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 WORCESTER straight avenue 2 m. long, shaded with fine trees. Near the centre of the city is a spacious common, containing a soldiers' monument by Randolph Rogers, and a monument to Tim- s^==^= 725 Soldiers' Monument. othy Bigelow, a revolutionary officer. The houses are generally of brick. Among the public buildings are the two county court houses, adjacent to each other, the county jail, the city hall, the high school building, mechanics' hall, seating 3,000, and the union depot. The Worcester agricultural society has grounds comprising nearly 25 acres, on which are a spacious hall and a trotting park. The city is lighted with gas, and has water works and a good fire department. Besides the Bos- ton and Albany line, there are railroads ex- tending to Fitchburg, to Providence, R. I., to Norwich, Conn., and other points, viz. : the Boston, Barre, and Gardner; Boston, Hart- ford, and Erie; Providence and Worcester; and Worcester and Nashua. There is a street railroad company. Worcester is noted for the extent and variety of its manufactures. These include boots and shoes, agricultural imple- ments, rolling mill and foundery products, ma- chinery, machinists' tools, stone ware, jewelry, carpets, belting, boilers, machine needles and pegging awls, wire work, firearms, machine screws and cards, cotton thread, yarn, &c., copperas, spindles, spokes, blankets, felt goods, cotton cards, card clothing, drills, files, cement pipe, water meters, horse collars, musical in- struments, and nails. The manufacture of boots and shoes is the most extensive branch, employing 28 firms and about 1,500 hands and !^ g nM 8 annuall y of the value of about 000. There are eight national banks, with an aggregate capital of $2,350,000; four savings banks, with more than $11,000,000 de- posits; a safe deposit and trust company with a capital of $200,000 ; three fire insurance com- panies, and one life insurance company The principal charitable institutions are the city hospital, the home for aged females, and tho state lunatic hospital. The last was opened in 1833. The buildings accommodate 800 patients A new site has been purchased E. of the city and a building is in course of erection there to accommodate 500 patients. The city has ex- cellent free public schools, including a classical and high school, 22 graded schools, 10 suburban schools, 6 evening schools, and an evening drawing school. Other important institutions of learning are the Worcester academy (Bap- tist), the Oread institute for young ladies, the Highland military academy, a state normal school, the Worcester county free institute of industrial science, and the college of the Holy Cross. The institute of science was founded by John Boynton of Templeton in 1865, who gave it $100,000 on condition that the city should erect suitable buildings ; it has also re- ceived $50,000 from the state and $200,000 from Stephen Salisbury of Worcester. In- struction is free to residents of the county. It occupies a fine building on a hill in the N. portion of the city. The institute was opened in 1868, and in 1875-'6 had 12 instructors, 99 students, and 83 graduates. The regular course is three years. A machine shop, costing about $80,000, given by the late Ichabod Washburn, is attached to the institution. The college of the Holy Cross stands on high ground in the S. portion of the city. It was founded by the Rt. Rev. B. J. Fenwick, Roman Catholic bishop of Boston, in 1843, and given by him to the fathers of the society of Jesus, and was incor- porated in 1865. The full course comprises seven years, of which three are given to the preparatory and junior classes, and four to the senior (in general corresponding to the four classes of other colleges). In 1874-'5 there were 12 instructors and 177 students; number of volumes in library, 11,000. The American antiquarian society was founded here in 1812 by Isaiah Thomas; it has a library of about 50,000 volumes and a valuable cabinet of an- tiquities, and its funds amount to $80,000. It occupies a fire-proof building near the court bouses. The free public library .was founded in 1859 ; it contains 37,500 volumes, of which 17,000 are for reference and the remainder for circulation. A reading room containing the srincipal newspapers and periodicals is con- lected with it. In the same building is the ibrary (4,000 volumes) of the Worcester dis- trict medical society. The Worcester county law library association has a library of 3,000 volumes in the South court house. The Wor- cester county mechanics' association has a