ln square, are the Court-House
and the American Antiquarian Society building. The latter contains a
large number of valuable and rare books, much sought after for reference
by students. Farther on toward the business centre are the Bay State
House--Worcester's principal hotel--and Mechanics' Hall. This hall is
one of the handsomest and largest in the State, and has a seating
capacity of about two thousand. In the centre of the city, bordering
upon Main street, is the Old Common, the original park of Worcester, now
a small breathing-place of the working class, where band concerts are
frequently given in summer. Here stand the Soldiers' Monument, designed
by Randolph Rogers, of Rome, and the Bigelow Monument, erected to
Timothy Bigelow, who commanded the minute-men who marched to Cambridge
upon receipt of the news of the Battle of Lexington, and served
throughout the Revolution as colonel of the Fifteenth Massachusetts
Regiment. At one corner of the Common, facing Main street, is the City
Hall, a small, unimposing structure, hardly worthy of the city. The
question of erecting a new one has been lately agitated. Near by stands
the Old South Church, built in 1763. The business portion of Main street
is well lined with large blocks, and the south end is laid out for
residences.

[Illustration: ELM PARK.]

Upon one of the hills, at the west side, stands the City Hospital, which
is well managed and kept up, and has a visiting staff of the best
physicians in the city. In connection with this institution, a
training-school for nurses has lately been established.

The city's most imposing building is the Worcester State Lunatic Asylum,
which can be seen from the trains on the Boston and Albany Railroad. A
picturesque edifice in itself it crowns a hill about two miles east of
Worcester, and overlooks the blue waters of Lake Quinsigamond, and also
a charming stretch of hill and dale beyond. Were the softening charms of
nature a potent remedy for the diseased mind, speedy cures might be
effected in this sequestered retreat. It contains generally over seven
hundred inmates, and can accommodate more. The building, begun in 1873,
was completed in 1877, is handsomely fitted up throughout, and very
spacious. It cost one million and a quarter dollars.

[Illustration: THE BIGELOW MONUMENT.]

On Summer street is the Asylum for the Chronic Insane. For many years
it was the only asylum, but upon the completion of the new building the
ch