Washington Street
From Worcester Activist wiki
At sunrise of Friday, Oct. 23, 1789, a group of about 40 Worcester men, on spirited horses, reached the Leicester town line.
They were dressed in silk and homespun. Some wore cocked hats. All peered anxiously down the dirt road.
“There he is!” someone may have sung out.
They could see a cloud of dust and four bay horses charging up from Leicester with a chariot. The horsemen clucked up their steeds and clattered forth to meet it.
They formed about the bays and chariot as an escort and led the way to Worcester. Those who were nearest the chariot could peer in and see a man dressed in a brown suit with white silk stockings and a cocked hat.
It was His Highness the President, George Washington, aged 57 years and eight months, in his first year of office.
When he reached the knoll near the junction of Main and Chandler street, the President left his carriage and mounted a horse.
Near Old South Church, a large crowd waited. As the President approached, a bell began to clang. From the Common, 11 cannons boomed a salute of welcome.
Washington made a short stop at the meeting house, some historians say, where he thanked the people for the reception and then rode on.
Others say he stopped at the United States Arms – later the Exchange Coffee House – for breakfast. Then, “amidst immense cheering by the people who had assembled in great numbers, he took his seat in his chariot and started off on the old road to Boston (now Lincoln street), attended as far as Marlborough by a large cavalcade of gentlemen from Worcester.”
It was Washington’s second visit to Worcester.
At Court Hill, a bronze tablet commemorates Washington’s passing the spot July 2, 1775, while on his way to take command of the Army at Cambridge.
Washington street, which runs from Franklin to Lafayette streets, honors the great American. So does Washington square. The street was named in 1845.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
