Hadwen Lane
From Worcester Activist wiki
Obadiah B. Hadwen liked nothing better than to grow what the experts said couldn’t grow in Worcester.
For 40 years he ran a successful gardening, nursery and dairy business. He also because a famous horticulturist.
Obadiah first came to Worcester in 1835, when his father settled on a farm in Tatnuck. When the boy was 20, part of the farm was given to him. He began to plant and experiment.
Under his direction beautiful shade trees grew, also exquisite shrubs, many rare. Some were varieties which no one else had been able to raise here before from China, Japan, Russia and extreme parts of this country.
Horticulturists came to see for themselves, took notes and paid homage to Hadwen.
In 1867, before the present board of park commissioners was organized, Hadwen was appointed commissioner of shade trees and public grounds. He was a member of the first board of park commissioners.
He became president of Massachusetts Agricultural Club, president, for 12 terms, of Worcester County Horticultural Society, belonged to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and American Pomological Society.
At Amherst, he became a trustee, executive officer, first secretary and chairman of the board of experimental control of Massachusetts State College.
To Worcester, Obadiah Hadwen gave Hadwen Park. The grounds were laid out according to his plan.
At the annual ball of the Horticultural Society, he was always present; danced at least once.
“Even after he had passed fourscore years,” wrote a newspaper after his death at 83 on October 24, 1907, “he was notably the straightest dancer on the floor of the hall and attracted the attention of every guest, conspicuous for his precision in every step.”
For him, Hadwen lane, off Pleasant street, and Hadwen road, off June street, were named in 1851.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
