It has been reported that excellent records were kept on file
at the first Town Clerk's office when the Town of Worcester was
first settled, but today the exact date of the Town's organization
remains a mystery. A fire destroyed the Town's early records.
It is known that Worcester was chartered by Governor Ben Wentworth
of New Hampshire on June 8, 1763 to 64 people who originally owned
the 71 shares of a plot of land they chose to name Worcester.
At the time, the Town measured six miles square and contained
23,040 acres.
It wasn't until 1797, however, that Worcester's first settlement
was made by John Ridlan and George Martin. Early census reports
show the Town was not settled rapidly at first. By 1800 the population
was a scant 25 persons and by 1810 had increased to 41. The population
increased by only three more persons during the next decade. In
1816 the Town was nearly deserted for reasons that remain unclear.
There has been speculation that 1816 was the "Year With No
Summer" when volcanic ash altered weather patterns in the
Northern Hemisphere, causing a frost every summer month and driving
foodless settlers from the Town. However, between 1820 and 1830,
the Town experienced a population explosion when about 400 people
were added to the census.
Duncan Young was the first Worcester Town Clerk and he organized
the Town on March 3, 1803. The Town Records were maintained in
Worcester until that fateful year of 1816, when they were moved
to Burlington for storage. That was the year the records were
lost in a fire.
After 1816, the Town's history is more clear. One of the first
recorded Town Meetings occurred on March 14, 1821 at the home
of Amasa Brown. A number of candidates were elected to several
committees and boards and Amasa Brown managed to be elected to
most of them. The first recorded marriage, after new record keeping
began, was between Oliver Watson and Esther Brown in 1817.
The Reverend Harvey Gurnsey succeeded in building Worcester's
first Methodist Church in 1848, about two years after he began
preaching in Town. In 1888 a new church was constructed with seating
for 250. The Sunday School program began the same year and had
weekly attendance of 40 students. The church occupied the present
Town Hall location until it burned in 1907. The site remained
vacant until 1912, when the Town Hall was erected.
During the first half of this century, agriculture played a prominent
role in the community. Many hill farms were operating in addition
to those in the North Branch valley. A combination of economic
cycles and government programs forced the number of local farms
to dwindle. Today, one dairy farm and several smaller agricultural
operations continue.
Worcester continues to have a modest commercial and employment
base. A transportation company, a retail store, an auto repair
shop, a machine shop and realtors operate in the community. Less
apparent but equally viable are the many home-based professions
and businesses that operate at many locations in Worcester, including
a cabinetmaker, computer consultants, attorneys, a landscaping
operation, two publications and others.
Nearly 200 years after its first settlement, Worcester still enjoys
the rugged beauty of its mountains and valleys that attracted
the first settlers here.
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