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Worcester's Historical Highlights 1673- 1908 1911 to Current |
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| 1673 First settlement of Plantation of Quinsigamond | 1835 Boston & Worcester RR opened. Fire Department established | |
| 1674 First Indian Land deed. Purchase price was 12 pounds, 2 coats and 4 yards of cloth for 64 square miles of land | 1842 Charles Dickens visits Worcester | |
| 1675 Settlement abandoned because of hostile Indians | 1843 Holy Cross founded | |
| 1684 Second attempted settlement. Name changed from Plantation of Quinsigamond to Worcester | 1845 First High School built on Walnut Street | |
| 1702 Settlement again abandoned | 1847 First telegraph office opened | |
| 1713 First permanent settlement by Jonas Rice (Rice Square) | 1848 Worcester chartered as city, Levi Lincoln inaugurated as first mayor, Abe Lincoln gives speech at Town Hall | |
| 1722 Town of Worcester Incorporated | 1850 First Women's suffrage national convention | |
| 1731 Named shire town of Worcester County | 1854 Anti-slavery riot, first purchase of land for a public park in U.S. (Elm Park) | |
| 1738 First schoolhouse built at Lincoln Square | 1855 William Makepeace Thackerey lectured in Worcester | |
| 1755-58 John Adams taught school here | 1858 First annual Music festival held. An internationally noted event ever since | |
| 1763 Old South Meetinghouse built on site of present City Hall | 1859 First intercollegiate regatta on Lake Quinsigamond | |
| 1775 First newspaper printed by Isaiah Thomas. Worc has had continuous publication ever since. | 1861 Worcester Horse Street Railroad Company incorporated, Free Public Library opened on Elm Street | |
| 1776 Post Office established, first public reading and publication of Declaration of Independence in New England | 1865 Worcester Polytechnic Institute founded with a gift of land by Stephen Salisbury who became the first Chair of the Board of Trustees- The electric Magnetic Laboratory was constructed so that it's axis was in alignment with the earth's magnetic meridian. Worcester had villages of Fairmount, Tatnuck, Northville, Jamesville, and New Worcester. | |
| 1783 First stagecoach line opened | 1873 Chamber of Commerce organized | |
| 1784 Leicester Junior College founded as Leicester Academy | 1874 State College at Worcester founded | |
| 1801 Worcester's first courthouse built | 1879 Telephones first used in Worcester | |
| 1804 Worcester Bank chartered | 1883 First use of electricity for street lighting | |
| 1807 Worcester to Boston Road opened | 1887 Clark University and Becker Jr College founded | |
| 1812 American Antiquarian Society founded | 1893 Horse cars replaced by electric trolleys | |
| 1824 Burials in the Common prohibited, Town Hall cornerstone laid, Marquis de Lafayette visits Worcester | 1898 Present City Hall dedicated | |
| 1826 Blackstone Canal construction starts | 1904 Assumption College founded | |
| 1828 Blackstone Canal opened | 1905 Worcester Junior College founded | |
| 1834 Worcester Academy founded | 1908 Boys Trade School opened | |
