Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1467797
4 W o r c e s t e r 3 0 0 : C i t y o f I n n o v a t o r s From the project editor Worcester Business Journal 172 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA 01604 508-755-8004 tel. • 508-755-8860 fax www.wbjournal.com A division of: Executive Editor Brad Kane Project Editor Christina P. O'Neill Project Managing Editor Phyllis Hanlon Contributors Mikaila Baca-Dorion, Alan R. Earls, Susan Gonsalves, Alexander MacDougall, Susan Shalhoub, Charles Slatkin, Stephen Underwood Researcher Timothy Doyle Production Director Kira Beaudoin Design Director Mitchell Hayes Senior Accounts Managers Chris Juetten, Yasmin Nasrullah Senior Special Accounts Manager Mary Lynn Bosiak Marketing & Events Manager Kris Prosser COO Mary Rogers Accounting Assistant Rae Rogers Account Receivable Specialist Patty Harris Human Resources Jill Coran Director of Audience Development Valerie Clark Operations Assistant Leah Allen Publisher, CEO Peter Stanton Associate Publisher Mark Murray President Tom Curtin W hen Worcester Business Journal set out to publish this special edition reflecting on the past 300 years for the occasion of the city's tercentennial, we decided to focus on the economic innovation that led to the dynamic business community we all know today. e content in the following pages all flows from that start date of Worcester's founding on June 14, 1722. But, just one more thing before we begin. A social media meme of recent vintage exposes a truth about the dawn of the European settlement that became Worcester. e popular TV detective Columbo, raincoat and all, is closing in on his suspect. e headline begins with his trademark question. "Just one more thing… "When you were 'discovering' America, was there anyone else there at the time?" e answer is buried in plain view on the commemorative markers on Worcester's streets regarding the conflicts between the people who had been there first, and the white settlers who displaced and dispossessed them. Two of the many 1630-1930 markers mounted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission in the tercentenary year repeat the same legend at two different locations in the city – the intersection of Belmont and Grove Streets, Lincoln Square, and the other at the intersection of Main Street and Stafford Street. "e first settlement of this lonely region called Quinsigamond was attempted in 1678 but abandoned during King Philip's War. A second settlement attempted in 1684 soon A focus on innovation, starting in 1722 named Worcester was also temporarily abandoned because of Indian hostility. Permanent occupation was effected in 1715." e people who were there at the time had reason to be hostile. e English colonists had taken prisoners; the Nipmuc, under duress, opened negotiations with authorities in Boston seeking peace on behalf of their tribal community, but to no result. English retaliation against the indigenous were just as savage as the reports of the converse – including the English selling indigenous prisoners into slavery. e scope of this publication is 1722-2022, focusing on innovation. But that innovation is built on the legacy – not always beneficial to all – on what went before. How we remember history, and why, is the difference between a whisper and a shout – and who hears either. – Christina P. O'Neill, project editor Worcester Business Journal WBJ Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special issues in May, September, October, and December by New England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal, PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894. Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions are available for $72.00. For more information, please email wbjournal@cambeywest.com or contact our circulation department at 845-267-3008. Fax: 845.267.3478 Advertising: For advertising information, please call Mark Murray at 508-755-8004 ext. 227. Fax: 508-755-8860. Worcester Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender.