6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



sixty families, furnishes strong contrast between their humble 

 anticipations and our now overflowing prosperity. Worces- 

 ter was incorporated a town in 1722 and a city in 1848. 

 Within the memory of some of its citizens, Worcester has 

 grown from a little farming village to a manufacturing and 

 commercial city, with a population of 85,000, and with an 

 assessed valuation of $69,403,251. There is annually appro- 

 priated $1,178,221 to defray the expense of maintaining and 

 extending the public institutions, for schools, the public 

 library, highways, sewers, water and fire departments, and 

 to provide police protection. 



There are two hundred and ten miles of streets ; six miles 

 of these are paved, and thirty miles macadamized. We 

 have one hundred and fourteen miles of water pipes, and 

 seventy-one miles of sewers. 



The educational institutions of the city constitute a feature 

 in which the inhabitants feel a commendable pride. There 

 are in its public schools 12,175 pupils, and the average 

 annual expense of these schools amounts to $252,009, a sum 

 exceeding that expended in any other municipal department. 

 The value of the school buildings and their equipments is 

 $1,200,000. Worcester contains within its borders Clark 

 University, a princely and munificent gift of one of its many 

 open-handed citizens. Again, it has the College of the Holy 

 Cross, and the Polytechnic Institute for free education in 

 scientific and mechanical pursuits. This is one of our most 

 useful institutions, as it yearly sends out young men Avith 

 an education practical and thorough. It was founded by 

 Mr. Boynton, and has been since assisted by the late I. 

 Washburn and Mr. Stephen Salisbury. There is also the 

 State Normal School, the Worcester Academy and the 

 Highland Military Academy. 



Another public measure in Avhich Worcester takes an 

 especial pride is its system of public parks. These are so 

 arranged as to form a chain or garland round about the city, 

 and afford to each section of the city its own breathing-place. 

 There are eleven of these, and they contain an aggregate of 

 three hundred and sixty-two acres. Of this number, all but 

 two have been acquired by purchase or have been the gift of 

 public-spirited citizens within the past five years. The work 



