Abington - South Shore Recycling Cooperative
Acton - Town Transfer Station
Acushnet - Recycling in Acushnet
Adams - Department of Public Works
Agawam - Solid Waste Information
Alford - Town Transfer Station
Amesbury - Department of Public Works
Amherst - Recycling & Solid Waste
Andover - Town Recycling Program
Aquinnah (Gay Head) - Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal District
Arlington - Trash & Recycling
Ashburnham - Department of Public Works
Ashby - Recycling Center & Transfer Station
Ashfield - Earth 911
Ashland - Trash & Recycling
Athol - North Central Regional Solid Waste Cooperative
Attleboro - City Recycling Program
Auburn - DPW Solid Waste Division
Avon - Board of Health
Ayer - Town Transfer Station
Barnstable - DPW Solid Waste Division
Barre - Landfill & Recycling Center
Becket - Earth 911
Bedford - Recycling Information
Belchertown - Department of Public Works
Bellingham - Department of Public Works
Belmont - Trash, Recycling & Yard Waste Information
Berkley - Earth 911
Berlin - Town Transfer Station
Bernardston - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Beverly - Recycling Information
Billerica - Public Works Services
Blackstone - Blackstone Valley Regional Recycling Center
Blandford - Earth 911
Bolton - Transfer Station & Recycling Center
Boston - City Recycling Program
Bourne - Town Recycling Center
Boxborough - Town Transfer Station
Boxford - Trash Collection & Recycling Information
Boylston - Earth 911
Braintree - Trash & Recycling
Brewster - Town Transfer Station
Bridgewater - Town Transfer Station
Brimfield - Earth 911
Brockton - Department of Public Works
Brookfield - Board of Health
Brookline - Recycling Information
Buckland - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Burlington - Trash & Recycling Schedule & Information
Cambridge - Recycling Information
Canton - Recycling Department
Carlisle - Town Transfer Station
Carver - Rochester Convenience Facility
Charlemont - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Charlton - Town Recycling Committee
Chatham - ChathamRecycles.org
Chelmsford - Recycling Department
Chelsea - Rubbish, Recycling & Yard Waste
Cheshire - Earth 911
Chester - Board of Health
Chesterfield - Earth 911
Chicopee - Department of Public Works
Chilmark - Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal District
Clarksburg - Earth 911
Clinton - Trash Pickup & Recycling
Cohasset - South Shore Recycling Cooperative
Colrain - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Concord - Recycling Information
Conway - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Cummington - Board of Health
Dalton - Town Transfer Station
Danvers - Recycling & Refuse Collection
Dartmouth - Department of Public Works
Dedham - Recycling & Solid Waste Services
Deerfield - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Dennis - Transfer Station & Recycling Center
Devens - Community Services: Recycling Drop-Off
Dighton - Health Department
Douglas - Earth 911
Dover - Recycling Home Page
Dracut - Trash & Large Item Disposal
Dudley - Earth 911
Dunstable - Town Transfer Station
Duxbury - Town Transfer Station
East Bridgewater - Solid Waste & Recycling Information
East Brookfield - Solid Waste Department
Eastham - Department of Public Works
Easthampton - Trash Removal
East Longmeadow - Trash & Recycling Contacts
Easton - Board of Health
Edgartown - Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal District
Egremont - Town Contact List
Erving - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Essex - Town Transfer Station
Everett - Recycling Information
Fairhaven - Board of Health
Fall River - Department of Public Works
Falmouth - DPW Waste Management Facility
Fitchburg - Trash, Recycling & Yard Waste
Florida - Earth 911
Foxborough - Trash & Recycling
Framingham - Department of Public Works
Franklin - Town Recycling Committee
Freetown - Waste Management & Transfer Station
Gardner - Health Department
Gay Head (Aquinnah) - Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal District
Georgetown - Trash & recycling Contacts
Gill - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Gloucester - Recycling & Trash Information
Goshen - Refuse Disposal & Recycling Center
Gosnold - Earth 911
Grafton - Department of Public Works
Granby - Earth 911
Granville - Earth 911
Great Barrington - Town Recycling Center
Greenfield - DPW Solid Waste Division
Groton - Town Transfer Station
Groveland - Board of Health
Hadley - Transfer Station
Halifax - Recycling & Solid Waste Department
Hamilton - Recycling & Refuse Information
Hampden - Board of Health
Hancock - Earth 911
Hanover - South Shore Recycling Cooperative
Hanson - Town Recycling Program
Hardwick - Town Recycling Center
Harvard - Transfer Station & Recycling Guidelines
Harwich - Town Tansfer Station
Hatfield - Earth 911
Haverhill - Rubbish & Curbside Collection
Hawley - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Heath - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Hingham - Department of Public Works
Hinsdale - Earth 911
Holbrook - South Shore Recycling Cooperative
Holden - Recycling & Trash
Holland - Waste Removal
Holliston - Recycling & Solid Waste
Holyoke - Department of Public Works
Hopedale - Recycling Information
Hopkinton - Town Recycling Committee
Hubbardson - Town Recycling Center
Hudson - BP Trucking Transfer Station
Hull - Recycling Information
Huntington - Transfer Station
Hyannis (Barnstable) - DPW Solid Waste Division
Ipswich - Town Recycling Committee
Kingston - South Shore Recycling Cooperative
Lakeville - Town Transfer Station
Lancaster - Town Recycling Center
Lanesborough - Frequently Asked Questions
Lawrence - Recycling & Trash Information
Lee - Earth 911
Leicester - Board of Health
Lenox - Earth 911
Leominster - Rubbish & Recycling
Leverett - Town Transfer Station
Lexington - Trash & Hazardous Waste
Leyden - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Lincoln - Town Transfer Station
Littleton - Highway Department
Longmeadow - Town Recycling Center
Lowell - DPW Recycling Program
Ludlow - Department of Public Works
Lunenburg - North Central Regional Solid Waste Cooperative
Lynn - Department of Public Works
Lynnfield - Recycling Committee
Malden - Department of Public Works
Manchester-by-the-Sea - Trash Disposal, Recycling & Composting
Mansfield - Recycling Information
Marblehead - Board of Health
Marion - Recycling & Rubbish
Marlborough - Rubbish & Recycling
Marshfield - Trash & Recycling
Mashpee - Town Transfer Station
Mattapoisett - Board of Health
Maynard - Recycling & Solid Waste
Medfield - Town Transfer Station
Medford - Recycling Information
Medway - Board of Health
Melrose - Recycling Information
Mendon - Board of Health Trash Program
Merrimac - Curbside Recycling Program
Methuen - Department of Public Works
Middleborough - Trash & Recyclables
Middlefield - Earth 911
Middleton - Department of Public Works
Milford - Board of Health
Millbury - Town transfer Station
Millis - Department of Public Works
Milton - Trash, Recycling & Yard Waste Information
Millville - Town Home Page
Monroe - Earth 911
Monson - Board of Health
Montague - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Monterey - Town Transfer Station
Montgomery - Earth 911
Mount Washington - Earth 911
Nahant - Trash & Recycling
Nantucket - Department of Public Works
Natick - Recycling Center
Needham - Recycling & Transfer Station
New Ashford - Earth 911
New Bedford - DPW Solid Waste Division
New Braintree - Trash & Recycling
Newbury - Town Transfer Station
Newburyport - Recycling & Trash
New Marlborough - Town Transfer Station
New Salem - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Newton - Solid Waste & Recycling
Norfolk - DPW Solid Waste Division & Transfer Station
North Adams - City Transfer Station
North Andover - Solid Waste & Recycling
North Attleborough - Solid Waste Collection & Recycling Information
Northborough - Town Engineering Department
Northbridge - Solid Waste & Recycling
North Brookfield - Town Recycling Center
Northfield - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Northhampton - Recycling Information
North Reading - Recycling Information
Norton - Trash & Recycling Information
Norwell - South Shore Recycling Cooperative
Norwood - Recycling Information
Oak Bluffs - Martha's Vineyard Refuse Disposal District
Oakham - Earth 911
Orange - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Orleans - Town Transfer Station
Otis - Center for Ecological Technology
Oxford - Earth 911
Palmer - Earth 911
Paxton - Earth 911
Peabody - City Home Page
Pelham - Earth 911
Pembroke - Trash & Recycling Information
Pepperell - Town Transfer Station
Peru - Earth 911
Petersham - North Central Regional Solid Waste Cooperative
Phillipston - Town Transfer Station
Pittsfield - Department of Public Works & Utilities
Plainfield - Earth 911
Plainville - Trash & Recycling
Plymouth - Solid Waste Division Recycling Program
Plympton - Town Transfer Station
Princeton - Earth 911
Provincetown - Department of Public Works
Quincy - Public Works Department
Randolph - Recycling Information
Raynham - Transfer & Recycling Facility
Reading - Recycling Information
Rehoboth - Town Handbook
Revere - Trash & Recycling Information
Richmond - Town Home Page
Rochester - Transfer Station (Mattapoisett) & Trash Pick-Up
Rockland - South Shore Recycling Cooperative
Rockport - DPW Transfer Station
Rowe - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Rowley - Recycling Information
Royalston - North Central Regional Solid Waste Cooperative
Russell - Earth 911
Rutland - Earth 911
Salem - Recycling Department
Salisbury - Department of Public Works
Sandisfield - Center for Ecological Technology
Sandwich - DPW Transfer Station
Saugus - Department of Public Works
Savoy - Earth 911
Scituate - DPW Transfer Station Division
Seekonk - Department of Public Works
Sharon - DPW Operations Division
Sheffield - Town Transfer Station
Shelburne - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Sherborn - Recycling Information
Shirley - Board of Health
Shrewsbury - Rubbish Disposal & Recycling
Shutesbury - Recycling & Solid Waste
Somerset - Earth 911
Somerville - Trash & Recycling Information
Southborough - Town Recycling Committee
Southbridge - Curbside Rubbish Removal
South Hadley - Department of Public Works
Southampton - Town Transfer Station
Southwick - DPW Solid Waste Division
Spencer - Town Transfer Station
Springfield - Department of Public Works
Sterling - Department of Public Works
Stockbridge - Town Web Site
Stoneham - Recycling & Solid Waste Program
Stoughton - Department of Public Works
Stow - Earth 911
Sturbridge - Board of Health
Sudbury - Transfer Station & Recycling Center
Sunderland - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Sutton - Town Transfer Station
Swampscott - Board of Health
Swansea - Town Recycling Program
Taunton - Solid Waste & Recycling Information
Templeton - Board of Health
Tewksbury - Recycling Committee
Tisbury - Trash & Recycling Services
Tolland - Transfer Station & Recycling
Topsfield - Trash Collection & Recycling Information
Townsend - Recycling Information
Truro - Town Transfer Station
Turners Falls (Montague) - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Tyngsboro - Recycling Committee
Tyringham - Earth 911
Upton - Board of Health
Uxbridge - Earth 911
Wakefield - Department of Public Works
Wales - Earth 911
Walpole - Recycling Information
Waltham - Recycling Department
Ware - Earth 911
Wareham - Recycling Information
Warren - Earth 911
Warwick - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Washington - Earth 911
Watertown - Department of Public Works
Wayland - Board of Health
Webster - Earth 911
Wellesley - Recycling & Disposal Facility
Wellfleet - Recycling Information
Wendell - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Wenham - Town Recycling Program
Westborough - Recycling & Trash Disposal
West Boylston - Trash & Recycling Information
West Bridgewater - Town Transfer Station
West Brookfield - Highway Department
Westfield - Refuse & Recycling Collection
Westford - WestfordRecycles.org
Westhampton - Earth 911
Westminster - Town Web Site
West Newbury - Town Web Site
Weston - Department of Public Works
Westport - Landfill, Transfer Station & Recycling
West Springfield - Curbside Trash & Recycling Collection
West Stockbridge - Town Transfer Station
West Tisbury - Town Transfer Station
Westwood - Trash & Recycling Information
Weymouth - Town Trash & Recycling Program
Whately - Franklin County Solid Waste Management District
Whitman - South Shore Recycling Cooperative
Wilbraham - Disposal & Recycling Center
Williamsburg - Earth 911
Williamstown - Town Transfer Station
Wilmington - Recycling Information
Winchendon - Town Transfer Station
Winchester - Town Transfer Station
Windsor - Earth 911
Winthrop - Trash & Curbside Recycling
Woburn - Recycling Information
Worcester - Department of Public Works & Parks
Worthington - Town Information
Wrentham - Town Recycling Committee
Yarmouth - Solid Waste Disposal & Recycling Center
The American Revolution did not start on the morning of April 19, 1775. When the British fired upon a small group of hastily assembled patriots on the Lexington Green, they were attempting to regain control of a colony they had already lost. The real Revolution, the transfer of political authority to the American patriots, occurred more than half a year before, when thousands upon thousands of farmers and artisans deposed every Crown-appointed official in Massachusetts outside of Boston.
During the late summer of 1774, each time a court was slated to meet under British authority in some Massachusetts town, great numbers of angry citizens made sure it did not. These patriots were furious because they had just been disenfranchised by the Massachusetts Government Act. Having lost control of the governmental apparatus, and in particular of the courts, they feared that arbitrary rulers might soon seize their tools, their livestock, or even their farms.
Worcester was at the center of this massive uprising. It was the patriots of Worcester who first called for a meeting of several counties to coordinate the resistance. It was at Worcester, on September 6, 1774, that the British conceded control of the countryside. For the preceding month, General Thomas Gage had proclaimed he would hold the line at Worcester by sending troops to protect the court, but on the appointed day he backed down. When British troops failed to show, 4,722 militiamen from 37 towns in Worcester County lined both sides of Main Street and forced every official and every prominent Tory in town to resign or recant thirty times over, hats in hand, as they made their way through the gauntlet from Heywood¹s Tavern (at Exchange Street) to the County Court House. (This was by far the greatest assembly of people ever to convene in the town of Worcester, which had fewer than 250 voters. Some towns, having armed and trained for a month, sent virtually every adult male.) Shortly thereafter, the town of Worcester was the first to urge that a new government be formed "as from the Ashes of the Phenix."
Read More......Click.....The Pakachoag tribe of the Nipmuc nation of Native Americans were the indigenous settlers of the area. They called it Quinsigamond, meaning "fishing place for pickerel." Lake Quinsigamond provided fine hunting and fishing grounds a short distance from their main village near a spring on Pakachoag Hill in what is now Auburn.[3] Mt. Wachusett was their sacred place.[4]
Worcester was first settled by the English in 1673,[5] but the modest settlement of six or seven houses was burned to the ground during King Philip's War on December 2, 1675, when settlers were either killed or driven off. The town was subsequently resettled and was incorporated in 1684. On September 10 of that year, Daniel Gookin and others petitioned to have the town's name officially changed from Quinsigamond to Worcester.[6] However, its inhabitants were still vulnerable to attack, and some, such as Samuel Lenorson Jr., were taken hostage by natives during the 1690s. When Queen Anne's War started in 1702, the town was again abandoned by its English inhabitants except for Diggory Sargent. Sargent was later tomahawked, as was his wife, who was too weak to make the journey on foot to Canada. Their children were taken to Canada and survived.[7]
In 1713, Worcester was resettled for the third time, permanently, by Jonas Rice (1673–1753), a descendant of Edmund Rice of Sudbury. Jonas Rice held many offices and was elected to represent Worcester in the General Court of Massachusetts but died before he could serve. His farm was located atop Union Hill and a commemorative Massachusetts Tercentenary historic marker stands as a reminder where Plantation St. and Massasoit Rd. intersect.
Named after the historic city of Worcester, England, Worcester was incorporated as a town in 1722 and chartered as a city in 1848.[8] When the government of Worcester County was established on April 2, 1731, Worcester was chosen as shire town (later known as a county seat). From that date until the dissolution of the county government on July 1, 1998, it was the only county seat.
As political tensions rose in the months before the Revolution, Worcester served as a center of revolutionary activity. Because it was an important munitions depot, Worcester was targeted for attack by Loyalist general Thomas Gage. However, officers sent secretly to inspect the munitions depot were discovered by Patriot Timothy Bigelow. General Gage then decided to move on to the second munitions depot in Lexington. In 1775, determining that Boston was too dangerous, Isaiah Thomas moved his newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, to Worcester. The Massachusetts Spy was one of the few papers published continuously during the Revolution. On July 14, 1776, Isaiah Thomas, intercepting the packet from Philadelphia to Boston, performed the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence ever in front of Worcester City Hall. In 1812, Thomas founded the American Antiquarian Society, a research library holding nearly two-thirds of the items known to have been printed in America from 1639 through 1820. The Society's holdings from 1821 to 1876 compare favorably with those of the Library of Congress and other major research libraries[citation needed].
Known for innovation in commerce, industry, education, and social thought, Worcester and the nearby Blackstone Valley claim their historic role as birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. Ichabod Washburn, an early industrialist, developed a process for extruding steel wire. His company, Washburn & Moen, founded in 1831, was "the company that 'barbed-wire fenced the American West,'"[9] and held the battle lines during World War I. In 1840, Loring Coes invented the monkey wrench. In the 1850s, George Crompton and L.J. & F.B. Knowles founded companies that manufactured textile looms which drove the Industrial Revolution[citation needed]. Another Worcester innovator, physician Russel Howes, invented the first envelope folding machine in 1856. It could produce 25,000 envelopes in ten hours, using three operators.
Women found economic opportunity in Worcester. An early female entrepreneur, Esther Howland, designed and manufactured the first American valentine cards in 1847. Women also found opportunity in The Royal Worcester Corset Factory, a company that provided employment opportunity for 1200 women; it was the largest employer of women in the United States in 1908.[10]
Several entrepreneurs brought growth to Worcester's economy during this period. John Jeppson, a skilled potter, emigrated from Hoganas, Sweden to Worcester in search of a better life. In Worcester he founded Norton Company, now Saint-Gobain, the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of performance engineered abrasives for technical manufacturing and commercial applications, in addition to general household and automotive refinishing. Jeppson created economic opportunity for the thousands of his countrymen who followed him to Worcester, and others. Many Irish immigrants settled in Worcester during this period, as well. They helped build the railroad and Blackstone Canal, further driving Worcester's economic engine.
An innovative form of affordable housing appeared in the 19th century: the three-decker. Hundreds of these houses were built, affording capacious, comfortable apartments for a homeowner and two tenants. Many extended families settled in these houses, developing safe, stable neighborhoods for city factory workers.
In December 1999, the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire received national attention. Two homeless people, deemed mentally disabled, accidentally knocked over a lit candle in an abandoned cold storage warehouse, igniting a conflagration. Six firefighters lost their lives in an attempt to rescue the homeless people. This fire was one of the worst firefighting tragedies of the late 20th century[citation needed]. President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and other local and national dignitaries attended services and a memorial program.
The first decade of the 21st century saw the closing and creation of major cultural institutions in the city. In April 2006, the Worcester Common Outlets, a 1,000,000 square foot mall that occupies a large swath of downtown Worcester was planned to be demolished as to make way for the long-planned "City Square," a multi-use collaboration of several downtown buildings for commercial, retail, and residential use. The Worcester Foothills Theatre, formerly located in the Outlets, "suspended operations"[11] on May 10, 2009 due to lack of funding.[12] It is unclear if it will ever reopen. In March 2008,[13] the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts opened as a venue for touring Broadway-style shows.
Worcester is located at 42°16'8?N 71°48'14?W? / ?42.26889°N 71.80389°W (42.268843, -71.803774).[14]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 38.6 square miles (99.9 km²), of which, 37.6 square miles (97.3 km²) of it is land and 1.0 square miles (2.6 km²) of it (2.59%) is water. Worcester is bordered by the towns of Auburn, Grafton, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Paxton, Shrewsbury, and West Boylston. These towns serve as some of the bedroom communities and suburbs of the greater Worcester area.
The Blackstone River passes through Worcester. Its headwaters are found in Institute Park. The river courses underground through the center of the city, and emerges at the foot of College Hill, flowing through Quinsigamond Village and into Millbury. Water Street, originally the Blackstone Canal, is emerging as the center of the "Canal District." Legend has it that the city sits atop seven hills: Airport Hill, Bancroft Hill, Belmont Hill (Bell Hill), Grafton Hill, Green Hill, Pakachoag Hill and Vernon Hill. Actually, there are more than seven hills. Other hills include; Indian Hill, Newton Hill, Poet's Hill, Wigwam Hill among others. Worcester's lakes include:Lake Quinsigamond, the site of rowing competitions, Indian Lake, Bell Pond, and Coes Pond.
Worcester counts within its borders over 1,200 acres (5 km²) of publicly owned property. Elm Park, purchased in 1854 and laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, was not only the first public park in the city (after the 8 acre (32,000 m²) City Common from 1669) but also one of the first public parks in the U.S. Both the City Common and Elm Park are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[15] In 1903 the Green family donated the 549 acres (2.2 km²) of Green Hill area land to the city, making Green Hill Park the largest in the city. Green Hill Park Shelter, built in 1910 is on the National Register of Historic Places. In June 2002, city and state leaders dedicated the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Green Hill Park grounds. Other parks include: Newton Hill, East Park, Morgan Park, Shore Park, Crompton Park, Hadwen Park and University Park.
Historically, Worcester's economic roots were tied to the Blackstone River, and in the beginning to the Blackstone Canal, which connected Worcester to the port of Providence, Rhode Island. Textiles, shoes, and finished clothing were some of the first industries in the city. A second wave of manufacturing facilities soon came on the scene to further develop Worcester into a manufacturing center. Wire and machinery were the strengths of this economic cycle. One of the leaders of this manufacturing wave was George Fuller [disambiguation needed], an inventor and philanthropist, who developed a heat-treating process crucial to developing steel strong enough to be used in train couplings and the first automobile crankshafts. His company, Wyman-Gordon, has been a leading manufacturer of machine parts. Charles Palmer [disambiguation needed], another innovator, received the first patent (1891) for a lunch wagon, or diner. He built his "fancy night cafes" and "night lunch wagons" in the Worcester area until 1901. After building a lunch wagon for himself in 1888, Thomas Buckley decided to manufacture lunch wagons in Worcester. Buckley was very successful and became known for his "White House Cafe" wagons. In 1906 Philip Duprey and Irving Stoddard established the Worcester Lunch Car Company, which shipped 'diners' all over the Eastern Seaboard. Worcester's Boulevard Diner, Parkway Diner and Miss Worcester Diner are all examples of Worcester Lunch Car Company units, with the Miss Worcester being located across the street from the former factory. Worcester's largestb Department store was Denholm & McKay founded in 1871. The store closed in 1973.
They were joined in early automobile manufacture by American Wheelock, which built compressed air-powered trucks at Worcester in 1904.[23]
In the 1930s a local merchant, Anthony "Spag" Borgatti, opened Spag's, a small hardware business, in nearby Shrewsbury. Credited with the invention of discount marketing, he stored his wares in old trailer trucks in order to avoid paying taxes. He was a local philanthropist. Every spring, Spag offered free tomato seedlings to his customers.
David Clark Company pioneered aeronautical protective equipment since 1941, ranging from anti-gravity suits to space suits. Innovations include full-pressure suits for X-15 test pilots flying to record speeds and altitudes and the spacesuit worn by all Apollo astronauts on lunar missions. The company produces the suits worn by modern space shuttle astronauts.
Morgan Construction, a manufacturer of steel rolling mills, has their headquarters in Worcester. Wright Line, a manufacturer of consoles and other workstations for 911/emergency operations centers, server enclosures and racks for data centers, office and computer lab furniture, is also headquartered in the city. Saint-Gobain has a substantial presence in Worcester following its 1993 purchase of the Norton Abrasives, a 100+ year old manufacturer of abrasives, ceramics, and specialty materials. Polar Beverages is also located in the city.
Today, Worcester has a diversified economy. The largest employer is the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The adjacent biotech park is host to many innovative companies, including Advanced Cell Technology, which focuses on the development of effective methods to generate replacement cells from stem cells, and Abbott Laboratories, a leading pharmaceutical research and manufacturing firm.
In the financial sector, Hanover Insurance maintains their national headquarters in the city. A subsidiary of Unum (formerly UnumProvident), the Paul Revere Life Insurance Company, is also headquartered in Worcester as is the Harleysville Worcester Insurance Company, the oldest insurance company based in Massachusetts.
The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology located in nearby Shrewsbury is best known for the development of the oral contraceptive pill (1951) and for pioneering research on in vitro fertilization. The first American conceived by this method (1981), Elizabeth Jordan Carr, lived in nearby Westminster.
In the area of small business retailing, Worcester is home to the notable popular culture emporium That's Entertainment (est. 1980), which in 1997 was one of three comic book stores worldwide that received a "Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award" from Comic-Con International: San Diego. The award, named for comic book creator Will Eisner, recognizes "an individual retailer who has done an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large".[24][25]
Polar Beverages, founded in 1882, is headquartered in Worcester. It runs two bottling plants in the city, where it bottles its own line of soft drinks as well as several major national brands.
Worcester's Public Schools educate more than 23,000 students in Kindergarten through 12th grade.[26] The system consists of 33 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 7 high schools,[27] and 13 other learning centers such as magnet schools, alternative schools, and special education schools. The city's public school system also administers an adult education component called "Night Life", and operates a cable accessible television station, Channel 11.
The Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science was founded in 1992 as a public secondary school located at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Twenty-one private and parochial schools are also found throughout Worcester, including the city's oldest educational institution, Worcester Academy, founded in 1834, and Bancroft School, founded in 1900.
Worcester is home to several institutes of higher education, including:
An early higher education institution, the Oread Institute, closed in 1934.
Many of these institutions participate in the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. This independent non-profit collegiate association includes academic institutions in Worcester and other communities in Worcester County, such as Anna Maria College in neighboring Paxton. It operates and facilitates cooperation among the colleges and universities. One example is its inter-college shuttle bus and student cross registration.
Worcester is the home of Dynamy, the oldest student residential internship program in the United States.[30] The organization was founded in 1969 and provides internships to young adults during a Gap year, helping them mature, become self-sufficient and choose a vocation.
Worcester is served by several interstate highways. Interstate 290 connects central Worcester to Interstate 495, I-90 in nearby Auburn, and I-395. I-190 links Worcester to MA 2 and the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster in northern Worcester County. I-90 can also be reached from a new Massachusetts Route 146 connector.
Worcester is also served by several smaller Massachusetts state highways. Route 9 links the city to its eastern and western suburbs, Shrewsbury and Leicester. Route 9 runs almost the entire length of the state, connecting Boston and Worcester with Pittsfield, near the New York state border. Route 12 was the primary route north to Leominster and Fitchburg until the completion of I-190. Route 12 also connected Worcester to Webster before I-395 was completed. It still serves as an alternate, local route. Route 146, the Worcester-Providence Turnpike, connects the city with the similar city of Providence, Rhode Island. Route 20 touches the southernmost tip of Worcester near the Massachusetts Turnpike. U.S. 20 is a coast-to-coast route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and is the longest road in the United States.[41]
Worcester is the headquarters of the Providence and Worcester, a Class II railroad operating throughout much of southern New England. Worcester is also the western terminus of the Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Union Station serves as the hub for commuter railway traffic. Built in 1911, the station has been restored to its original grace and splendor, reopening to full operation in 2000. It also serves as an Amtrak stop, serving the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago. In October 2008 the MBTA added 5 new trains to the Framingham/Worcester line as part of a plan to add 20 or more trains from Worcester to Boston and also to buy the track from CSX Transportation.[42] Train passengers may also connect to additional services such as the Vermonter line in Springfield.
The Worcester Regional Transit Authority, or WRTA, manages the municipal bus system. Buses operate intracity as well as connect Worcester to surrounding central Massachusetts communities. The WRTA also operates a shuttle bus between member institutions of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. Worcester is also served by Peter Pan Bus Lines and Greyhound Bus Lines, which operate out of Union Station.
The Worcester Regional Airport, managed by Massport for the city, lies at the top of Tatnuck Hill, Worcester's highest. The airport consists of one 7,000 ft runaway and a $15.7 million dollar terminal built to attract airlines and passengers. The airport held numerous airlines from the 1950s through the 1990s, but it has encountered years of spotty commercial flights and disloyal air carriers. On September 4, 2008, Direct Air announced they would begin serving Worcester to Orlando, Florida, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Punta Gorda, Florida in the spring of 2009. Currently, this is the only commercial service serving the city.
Read More...............Click