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

• 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

• 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
  • Worcester County Republican newspaper begins publication.^[4]
  • Worcester County Athenaeum and Worcester Lyceum active.^[7]
• 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
  • Daily Transcript and Worcester County Gazette newspapers begin publication.^[4]
  • Classical and English High School opens.^[1]
• 1847 – Worcester Telegraph and Worcester Daily Journal newspapers begin publication.^[4]
• 1848
  • Worcester (a town) becomes the City of Worcester.^[15]
  • Levi Lincoln, Jr.
    becomes mayor.
  • City hosts Whig State Convention.^[16]
• 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
  • Worcester Daily Telegram newspaper begins publication.^[4]
  • Hatters' and Furnishers' Association formed.^[1]
• 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

• 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 –
  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 –
  U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district
  .
• 1999 –
  Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire
  .

21st century

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

• Worcester history
• List of mayors of Worcester, Massachusetts
• Worcester, Massachusetts Firsts
• Media in Worcester, Massachusetts
• Waltham

Images

• 
  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

  Abraham A. Brill, Ernest Jones, Sándor Ferenczi
• 
  "President

  Draper

  passing Worcester City Hall, April 3, 1910"
• 
  Worcester Domestic Science School, 1914
• 
  Map of Worcester, 1919
• 
  High-resolution birds-eye-view map of Worcester in 1878

References

Bibliography

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,
  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,
  OL 25278671M
• Henry J. Howland (1865), Worcester Directory, Worcester: H.J. Howland,
  OL 25285405M
• Claflin;
  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.,
  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). "Worcester (3.)" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (9th ed.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
• OL 14050717M
• Franklin P. Rice, ed. (1899), Worcester of eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, Worcester, Mass: F. S. Blanchard,
  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)
• "Worcester (Massachusetts)" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). 1910. pp. 822–823.
• "Worcester", Handbook of New England, Boston:
  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,
  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".
  OCLC 13972268.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
  )
• 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

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