Worcester was first settled in 1673, incorporated as a town on June 14, 1722 and incorporated as a city February 29, 1848.
Worcester has several nicknames: The City of the Seven Hills, The Heart of the Commonwealth, Wormtown, Woo-town, and The Woo.
Due to its location near the geographic center of Massachusetts, Worcester is known as the “Heart of the Commonwealth;” a heart is the official symbol of the city.
Worcester’s history of social progressivism includes a number of temperance and abolitionist movements. It was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement: The first national convention advocating women’s rights was held in Worcester on October 23–24, 1850.
Modern Worcester is known for its diversity and large immigrant population, with significant communities of Vietnamese, Brazilians, Albanians, Puerto Ricans, Ghanaians, Dominicans, and others. 22% of Worcester’s population was born outside the United States.
The City of Worcester is a growing community with affordable housing and plenty of available retail space for new businesses. As a business-friendly community, Worcester welcomes new visitors and new residents, tech entrepreneurs, and value-added businesses.
The City of Worcester communities always embraces cultural equality, diversity, inclusion, equity and has many historic business-friendly communities. Worcester citizens are rolling out the “Welcome to Worcester” welcome mat to new entrepreneurs, new startups, business founders, new residents and more value-added businesses.