The Shire of Worcester, Part the Fifth

From Dave Brigham:

Welcome back to Woo Town!!

Today's post concerns a relatively small triangle of South Worcester, between the Main South and Hadwen Park neighborhoods. I started at Breen's Cafe, an Irish bar located at 16 Cambridge Street that gets strong online reviews, is located in a cool building and has not one but two great signs.

Established in 1934, Breen's is known for its steak and cheese sandwich.

From there, I made my way southwest along Webster Street, skirting a two-car accident attended by police and EMTs at the intersection with Mill Street (not too serious-looking). I passed a handsome old firehouse and a few non-descript industrial buildings before finding some photo-worthy stuff.

Buildings flanking Webster Street were originally part of the Spencer Wire Company, and were built in the late-18th century and early 19th.

"The Spencer Wire Company, which began in [nearby] Spencer...in the early 19th century, built a new wire manufacturing complex on Webster Street...at the turn of the century," according to MACRIS. "This property's proximity to the Boston & Albany Railroad was a definite draw for a company seeking to expand the market for their product. The initial wire mill buildings were erected on the NE corner of Webster and Jacques Sts. in 1899; new buildings were added to (or, in a few cases, purchased for) this expanding complex over the next two decades.

"Mergers in 1918 and 1919 created the Wickwire-Spencer Steel Co., with headquarters in Buffalo, N.Y. The Webster Street plant, known as the Goddard Works, was closed in 1944 and sold to the Handy Pad Surgical Supply Company, which occupied much of the former wire-manufacturing complex in the 1940s-70s."

I wrote about Wickwire-Spencer in my post detailing my second visit to Clinton, Mass. (see August 5, 2023, "Clinton Redux: Mills and Industrial Sites").

As you can tell from the photos, there are numerous small businesses and organizations here, including New Star Bodywork, offering Chinese bodywork; Gold Star, Inc.,a builder; Austin Furniture; and Rae Town Missionary Church of Jesus Christ Mount Zion.

Around the corner on Jacques Street, I really liked the mural on the garage door of New England Engine & Parts Warehouse.

Heading south on Webster Street, next to the train tracks, is Worcester Chemical Distribution Corp., which is located in another former Spencer Wire building.

I continued on for a few minutes until I hit Hope Cemetery, where my eyes jumped out of my head when I saw the circa-1889 barn at the northwest corner of the burial ground.

"The barn, which replaced the earlier structure of 1876, retains its architectural integrity," according to MACRIS. "It is a fine Stick Style structure, characterized by its verticality, angularity, steeply pitched roof and cupola, and overhanging eaves which are pierced with dormers. The Queen Anne Style is seen in the shaped shingles on the second floor which wrap around the corners of the structure."

I made only one other photo here, of the H.H. King-Harding mausoleum, which dates to 1898.

I doubled back and headed east on Fremont Street, which is lined with old industrial buildings.

"David Gessner Machine Company...was started by David Gessner in 1882 on Union Street in Worcester and moved to this site in 1907 to expand the business of manufacturing cloth fInishing machinery," according to MACRIS. As of that report in 2001, the company was still in business. It is no longer a going concern. In 2019, real estate developer Norfolk Realty acquired the site for $1.2 million, according to this Worcester Business Journal article.

The property appeared to be vacant when I happened by.

Across the street is the former Worcester Bleach and Dye Works, which was most recently occupied by Valkyrie Company, a manufacturer of leather goods.

From MACRIS: "The Worcester Bleach & Dye Works was established in the mid 19th c. for the bleaching and dyeing of thread and yard. In 1888, Worcester Bleach & Dye Works moved from Grove Street to a (no longer extant) 2-story, wood-frame building at 61 Fremont Street. The plant was enlarged in 1909 with the construction of this brick building at 60 Fremont Street. The company occupied these two buildings until the mid-1930s. This building was subsequently occupied by the Economic Machinery Co. (labeling machine manufacturers) from 1944 to 1962, and by the Capitol Footwear Co. from 1968 to 1985."

Continuing east-northeast on Fremont, I crossed the street to check out a gate offering a view to the railroad tracks beyond.

The gate is marked "CF," which may have been for Consolidated Freightways, trucking company that "[a]t its height...possessed over 350 terminals, employing more than 15,000 truck drivers, dock workers, dispatchers and management," per Wikipedia.

The building next to this gate, currently home to Plastek Polybag, was originally a foundry operated by Fremont Casting Co., per MACRIS. This building was adjacent to the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway Power House, which has been demolished.

(Lovely scene at Plastek Polybag.)

To wrap up, I made my way to Cambridge Street, to the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center. There, a very faint, partial ghost sign caught my eye.

I can make out the word "PLACE" but not what comes before it. This building at 72 Cambridge Street rose in 1907 for the Reed & Prince Manufacturing Company, which was a tack manufacturing business. A subsequent business, Reed & Prince Screw Company, was located here more recently.

Below are links to the previous four installments in my ongoing Worcester series.

April 13, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Fourth"

February 10, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Third"

February 3, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the Second"

January 27, 2024, "The Shire of Worcester, Part the First"