Monday, January 10th, 2011
by frank.callahan
Soon after the Civil War, Union Hill became a residential neighborhood, when factory owners built large homes not far from their plants on the Blackstone Canal. The Gratons of Graton & Knight Leather and the Wymans of Wyman & Gordon Drop Forge were two prominent families who built homes on Providence Street. The most notable of these was built by George Crompton, the founder of the Crompton Loom Works. A gifted inventor, he was granted more than one hundred patents on improvements to looms. In 1867, Crompton won a silver medal at the Paris Exhibition for his innovations and, because his looms revolutionized the textile industry, Crompton was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007.
George Crompton
Crompton Loomworks
In 1853, Crompton married Mary Christina Pratt, who had spent her early years in London, England. Their family grew to nine children creating the need for a large home, so he acquired about a dozen acres of land at the southern edge of Union Hill on the eastern side of Providence Street.
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Friday, September 3rd, 2010
by frank.callahan
In the 1860s, newcomers arriving by train to Worcester were struck by the sight of a landmark at the crest of Union Hill, otherwise a barren hilltop. A building with tall towers and turrets pierced the sky, but it did not give the passengers a good impression of the city as it stood empty. Twice it had briefly been the site of a college but was becoming run-down as it remained unused for almost five years. This sad state of affairs continued until national events changed its fortunes for a brief period. Beginning in October of 1864, and for the next fourteen months, the building and grounds bustled with activity, as it was transformed into a hospital for Union soldiers.
It was fulfilling an urgent need. By the third year of the Civil War, the hospitals near the battlefront down South were filled nearly to capacity with wounded from the many battles from which casualties resulted. Besides those wounded in battle, many men contracted illnesses in the close quarters of the Union camps. Still more had chronic addictions, principally alcoholism, that required treatment. The number of hospitals had to be expanded.
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