Worcester is a city of industrial productivity and power that has reinvented itself in multiple ways over the decades. The city’s significance originates with its geography, centered in Massachusetts as the “heart of the Commonwealth.” People arrived from across the country and the world and made their own marks on the landscape.
As times changed and the city moved into industrial decline, attempts at reversing this production regression resulted in a reinvention of Worcester as the home of both the UMass Medical School and a surging biotechnical hotbed. While the city’s path has not always been clear or smooth, Worcester’s industrial history is the result of decades of stewardship, diversity, and innovation.