The Many Anniversaries of Worcester
There’s no City Council meeting this week, so instead I’m sending this little essay in honor of Worcester’s upcoming tricentennial celebration. Tricentennial logo adapted by Ali Reid from The City of Worcester, Massachusetts; Its Public Buildings and Its Business (Sanford & Davis, 1886).
The anniversary of Worcester, the European settlement at the headwaters of the Blackstone River, can be properly dated to:
1665, when on October 8, several men petitioned the colonial legislature that they be allowed a “plantation” near the headwaters of the Blackstone River. The petition for “Quinsigamond Plantation” was approved October 11.
1674, when on July 13, the Governor of Massachusetts granted permission for Europeans to build a more substantial settlement there.
1675, when the village was abandoned shortly before being burned to the ground by the Nipmuc on December 2. Making a well-timed exit remains perhaps the quintessential Worcester tradition. Disrespecting the city is a close second. Every December 2, there is a commemoration of this event with fireworks and oratory.
1683, when European settlers started to return.
1684, when on October 15, the colonial government approved a “new plantation” on the spot, named Worcester. The official cattle brand would be:
Worcester’s first bicentennial was celebrated October 1884, dating the founding of the city to this event.
1701, when it was again abandoned, with the exception of Digory Serjent and his family. They lived on what is now known as Grafton Hill.
1705, when the Nipmuc burned Worcester again. Serjent was killed by Indians. His wife and children were kidnapped, with Mary Serjent and her baby soon killed and the five older children held prisoner for years.
1713, when the Europeans settled the area a third time.
1722, when on July 14, the settlement was incorporated as an official town.
1847, when Worcester had surpassed the 12,000 residents that the state required for incorporation as a city, which would grant it the power to elect a Mayor and City Council and stop having town meetings. (It did have Selectmen and Aldermen.) On November 8, Alderman John Milton Earle (abolitionist, retailer, and Worcester Spy publisher) moved that the town should petition to become a city.
1848, when on February 28, the Massachusetts House of Representatives approved the petition. On February 29, the State Senate and Governor concurred. On March 18, the town voted on the matter, with ⅔ of the 1,513 men gathered at Town Hall approving the deal.
Correction in re: Crow Town Juggalos
by Anthony Richards
I want to acknowledge that although I have previously claimed the Insane Clown Posse first performed in Worcester on March 13th, 1998, they actually made their Worcester debut on October 24, 1997. The Detroit rap duo were surprised by the wellspring of early-career JuggaLove they uncovered in a city they still called “Worchester,” and over the course of 25 years and 24 mostly-sold-out shows at The Palladium, more than half of which took place in late October, they were able to wrap their tongues around “Wuss-tuh” and place it in their “like top three out of everywhere in the country” to play. (Seal by Anthony Richards)
