Worcester Business Journal

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 9 had a leg up. e division between agrarian landowners and the in-town merchants increased aer the Revolutionary War. Two-thirds of the state tax assessment targeted land ownership, rather than wealthy merchants. Between 1784 and 1786, retailer lawsuits for debt collection against farmers involved 32.8% of Worcester farmers. By 1785, there were 86 imprisoned debtors, most of them war veterans. ey were indebted to merchants who had never served in the war. e push for infrastructure and public services in the central village, such as fire protection and schools, divided central village inhabitants and those on the agrarian outskirts. e latter alleged such services benefited the central village more than themselves – a dichotomy as old as local rule and not unique to Worcester. In a side note, in 1816 the town voted to restrain from going at large all swine, cattle, horses, and mules from roaming freely on public streets. e transition from agriculture to industry was underway. — Christina P. O'Neill Worcester would become a place where local entrepreneurs seeking capital could find it in town, rather than going to Bton or New York. work opportunities, arrived in the first immigrant influx to the region, but one in which there was a common language until the cultural ri between Scottish and Scottish-Irish newcomers emerged. e polarizing effect of the Revolutionary War, whose influence was felt in Worcester beginning May 1767, had its effects: e acceleration of production of local manufacturing of tools and other resources in order to reduce dependence on highly-taxed British imports. is kept the profits of productivity close to home, where they could be reinvested – and they were. Worcester would become a place where local entrepreneurs seeking capital could find it in town, rather than going to Boston or New York. e Worcester Bank, in operation since 1804, was successfully chartered in 1812. "Money made in Worcester, stays in Worcester", could have been the motto of the day. e second force in establishing Worcester's identity was the split between the Loyalists, many of whom relocated to Boston as the Revolutionary War heated up. Leaders of the colonial resistance, dubbed the Whigs, took control of all town offices in March 1775, reinforcing a political identity that would lead to decades of deep political divisions. As the 18th century ended, those with homes and business interests in the center of town pursued various growth strategies to promote commercial and industrial development, in which they already e sign for Daniel Waldo Sr.'s counting house, and part of the transition to a more urban economy 1722-1821 Images | Worcester Historical Museum An 1816 schematic of Front Street and Pleasant Street

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