the earliest of our important manu- facturers was Isaiah Thomas. In 1793 he built a paper mill for the manufacture of fine paper at what is now known as Quinsigamond Village. In addition, there were a few other small industries at this time. Abel Stowell made good watches and such fine clocks that the Old South Church clock of Worcester for over a century ordered the lives of the towns- folk. So versatile was this family that the sons, Ebenezer and Peter Stowell, wove the first carpets to be used in the State House. To serve the shoemakers and saddlers of Worces- ter, Palmer Goulding made leather of excellent quality. But until many years after the Revolution the principal articles except food and the coarsest kinds of cloth were imported, principally from England. The few stores in Worcester at that time advertised imported steel, bar iron, nails, shovels, spades, calicoes, lawns, and always West India rum. The few articles not imported were manufactured in the small mills located on the streams which constitute the head waters of the Blackstone River. Tatnuck, Kettle, Beaver, and Mill Brooks played an important part in the early development of manufacturing in Worcester. In days when water was the only motive power
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