Famous People Of Worcester County
- John Adams, 2nd U.S. President
– graduated from Harvard College in 1755 and also taught
in the Worcester School system.
- Clara Barton, born in Oxford, MA in 1821 –
Founder of The Red Cross
- Robert Benchley, born in Worcester, 1889 –
Writer & Actor
- John Chapman “Johnny
Appleseed” – Born in Leominster, MA 1774
- Bob Cousy, Basketball
Legend – born in Worcester 1928, still residing
- Rich Gedman, Major League
Baseball Catcher – raised in Worcester
- J. Geils, J. Geils Band
– grew up in Worcester and started playing in Worcester
Clubs
- Robert Goddard, Father
of Modern Rocketry – invented the first liquid
fueled rocket
- Abbie Hoffman, Sixties
radical – born and raised in Worcester, 1937.
Coined the phrase, “Never trust anyone over 30.”
- Dennis Leary, Comedian
and actor – born and raised in Worcester
- Connie Mack, Baseball
player/manager, born in East Brookfield, 1862
- Orpheus, 1960’s Rock
group – three members from Worcester
- Cole Porter, Famous songwriter
– graduated from Worcester Academy Class of
1909
- Mary Sawyer, Subject of “Mary
had a Little Lamb”, based on a true incident
in Sterling, MA.
- Casey Stengal, Baseball
Hall of Famer, played baseball for the Blackstone
Valley Mill League before joining the majors.
- Lucy Stone and Abby Kelley Foster, Women’s
rights advocates
- Marshall “Major” Taylor, World–class
cyclist – the first black athlete to win an
international competition.
- Ernest Thayer, Author
of Casey at the Bat – First published
in 1888, the famous poem was inspired by his schoolmate
at Worcester’s Classical high School Henry Casey
- Alicia Witt, Actress
– born and raised in Worcester
Reprinted with permission from Favorite Places of Worcester County, published by: Tatnuck Bookseller.
Fabulous Firsts
- Anesthesia – Dr.
William Thomas Green Morton – Charlton
A dentist, Morton was the first to use ether as an anesthetic
in 1846. He later demonstrated its use at Mass General Hospital
in Boston in an amphitheater known today as the “Ether
Dome”.
- Baseball Catcher’s Mask –
St. Mark’s School – Southborough
First used in 1875 by St. Mark’s School catcher, who
modified a fencing mask to protect his broken nose. Later
patented by a Harvard student, who was on the opposing team
that day.
- Birth Control Pill
Developed by the Worcester Foundation For Experimental Biology
in Shrewsbury. It was announced in 1957; approved by the
FDA in June, 1960. Developed by Drs. Gregory Pincus and
Min-Chueh Chang.
- Carpet Loom – 1855
– Clinton
Invented by Erastus Bigelow, whose carpet empire had the
slogan, “A title on the door rates a Bigelow on the
floor”.
- Curve Ball Pitch –
W.A. “Candy” Cummings – Athol
Cummings, later an Athol businessman, pitched the first
curve ball in 1867 when playing for the Brooklyn Stars.
A plaque at the Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown credits
Cummings with turning the baseball into a science, transforming
the sport. Cummings got the idea tossing clamshells on the
beach in 1864, and spent several years perfecting his technique.
After his retirement from major league baseball in 1877,
he returned to Athol, where he ran a paint and wallpaper
store and pitched for the amateur baseball team, the “Athols”.
- Elm Park – Park and
Elm St. – Worcester
Elm Park, designed by Olmstead of Central Park and Boston’s
Emerald Necklace fame, is considered to be the nations first
public park.
- First American Nobel Prize Winner – 1902 Albert A. Michelson – Worcester
Michelson was chairman of Clark University’s Physics
Department whose prize-winning work concerned the measurement
of light.
- First Farmers Almanac –
1792 – West Boylston
Robert B. Thomas, a West Boylston school teacher, published
the first Farmer’s Almanac, which farmers considered
second in importance only to the bible. The almanac published
weather predictions and other helpful hints.
- First Federally-licensed AIDS test – Cambridge Biotech Corp.
– Worcester 1988
Cambridge Biotech, formerly Cambridge Bioscience Corp.,
received a federal license for its HIV 1 rapid diagnostic
test on Dec. 13, 1988.
- First Major League Baseball “Perfect Game”
– Pitched By J. Lee Richmond
Worcester June 12, 1880
Richmond pitched for The Worcesters, a National League team,
from 1880-1882. A perfect game is one in which no batter
is allowed to reach base by any method. The Worcesters retired
the Clevelands in 1-2-3 order nine successive times.
- First National Women’s Right Convention –
1850 – Worcester
Abby Kelly Foster spoke at both the first and second convention
(also held in Worcester 1851). Other notable attendees were
Lucky Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott and William
Lloyd Garrison.
- First Radio Station to Play the Beatles –
WORC Radio – Worcester
Disc Jockey Dick “The Derby” Smith introduced
the Beatles to the country on Worcester radio station WORC.
The Beatles were so thankful they gave Smith the gold record
for their hit, “She Loves You,” and inscribed
it “To America’s First Believer”.
- First Ted Williams Home run in New England –
1939 – Worcester
Legendary Red Sox slugger Ted Williams hit his first home
run in New England in 1939 during an exhibition game played
against Holy Cross College at Fitton Field.
- G Suit – Developed
by David Clark (1903-1989) – Worcester
The famous “Anti-G” suit that prevents pilots
from blacking out when pulling out of high-speed dives was
developed in Worcester by David Clark. Famous pilots to
wear the suits include Chuck Yeager and Neil Armstrong.
The company also manufactured all of NASA’s Gemini
space suits, including the suit worn by astronaut Ed White
in the first U.S. space walk in June, 1965.
- Hook Organ – Mechanics
Hall – Worcester
The oldest unaltered instrument of its kind in the Western
Hemisphere, believed to be the only four-keyboard organ
built before 1900 left in existence. The 3,504 pipe organ
was made by the E. & G.G. Hook company of Boston, and
was dedicated in 1864. It was featured in the 1984 movie
“The Bostonians”.
- Liquid-Fueled Rocket –
Auburn
Invented by Robert Goddard, Clark University professor.
- Massachusetts’ First Public Reading Of the Declaration
of Independence – 1776
Isaiah Thomas read the Declaration from the western porch
of the meeting house, and his Massachusetts Spy was the
first New England newspaper to print the declaration.
- Modern-Day Typewriter –
1840 – Worcester
Invented by Charles Thurber
- Monkey Wrench – 1840
– Worcester
Invented by Loring Coes. Coes Knife Co. was in business
in Worcester’s Coes Pond area until the 1990’s.
- Pink Flamingo Lawn Ornaments –
1950 – Leominster
The ubiquitous plastic pink flamingos that decorate so many
American lawns were first manufactured by Union Products
in Leominster.
- Postage Stamp – Millbury
The country’s first postage stamp was manufactured
in Millbury, and the famous “Return to Sender”
postal phrase was a Worcester invention.
- Rickshaw – 1846 –
Worcester
Albert Tolman built a “man-drawn lorry” in Worcester
for a missionary heading to South America. From there, the
rickshaw made its way to popularity in Asia.
- Sewing Machine –
Spencer
Patented by Elias Howe in 1846
- Shay’s Rebellion –
1786 – Worcester
First organized protest of the new government after the
Revolution. Farmers led by Daniel Shays marched on the Worcester
courthouse to protest high taxes.
- Shredded Wheat –
1890 – Worcester
Invented by Henry Perky in his Jackson St. factory. Worcester
was once the “shredded wheat capital of the world”.
- Spring Bed – Spencer
Developed by Tyler Howe, uncle of sewing machine inventor
Elias Howe.
- Steam Calliope –
Invented in 1855 by Joshua Stoddard (1814-1902) – Worcester
Synonymous with the sound of the circus, the calliope has
a keyboard connected by wires to valves that contain whistles.
Stoddard’s invention became a favorite during circus
parades, political rallies, at carnivals and on riverboats.
- Valentine – 1847
– Worcester
Esther Howland (1828-1904) was the first person to mass-produce
valentines in the U.S. She liked imported valentines, and
began to a make valentines with sentimental messages at
home, later employing several women and using an assembly
line method for her valentines decorated with doves, doilies
and roses. BY 1874 she was using the name “The New
England Valentine Company.” Her business eventually
grossed $100,000 per year, and she was later bought out
by The George C. Whitney Co., also of Worcester.
- Webster Lake – Webster
Real name: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
– The longest geographic name in the U.S., the longest
lake name in the world.
- White Chocolate –
Shrewsbury
Developed and first sold by Hebert’s Candies in the
early 1950’s.
- Windchill – 1939
Windchill, which measures the combined effects of temperature
and wind velocity on the loss of heat by human skin, was
first defined by Clark University Ph.D. Paul A. Siple, (1909-1968)
in 1939. On a 20 degree day with 10 mph wind, the “windchill
factor” is three degrees. Siple, an expert on cold
weather, tested his theory in Antarctica, where he also
named a previously uncharted 4,000 feet high mountain range
the “Clark Mountains” in the honor of his alma
mater.
- Worcester State Hospital –
1833 – The country’s first publicly financed insane
asylum – Worcester
Sigmund Freud visited Worcester State Hospital in 1909 during
his first and only trip to America.
- Yellow “Smiley Face” button –
1963 – Worcester
This “national icon” was designed by Worcester
graphic artist Harvey Ball, for and in-house moral boosting
promotion at The America Group Insurance Company in Worcester.
The Company wanted to promote a “smile attitude”
among workers with customers. The rest is history.
Sources: The Telegram
& Gazette; The Worcester Historical Museum; various
town historical societies; Grolier Academic American Encyclopedia;
Forty Immortals of Worcester and Its County, Worcester National
Bank, 1920; Heart of the Commonwealth, Maragaret A. Erskine
, Windsor Publications, 1981; Lunenburg Historical Society,1977;
More Once-Told Tales of Worcester County, Albert B. Southwick,
Databooks,1994; Northborough American Revolution Bicentennial
Commission, 1982; The City and the River, Vol. 1, Doris
Kirkpatrick, Fitchburg Historical Society,1971; Worcester
Area Writers 1680-1980, Michael True, Worcester Public Library,
1987, Worcester County residents.
Reprinted with permission from Favorite Places of Worcester County. Published by: Tatnuck Bookseller.