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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 41 1822-1921 Main sources our writers used for these 1822- 1921 articles • "Industrial Worcester" by Charles G. Washburn • "e Inventive Life of Charles Hill Morgan: e Power of Improvement in Industry, Education and Civic Life" by Allison Chisolm • "Hidden History of Worcester" by David Kovaleski • "Ga till Amerika" by Charles Estus Sr. and John Fm McClymer • "Eight Hours for What We Will: Workers & Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870-1020" by Roy Rosenzweig • "Worcester is America: e story of the Worcester Armenians: e Early Years" by Dr. Hagop Marin Deranian • "Miracle Man of the Western Front: Dr. Varaztad H. Kazanjian, Pioneer Plastic Surgeon" by Hagop Martin Deranian, D.D.S. A s Worcester's manufacturing prospered during its second century, industry leaders saw the need for a more skilled workforce. eir self-interest resulted in improvement of the lives of many workers, some of whom (virtually all men) would go on to establish companies of their own. By contrast, women's pathways to upward workforce mobility in the workforce were less certain. A Harvard study, "A trade school for girls; a preliminary investigation in a typical manufacturing city, Worcester, Mass", reported that in manufacturing women's en- try-level jobs offered little chance for advancement. Turnover in the lower echelons was high, which compromised women's ability to learn new skills and get paid commensurately. Here are the schools established by and for indus- tries, rather than Worcester's full roster of higher education institutions. Birth of the industrial elite Worcester's trade schools launch a cadre of leaders Worcester Polytechnic Institute Launched in 1865 as the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science and co-founded by tin magnate John Boynton and Ichabod Washburn, the school had its first graduating class in 1871. A 1914 survey found 72 WPI grads held leadership positions in Worcester-area companies. Boys Trade School Launched 1910 by Milton P. Higgins with $117,000 raised by Worcester's civic leaders; he established Girls Trade School the following year. A $100,000 gi from David Hale Fanning, head of the Royal Worcester Corset Co. would finance a new Girls Trade School building on Chatham Street that bore Fanning's name. Boys Trade would become the Worcester Vocational School in 1909 until about 1975, when it became the Worcester Technical Institute. Trade school trustees would vote to merge Boys and Girls Trade into Worcester Vo- cational School in 1991. Worcester Voke became the Worcester Technical High School in 2006, its campus on Green Hill offering students 22 trades from four academies. — Christina P. O'Neill A later view of what by then was Worcester Polytechnic Institute An early view of the campus of what was then called the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science Image | Worcester Historical Museum