The Heart of the Commonwealth, a city of seven hills and three-deckers where a canal, a railroad and a wire mill turned a courthouse town into a machine shop for the nation.

Worcester County · Record checked October 12, 2026

206,518Population2020 census, the most ever1
1848Became a citychartered on February 291
4,622The Worcester Revoltmilitiamen on Main Street, September 6, 17741
375Revolution soldiersmen who enlisted from Worcester2
276National Registerplaces, all still standing3

Worcester on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Aerial view map of Worcester, Massachusetts in 2026, with Downtown, Indian Lake, Lake Quinsigamond and the city's neighborhoods

2026

Worcester today

By KNOWOL

An aerial view of the whole city with its streets, buildings, neighborhoods and terrain, from Downtown and Beaver Brook out to Burncoat and College Hill, with Lake Quinsigamond, Bell Pond, Chandler Hill and Denny Hill printed on the map.4

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Worcester

Coal, steam and rooms for rent

In the 1820s Worcester dug coal from its own hills and tested it against Lehigh and Rhode Island coal. Worcester's burned five hours and pushed the thermometer to 179 degrees, beating both, and in 1824 its backers asked the legislature for a Massachusetts Coal Company. The bigger fire was steam. In 1840 William T. Merrifield started one of the first steam engines in town, and from 1848 he built a row of four-story shops more than 1,200 feet long, all turned by one 500-horsepower engine. He rented the space to about fifty inventors and firms. The shops burned in 1854 and went right back up. By 1868 Washburn and Moen was rolling wire rods on Grove Street with a system brought over from England.5678

The canal brings a parish

The Blackstone Canal opened to Providence in 1828, and the railroad to Boston followed in 1835. The 1889 county history says the men who dug them, many of them Irish laborers, brought the Catholic Church to Worcester. They asked Bishop Fenwick of Boston for a priest, and in the spring of 1834 Rev. James Fitton held the town's first Catholic service in an old stone building on Front Street near the canal, for six or seven families. That year he laid the foundation of a church on Front Street, finished in 1836. Its parish, St. John's, still worships on Temple Street in a church of 1845.191011

The courthouse town stands up

Worcester has been a county seat since 1731, and its courthouse was where the fights came. On September 6, 1774, 4,622 militiamen from 37 towns marched on Main Street and shut the Crown's court without firing a shot. A ledge on Stone House Hill off the Tatnuck road was remembered as the Tory Fort, where Loyalists were said to have hidden. In 1776 Isaiah Thomas read the Declaration of Independence from the Old South Church. Ten years later Shays' insurgents came to stop the courts, made the United States Arms their headquarters, and fled town in a severe snowstorm. A 1902 count found 375 Worcester men who enlisted in the Revolution.112132

Through the years

23 moments from 1673 to today.

  1. 1673Daniel Gookin and John Eliot lead an expedition to Quinsigamond to plan a praying town and an English settlement.1
  2. 1674Thomas Browne is licensed to serve travelers and becomes Worcester's first tavern keeper.14
  3. 1713Jonas Rice resettles Worcester for the third and last time.1
  4. 1719Captain Moses Rice builds a tavern at the corner of Main and Mechanic Streets.14
  5. 1722Worcester is incorporated as a town on June 14.1
  6. 1731Worcester becomes the seat of the new Worcester County.1
  7. 1774On September 6, 4,622 militiamen from 37 towns shut the Crown's court on Main Street without a shot.1
  8. 1776Isaiah Thomas reads the Declaration of Independence from the porch of the Old South Church.1
  9. 1786Shays' insurgents gather in Worcester to stop the courts, then flee in a severe snowstorm.13
  10. 1793The Worcester Fire Society is founded.15
  11. 1812Isaiah Thomas founds the American Antiquarian Society.1
  12. 1824After tests show Worcester coal burning longer than Lehigh coal, backers ask the legislature for a Massachusetts Coal Company.5
  13. 1828The Blackstone Canal opens to Providence.1
  14. 1834Rev. James Fitton holds the first Catholic service in a stone building on Front Street by the canal.9
  15. 1840William T. Merrifield starts one of the first steam engines in Worcester.67
  16. 1842Mr. Pond buys Union Hill and begins laying out its streets.16
  17. 1848Worcester is chartered as a city on February 29.1
  18. 1857The Worcester County Mechanics Association builds Mechanics Hall.17
  19. 1859New Pine Street is renamed Shrewsbury Street, and the first college regatta is rowed on Lake Quinsigamond.1819
  20. 1868Washburn and Moen merges with the Quinsigamond Iron and Wire Works and builds new mills on Grove Street.8
  21. 1880Lee Richmond pitches the first perfect game in major league baseball for the Worcester Ruby Legs.1
  22. 1953A tornado tears through the city and Worcester County, killing 94 people.1
  23. 1963Worcester native Harvey Ball introduces the yellow smiley face.1

Places to see

Places worth a visit in Worcester today.

  • DowntownCity center. Where the courthouse town grew up.
  • Lake QuinsigamondShrewsbury line, east side. Four-mile lake, college rowing since 1859.
  • Flint PondSouth end of the lake. The lake's southern arm toward Grafton.
  • Bell PondBelmont Hill. Once Bladder Pond, the city's 1845 reservoir.
  • Chandler HillBell Hill, off Belmont Street. Hilltop park with a swimming beach.
  • College HillSouth side of the city. Home of Holy Cross since 1843.Visit their website
  • Beaver BrookChandler Street, west side. Busy city park named for its brook.
  • BurncoatNorth end of the city. North side neighborhood of Burncoat Street.

On the National Register

23 of the 276 places in Worcester on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters. See the full list of National Register places in Worcester.3

  • Worcester City Hall and Common

    Listed 1978 · 455 Main St.

    The civic heart of the city. City Hall stands where the Old South Meeting House stood, and the Common was laid out in 1669.20

  • Benjamin Flagg House

    Built about 1717 · Listed 1980 · 136 Plantation St.

    Considered the oldest building in Worcester, it was home to generations of the Flagg family, including Revolutionary War Captain Benjamin Flagg.21

  • Salisbury Mansion and Store

    Built 1772 · Listed 1975 · 40 Highland St.

    Stephen Salisbury I built it on Lincoln Square as a house and store for imported goods. Saved from demolition in 1929 and moved to the old Salisbury estate, it is now a house museum.22

    Visit their website

  • Timothy Paine House

    Built in the mid-1770s · Listed 1976 · 140 Lincoln St.

    Known as The Oaks, it was built by Judge Timothy Paine, a Loyalist confronted by a crowd of townspeople during the Revolution. The Daughters of the American Revolution have owned it since 1914.23

  • Liberty Farm

    National Historic Landmark

    Built about 1810 · Listed 1974 · 116 Mower St.

    Home of the abolitionists and women's rights activists Abby Kelley Foster and Stephen Symonds Foster, who sheltered people on the Underground Railroad here and refused to pay taxes because Abby could not vote. A private home.24

  • Blackstone Canal Historic District

    Built 1825 to 1828 · Listed 1995 · Along the old canal route

    Remains of the canal that linked Worcester to Providence and Narragansett Bay from 1828. The district runs south through Millbury, Grafton, Sutton, Northbridge, Uxbridge, Millville and Blackstone.253

  • Elwood Adams Store

    Built about 1831 · Listed 1980 · 156 Main St.

    The oldest commercial building downtown, home to a hardware business that traced its start to 1782 and closed in 2017.26

  • Worcester Academy Historic District

    Listed 1980 · Worcester Academy campus

    The oldest school founded in Worcester, with Walker Hall, the Megaron, Adams Hall, Dexter Hall, Kingsley Laboratories and Daniels Gymnasium.273

    Visit their website

  • College of the Holy Cross

    Listed 1980 · Holy Cross campus

    The listing covers Fenwick and O'Kane Halls of the first Catholic college in New England, founded in 1843.283

    Visit their website

  • St. John's Catholic Church

    Built 1845 · Listed 1980 · 40 Temple St.

    The parish of 1834 is the oldest Catholic congregation in the city and the oldest Catholic parish in New England outside Boston.11

  • Elm Park

    Listed 1970 · Park Ave. and Highland St.

    Bought in 1854, one of the first pieces of land in the country bought by a city to be a public park. The Olmsted Brothers relandscaped it beginning in 1909.29

  • Hope Cemetery

    Listed 1997 · 119 Webster St.

    The city's sixth public cemetery, opened in 1854 on Webster Hill in the rural cemetery style, holding remains moved from the first five.30

  • Mechanics Hall

    Built 1857 · Listed 1972 · 321 Main St.

    Built by the Worcester County Mechanics Association to educate the city's workers, its great hall is famous for its acoustics and was restored in 1977.17

    Visit their website

  • Crompton Loom Works

    Built from 1860 · Listed 1980 · 132-142 Green St.

    Where Crompton made looms for textile mills, one of the oldest surviving industrial sites in the city.31

  • Washburn and Moen North Works District

    Built from 1863 · Listed 1980 · Grove St.

    Thirteen brick buildings of the wire company that was Worcester's largest business in the late 1800s, maker of telegraph wire and barbed wire.32

  • Cathedral of St. Paul

    Built 1868 to 1889 · Listed 1980 · 38 Chatham St.

    The Victorian Gothic mother church of the Diocese of Worcester.33

  • Clark University

    Listed 1980 · Clark University campus

    The historic core of the university founded in 1887 with Jonas Clark's gift, known as the first all-graduate school in the country.343

    Visit their website

  • Bancroft Tower

    Built 1900 · Listed 1980 · Bancroft Tower Rd.

    A 56-foot stone folly like a small castle in Salisbury Park, built in memory of Worcester-born historian George Bancroft.35

  • Poli's Palace Theater

    Built 1904 · Listed 2011 · 2 Southbridge St.

    Opened in 1904 as the Franklin Square Theatre and later run by vaudeville owner Sylvester Poli, it reopened in 2008 as the Hanover Theatre.36

    Visit their website

  • American Antiquarian Society

    National Historic Landmark

    Built 1910 · Listed 1968 · 185 Salisbury St.

    Founded by Isaiah Thomas in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in the country with a national focus. Its Antiquarian Hall holds a national library of early American printing.37

    Visit their website

  • Union Station

    Listed 1980 · Washington Sq.

    The rail hub of a city once served by seven railroads, reopened in 2000 after a $32 million renovation.381

  • Higgins Armory Museum

    Built 1929 to 1931 · Listed 1980 · 100 Barber Ave.

    A steel and glass building that opened in 1931 as a museum of arms and armor; the collection is now at the Worcester Art Museum.39

  • Miss Worcester Diner

    Built 1948 · Listed 2003 · 302 Southbridge St.

    Worcester Lunch Car No. 812, across from the old factory, which used it as a showroom and testbed.40

In their words

“I believe that no municipality, great or small, in the world had so high an average body of citizens in everything that makes for nobility.”

A longtime resident recalling the Worcester of 1843, Collections of the Worcester Society of Antiquity41

“So full is the story of Worcester of incidents which show the courage, persistence, and imagination of its inhabitants”

Some historic houses of Worcester, 191942

“It must be a singular advantage to such a town as Worcester to have such an inexhaustible quarry”

An early description of the town, on Millstone Hill, quoted by the Worcester Society of Antiquity, 190043

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Worcester, Massachusetts, Wikipedia
  2. A list of the soldiers in the War of the Revolution, from Worcester, Mass. (1902), Internet Archive
  3. National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester, Massachusetts, Wikipedia
  4. Map of Worcester, Massachusetts in 2026, KNOWOL
  5. History of Worcester, Massachusetts (1889), on Worcester coal, Internet Archive
  6. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts (1889), on William T. Merrifield, Internet Archive
  7. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts (1889), on William T. Merrifield, second copy, Internet Archive
  8. Historic homes and institutions of Worcester County, Massachusetts (1907), on the Washburn and Moen merger, Internet Archive
  9. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts (1889), on the first Catholic services, Internet Archive
  10. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts (1889), on the canal and the Irish laborers, Internet Archive
  11. St. John's Catholic Church (Worcester, Massachusetts), Wikipedia
  12. The Worcester almanac, directory and business advertiser (1844), on Stone House Hill, Internet Archive
  13. Celebration by the inhabitants of Worcester of the centennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (1876), on Shays' Rebellion, Internet Archive
  14. The story of Worcester, Massachusetts (1910), on old taverns, Internet Archive
  15. Collections of the Worcester Society of Antiquity (1881), on the Worcester Fire Society, Internet Archive
  16. Biographical review of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts (1899), on Union Hill, Internet Archive
  17. Mechanics Hall (Worcester, Massachusetts), Wikipedia
  18. Collections of the Worcester Society of Antiquity (1881), on Shrewsbury Street, Internet Archive
  19. History of Worcester County, Massachusetts (1889), on the first boat clubs, Internet Archive
  20. Worcester City Hall and Common, Wikipedia
  21. Benjamin Flagg House, Wikipedia
  22. Salisbury Mansion and Store, Wikipedia
  23. Timothy Paine House, Wikipedia
  24. Liberty Farm, Wikipedia
  25. Blackstone Canal, Wikipedia
  26. Elwood Adams Store, Wikipedia
  27. Worcester Academy, Wikipedia
  28. College of the Holy Cross, Wikipedia
  29. Elm Park (Worcester, Massachusetts), Wikipedia
  30. Hope Cemetery (Worcester, Massachusetts), Wikipedia
  31. Crompton Loom Works, Wikipedia
  32. Washburn and Moen North Works District, Wikipedia
  33. Cathedral of Saint Paul (Worcester, Massachusetts), Wikipedia
  34. Clark University, Wikipedia
  35. Bancroft Tower, Wikipedia
  36. Hanover Theatre and Conservancy for the Performing Arts, Wikipedia
  37. American Antiquarian Society, Wikipedia
  38. Union Station (Worcester, Massachusetts), Wikipedia
  39. Higgins Armory Museum, Wikipedia
  40. Miss Worcester Diner, Wikipedia
  41. Collections of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, Internet Archive
  42. Some historic houses of Worcester (1919), Internet Archive
  43. Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity (1900), on Millstone Hill, Internet Archive