Seventy Years Of The Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Page 29

Worcester had established its reputation early as a center of educational and cultural training. A city of only 30,000 inhabitants in 1865, it maintained seventy-six public schools and an excellent high school, of which there were then relatively few in the state. There were also within its boundaries three private schools and a college of arts. Worcester Academy, oldest of these schools, was founded in 1834 as the Worcester County Manual Training School. Ichabod Washburn was one of the founders and its first treasurer. It started in buildings on South Main Street, but moved to the corner of Summer and Belmont streets in 1854. In 1869 it took over the property on Union hill once used as a U. S. hospital, which had been the Ladies Collegiate Institute, a school of short life that was intended to be similar to Mount Holyoke Seminary. This property was first offered as a site for the Institute.

Oread Collegiate Institute, an ambitious project intended to provide educational facilities for 600 women, was opened in 1849. Oread Castle, long well known as a landmark, was partially constructed, on land purchased from Worcester Academy. This was one of the first schools of higher learning in the country open to women. It continued until funds were depleted in 1881. The third private school was the Highland Military Academy, opened in 1856 on Salisbury Street. In its day it acquired fame and attracted many boys. It continued, with varying fortunes, until 1912, when the property was sold and the school was closed.

The College of the Holy Cross, founded by the Society of Jesus, to give instruction in the system of education based on the "Ratio Studiorum," was established in Worcester in 1843, as an outgrowth of the Seminary of Mount St. James. It was not until 1865 that religious tolerance in Massachusetts reached a point that permitted the granting of a charter to this institution, but degrees earned at Holy Cross prior to 1865 were granted by Georgetown University.

There also existed in the city of 1865 several other educational and cultural organizations. The American

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Last Modified: Fri Jul 30 11:15:25 EDT 1999