Explore: Where We Live

Worcester community

The heart of New England

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Worcester (woos' ter)
Nicknames: Woo-town, Woostah, The Woo

Worcester puts you within easy reach of lots of cultural and recreational opportunities. Immerse yourself in the pulse, pace and challenges of New England's second largest city while enjoying its eclectic mix of cultural venues, restaurants and people. Want more? Boston, UMass Amherst, Providence and Hartford are each about an hour away.

A city of colleges and factories, immigrants and Yankees, hills and parks.
What do U.S. President John Adams, songwriter Cole Porter, 1960s radical Abbie Hoffman, actor Robert Benchley, and anarchist Emma Goldman have in common? They all have ties to Worcester.

Worcester, with a population of approximately 175,000, was incorporated as a town in 1722 and chartered as a city in 1848. It was a national center of innovation and activity during the American industrial revolution, and played a part in the Revolutionary War and the woman's suffrage and abolitionist movements. A broad mix of immigrants from Armenian and French-Canadian to Vietnamese and Brazilian have lent their distinctive cultures to Worcester neighborhoods, restaurants and places of worship.

Corsets, barbed wire, three-deckers, diners and rockets: Learn more about what makes Worcester special: City of Worcester, Central Massachusetts Facts and Firsts and Wikipedia.

A place where you can make a difference: Check out our Community Engagement And Volunteering Center, which maintains a comprehensive database of agencies and volunteer needs. Clark prides itself on being a good neighbor. The University Park Partnership, a longstanding collaboration between Clark and its surrounding community, is a national model for how a university should work to revitalize its neighborhood.

Unique cultural and recreational resources

Worcester Art MuseumLooking at documents at the Antiquarian Society
Worcester Art Museum. One of the best small art museums in the country. Open to the public since 1898, it was one of the first museums to exhibit photography as a fine art, and the first in the nation to purchase works by impressionist Claude Monet. American Antiquarian Society. Founded in 1812 by Revolutionary War patriot and printer Isaiah Thomas. One of the premier repositories of documents relating to U.S. history before 1876.
EcotariumHiggins Armory tournament reenactment
Ecotarium. Begun in 1825 as the Worcester Lyceum of Natural History. Notable for being the first in the nation to offer a tree canopy walkway open to the public and as the birthplace of the first polar bear born and raised in New England. Higgins Armory Museum. Dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of arms and armor.

Worcester Historical Museum DCU Center
Worcester Historical Museum. Unique documents and artifacts vital to the study of Worcester history.

DCU Center. The Central Massachusetts venue for everything from rock concerts to circus performances to sporting events.

Hanover TheatreMechanics Hall
Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts. A beautifully restored venue for Broadway tours and nationally recognized performers. Mechanics Hall. Internationally regarded as one of the world's great concert halls for its superb acoustics and inspirational beauty.

Tuckerman HallBroad Meadow Brook
Tuckerman Hall. Home of the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra and an important historic structure designed by Josephine Wright Chapman, one of this country's earliest woman architects. Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center and Wildlife Sanctuary. A 400+ acre Audubon sanctuary in the City.

Nearby attractions include Old Sturbridge Village and the Worcester Horticultural Society's Tower Hill Botanical Garden. Wachusett Mountain provides opportunities for skiing and hiking.

Worcester sports teams

Worcester Sharks (American Hockey League)
Worcester Tornadoes (Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball)