The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3 | Page 5

several years to desolation and decay.
[Illustration: ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.]
The principal seat of the Indians in this vicinity was Pakachoag Hill, a
little south of where now stands the College of the Holy Cross. They
were called Nipmuck Indians, and consisted of about twenty families,
numbering about one hundred persons, under Sagamore John. Another
tribe, of about the same number, dwelt on Tatnuck Hill, under
Sagamore Solomon. John Eliot, the famous apostle to the Indians, with
General Daniel Gookins, visited these tribes in 1674; but he did not

fully reclaim them to peaceful habits, although many of them professed
Christianity.
[Illustration: CHAIR MANUFACTORY OF E.W. VAILL.]
[Illustration: THE NEW CENTRAL CHURCH.]
In 1713 the inhabitants, not discouraged by their former experience,
one after another returned again to take possession of their property;
and this time they returned to stay. They were joined by others, and the
population began to increase. In 1722 Worcester was incorporated as a
town, and henceforth assumed its share of responsibility with the other
towns in adopting measures for the general welfare, and contributed its
proportion of men and supplies for the common defence. Through the
stormy period preceding the War of the Revolution, the public
sentiment of Worcester sustained the rights of the Colonies, and when,
on the 19th of April, 1773, the messenger of war, on his white horse,
dashed through the town, shouting, "To arms! to arms! the war is
begun," the response was immediate; the bell was rung, cannon fired,
and the minute-men, true to name, rallied on the Common, where they
were paraded by Capt. Timothy Bigelow. At about five o'clock in the
afternoon they took up their line of march. Capt. Benjamin Flagg soon
followed, with thirty-one men,--a total of one hundred and eight men.
Capt. Bigelow having halted at Sudbury, to rest his men, was met by
Capt. Flagg, when they both pushed on to Cambridge, where the
organization of the army was being made. Timothy Bigelow, whose
abilities were at once recognized, was appointed Major in Col.
Jonathan Ward's regiment. On the 24th of April another company, of
fifty-nine men, all from Worcester, enlisted under Capt. Jonas Hubbard.
During the seven dark years that followed, this town never wavered in
its devotion to the cause of liberty, and was represented on many of the
most important battle-fields, as well as at the surrender of Yorktown,
which terminated the struggle for independence. Saturday, the 14th of
July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was received. It was
publicly read, for the first time on Massachusetts soil, from the porch of
the Old South Church, by Isaiah Thomas, to the assembled crowd. On
Sunday, after divine service, it was read in the church. Measures were

adopted for a proper celebration of the event, and on the Monday
following, the earliest commemoration of the occasion, since hallowed
as the national anniversary, took place in the town.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: POST OFFICE AND MASONIC HALL.]
Worcester continued to increase both in size and importance during the
first half of the present century, till, in 1848, having outgrown the
limits of a town, it was made a city, and the first city government
inaugurated, with Ex-Gov. Levi Lincoln, Mayor, and the following
Aldermen: Parley Goddard, Benjamin F. Thomas, John W. Lincoln,
James S. Woodworth, William B. Fox, James Estabrook, Isaac Davis,
and Stephen Salisbury. The City Clerk was Charles A. Hamilton; the
City Treasurer, John Boyden; and the City Marshal, George Jones.
Since then it has made rapid strides in growth, influence, and prosperity.
When the call for troops to defend Washington came, in 1861,
Worcester as a city was true to her record as a town; for within twelve
hours a company started for the seat of war, and passed through
Baltimore with the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, on the memorable
19th of April, just eighty-six years from the first shedding of
Massachusetts blood at Lexington.
In 1800 the population of Worcester was 2,411; in 1820 it was 2,962;
in 1840, 7,500; in 1850, 17,049; in 1860, about 25,000; in 1870, about
41,000. At the present time it is about 70,000. The first event of
consequence that gave an impetus to the growth of the town was the
opening of the Blackstone Canal, in 1828, connecting Worcester with
tide-water at Providence. This, although considered at the time a
marvel of engineering skill, and undoubtedly of great benefit to the
public, was not a successful enterprise, and on the establishment of
railroads a few years later was discontinued.
[Illustration: WORCESTER CORSET COMPANY'S WORKS.]
In 1831 the Boston and Worcester Railroad was incorporated and soon
built, followed at short intervals by the Western Railroad, the Norwich

and Worcester, the Nashua and Worcester, Fitchburg and Worcester,
and the Providence and Worcester railroads; thus making a centre from
which one could