Salisbury Street Virtual Tour
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1a. The tour begins at the Salisbury Mansion situated at Highland and Lancaster Streets. The mansion is now a house museum maintained by the Worcester Historical Museum and you are encouraged to visit. Stephen Salisbury I who came from Boston before the Revolution to establish a branch of the family hardware business built it. Completed in 1772, it contained the store in the eastern section. Various alterations were made until 1819 when, with the addition of the delicate Federal portico, the house took on its present appearance. 40 Highland Street. |
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1b. The Salisbury Store was constructed next to the Mansion in 1790 for use as a storehouse. The building has had exterior restoration and the interior has been renovated to accommodate a local law firm. Both the Mansion and Store were originally located in Lincoln Square. |
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1c. The Salisbury House was built by Stephen Salisbury II in 1835-38. Designed by Elias Carter, it is an unusual example of the Greek Revival Style. Stephen II was an important financier as well as public servant and benefactor of the City. His son, Stephen III, was a patron of the arts and philanthropist who enabled the development of the various cultural institutions built on land donated by the Salisbury family and funds from the Salisbury estate. 61 Harvard Street. |
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2. Across the street is the Whitcomb House which faces east. It is the finest example of a high Victorian Queen Anne mansion in the City. Built by George Henry Whitcomb in 1879 and designed by Stephen Earle, it has withstood 120 years of use well. Whitcomb was a contemporary of Stephen Salisbury III. From this vantage point, one can view Lincoln Square at the head of Main Street. 51 Harvard Street. |
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3. Facing Institute and Salisbury Street is the United Congregational Church, a Romanesque Revival building designed by Stephen Earle and built in 1884-85. The congregation began as the Central Congregational Society, the city’s fourth religious society formed in 1820 as the Calvinist Church. Salisbury Street and Institute Road. |
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4. Make note of the number of institutions that owe a debt of gratitude to the Salisbury family’s generosity. All the land on both sides of Salisbury Street was once part of the Salisbury Farm. On the south side, at 39 Salisbury Street stands the first home of the Worcester Historical Society. Built on land donated by Stephen Salisbury III in 1890 and designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Barker and Nourse, it is now privately owned. 39 Salisbury Street. |
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5. Tuckerman Hall, the former Worcester Women’s Club Building, was designed by one of this nation’s earliest women architects, Josephine Wright Chapman, in 1902. It was built on land donated by Stephen Salisbury III. Its concert halls have been wonderfully refurbished and it is home to the Central Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra. Please visit! Salisbury and Tuckerman Streets. |
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6. Across the street at 44 Salisbury Street is the Massachusetts National Guard Military Museum and Archives. This building was designed by Fuller and Delano in the Romanesque Revival style and built in 1889-90. Its Annex houses the Massachusetts Veteran’s Shelter. 44 Salisbury Street. |
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7. On the right are the original North High School buildings. Local architects Fuller and Delano built the first, in the Romanesque Revival style, in 1889. The Classical Revival three-story building to the west was added in 1915-16. The buildings are now used as condominiums. 46 Salisbury Street. |
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8. On the left is the Worcester Art Museum. One of the finest mid-sized art museums in the world, it was the first American art museum to purchase work by Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin. It houses 35,000 works spanning 5,000 years. The Museum was founded in 1896 with a gift of land and $100,000 from Stephen Salisbury III. This complex structure was built in stages. The present façade and addition were built in 1933 and is of Classical design. Parts of the original building are visible from Tuckerman Street. Please visit! 55 Salisbury Street. |
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9. In front of you stands a long brick industrial building. The wire manufacturing industry had its beginnings here in Worcester. The Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company buildings, called the Northworks, is the site of the city’s largest 19th century manufacturing complex. The Northworks includes three groups of buildings built between 1861 and the 1930s. The wire factory can trace its origins to 1831. It produced piano wire, crinoline wire for hoop skirts, barbed wire, electrical wire and cable copper wire for telephones. Washburn and Moen was absorbed into American Steel and Wire in 1899, which in turn became part of US Steel in 1901. Abandoned in 1943, the complex now serves a diverse group of commercial and small manufacturing interests. Grove Street. |
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10. Stephen Salisbury III donated Institute Park, on the right, as a public park in 1887. The Sneiderman pavilion was built in 1989 and provides a stage for concerts and public gatherings during the summer. The large granite pillars were rescued by Stephen Salisbury when he happened to be in Boston on the day the wrecking crews were dismantling the Tremont House, a world famous hotel. Salisbury Street. |
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11. On the left across the street is the north side of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute campus. It was founded in 1865 by five Worcester industrialists including Stephen Salisbury II. It opened in 1868 as a school for science and engineering. It was the first school in the country to combine manufacturing shops with academic training. |
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12. Diagonally across Park Avenue from the park is the American Antiquarian Society, a national library of early US documents. Founded in 1812 by Revolutionary War patriot printer Isaiah Thomas, scholars and students do research here. Famous authors who have reasearched here include David McCulloch and Ken Burns. Its mission is to collect everything published before 1876, 100 years after the Revolution. The library houses 40 miles of climate-controlled stacks. The building was made possible by a bequest of land and funds from Stephen Salisbury III. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark. 185 Salisbury Street. |
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13. At the juncture of Massachusetts Avenue and across the street is a granite marker that designates the site of the birthplace of George Bancroft. He was an author of a history of the US, Secretary of the Navy, founder of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Ambassador to England and Germany, and a lifelong friend of Stephen Salisbury II. |
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14. Massachusetts Avenue was developed between 1899 and 1907 for wealthy professionals and civic leaders and laid out by Stephen Salisbury III. The homes were designed by architects in different high styles to fit Salisbury’s restrictions such as size and setback from the street. This is Worcester’s first Local Historic District, established in 1975. The Trumbull Mansion at #6 was the second Worcester County Courthouse. Built in 1751 and moved to its present location in 1899, it was the site of Shay’s rebellion in 1786. |
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15. The tour ends at the top of Bancroft Tower Road that bears to the right further up Massachusetts Avenue. Here sits Bancroft Tower, built by Stephen Salisbury III to honor his father’s boyhood friend, George Bancroft. One of Worcester’s seven hills, the whole city can be viewed from the top. Plaques at the base point to other hills of which there are really more like twenty, but Rome has seven so you can catch the intent! |