Worcester, 1880-1920

Known as the golden era, the period from 1880 to 1920 brought unbridled growth, prosperity, and national note to the second largest city in Massachusetts. Worcester’s population increased by more than one hundred twenty thousand people in this forty-year period, and the city produced the greatest variety of manufactured goods in the country. Worcester: 1880-1920 captures the expansion of the city through the images that feature a variety of subjects, such as the erection of the three-decker buildings in the early working-class neighborhoods, the construction of the new Union Station, and the vitality of the downtown stores and marketplaces. These photographs, most of which have been taken from glass-plate negatives, chronicle the rapid growth of a diverse economy fueled by an expanding multiethnic community.