The Worcester Common is Worcester’s oldest, publicly accessible green space. Although Elm Park is the city’s oldest ‘park’, the common was established in 1669. Although it wasn’t technically termed a ‘park’, it functioned as public space, with a burial ground, and was used as a meeting place.
Originally, the common was 20 acres (it’s only 4.4 acres now). A meeting house was established in 1719 to hold town meetings and religious functions. It sat on the present site of City Hall. That meeting house was demolished in 1763 and the Old South Meeting House was constructed.
On July 14th, 1776, Isaiah Thomas read the Declaration of Independence for the first time in New England at the common. The brass star fixed on the sidewalk in front of City Hall marks the spot where this took place.
The common features a number of memorials and monuments, probably the most per acre of any Worcester park.
The Bigelow monument sits in the middle of the burial ground (the burial used to be much larger, it’s original boundaries can still be realized by checking out the square stone markers there today). Timothy Bigelow fought in the Revolutionary War, he was from Worcester from the College Hill neighborhood. His grandson erected the monument in 1861.
The Soldiers monument, recently restored and beautified and located at the Eastern corner of the common near the corner of Front and Church Streets, honors the 398 soldiers from Worcester who died in the Civil War. This was rededicated in July when I originally posted about the common.
The Burnside Memorial Fountain, probably one of Worcester’s most notable public ‘sculptures’ sits on the corner of Church and Franklin Streets. It’s also known as ‘Turtle Boy’. The basin of the fountain was designed by the architect Henry Bacon, who later went on to design the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. The fountain was commissioned by the city of Worcester in 1905 after Harriet F. Burnside bequeathed $5,000 to create a fountain that would provide fresh water for people, horses, and dogs. She did this in the memory of her father, a prominent lawyer. The fountain was moved to its current spot in 1969, from where it was installed in 1912 in Central Square. The statue was stolen in 1970, to be reinstalled two years later. The sculpture is intended to portray innocence, job and rebirth, but is usually interpreted as depicting an untoward act. The fountain is now in disrepair. Restoration estimates have fallen between $40,000-$60,000, but the city has no official plans to restore the fountain.
The Common also features a new World War II monument with a beautiful fountain, as well as the state memorial to those who died in the Southwest Asian War.
In 1840, the Old Norwich & Worcester Railroad began operations, many of its teach running across the common. When Union Station opened, the tracks across the common were removed.
The common also served as a training field for the town militia. It was the location for drilling and parading as troops started out for the front for all the early conflicts, to the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the two World Wars.
City Hall eventually came to replace the Old South Meeting House, its corner stone being laid in 1896.
The common has been redesigned over the past decade. The reflecting pool that stretched along the park’s northern boundary along Front Street was removed, replaced by the Worcester Common Oval. The Oval is used as a seating area and pavilion space in the summer and used for skating in the winter.
Out of all the parks in Worcester, this one really takes the pulse of the city, as it a common spot for festivals and gatherings. The chairs and tables on the oval do a lot to make it a comfortable and obvious meeting spot.