Review: “A History of Worcester in 10 Maps”

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“A History of Worcester in 10 Maps” was created in part of the Worcester Tercentennial, a celebration of the city’s 300th anniversary. As noted in the Storymap, a popular interactive map viewer powered by ArcGIS, Worcester was founded in 1722 by English colonists and grew to become the second largest city in New England, after Boston. The visual history begins with an early woodcut map of New England from 1677, before the founding of the town, and ends with the current Geographic Information System (GIS) map created by the City of Worcester. Each segment contains a link back to the original source of the map.

The sources are a fantastic collection of digital resources for Massachusetts artifacts and include:

The maps are categorized into themes seen at other historic sites, including Black history and the Industrial Revolution.

Maps of Worcester’s Black History.

A page of the 1911 “Atlas of the City of Worcester, Mass.” by Harold Hazen Richards of Richards Map Co. is interpreted to describe the experience of Black and Nipmuc Native Americans in Worcester, especially during the mid 19th to early 20th century. The neighborhoods of Beaver Brook and Liberty & Palmer Street were once ethnically diverse, with Belmont AME Zion Church located nearby. City planners destroyed these neighborhoods in the 1960s to make way for I-290. Dedicated to preserving this history is the new Worcester Black History Trail. Created as a joint project between the City of Worcester, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester NAACP, and the Laurel Clayton Project, this city walk will be similar to the heritage trails in Portsmouth and Boston once complete. The first five kiosks debuted in June 2022, with additional signage and plaques planned for the future.

Maps of Worcester during the Industrial Revolution

The first of these Industrial Revolution era maps was “A Map of Worcester” drawn by Heman Stebbins and published by C. Harris of Pendleton Lithography in 1833. The Boston-based lithography studio, owned by the New York born Pendleton brothers and active 1825 and 1836, published portraits, landscape, and replicas of American Revolution era propaganda. The map includes beautiful illustrations of important buildings, including a “Lunatic Hospital” and “House of Correction”, along with several churches, the school, the courthouse, and Antiquarian Hall of the American Antiquarian Society.

The 1847 “Route of the Providence and Worcester Railroad” was published by lithographer John Henry Bufford of Boston, who had worked for the Pendleton brothers earlier in his career and collaborated with the more famous lithographer Nathaniel Currier, later of Currier & Ives. This map highlights the new railroad, which placed the Blackstone Canal as the best form of transportation. It is drawn on an angle, with north in the upper left corner, so the track runs from left to right. At the bottom of the map is an elevation marker pointing out the steady decline from about 477 feet above sea level in Worcester to 8 feet in Providence.

The 1878 “The City of Worcester, Mass.”, drawn and published by Oakley Hoopes Bailey and J.C. Hazen, is a panoramic bird’s-eye view displaying the many factories sprung up around the city, such as Washburn Iron Co., Richardson Manufacturing Co., and Bay State Needle Co.

Favorite Maps

One of my favorite maps in this collection is “A Map of New-England”, created by cartography John Foster in 1677. The map is sideways, with east at the bottom, and highly disproportional. Spellings are not standardized, with English names like Haveril (Haverhill) and Plimoth (Plymouth) beside Algonquin names like Nipmuk (Nipmuc) and Naraganſet (Narragansett).

My other favorite map is three hundred years younger. Published in 1970 by the Massachusetts Division of Tourism, “Massachusetts Vacation Travel Map” has whimsical images showcasing the many places to see in the state. Higgins Armory, College of the Holy Cross, Clark University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) are recognized as destinations in the city.

Conclusion

While my love of maps biases me towards a highly positive review, this project was an amazing collaborative effort and a delightful celebration of Worcester history. StoryMaps the perfect platform, easy to scroll through quickly for those who prefer to look at pictures, but with plenty of links for anyone who wants to dive deep. I would love to see future online exhibits focused on the communities of the Blackstone River Valley and am open to collaborating with anyone who wants to do this!

View the full StoryMap here:



Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 9/10



Location: Worcester, MA, USA