Austin Street

From Worcester Activist wiki

The Pilgrims would have approved of Rev. Mr. Samuel Austin.

A thunderer from the pulpit, he was the fourth permanent pastor of Old South Church.

After Rev. Mr. Thaddeus Maccarty retired, Old South was without a regular pastor for six years. There were religious differences afoot. Rev. Mr. Austin, an earnest Yale graduate, was preaching at Fair Haven Church, New Haven. Dissatisfied with the religion of his congregation, he resigned.

When Worcester heard about it, he was given the Old South post. Two years earlier, Rev. Mr. Austin had married Jerusha Hopkins of Hadley. She came with him.

For the next 25 years from 1790 to 1816 – the most successful of his career- Rev. Mr. Austin preached and wrote.

When he took over, a new creed of covenant of the strictest orthodox type was the order in Old South.

“Tall, erect, well-proportioned and courtly in appearance with a face quietly expressive of emotions, widely informed and with unusual command of language, animated and often vehement in delivery,” history described him. On April 11, 1811, Rev. Mr. Austin lashed out against Thomas Jefferson. The following year it was Mr. Madison and the group in Washington which brought on the War of 1812.

The latter lecture was too much for the Democrats, according to historians. “They left his meeting in large numbers and organized the First Baptist Church.”

Rev. Mr. Austin died on Dec. 4, 1830. He had gone from Worcester to become president of the University of Vermont.

Austin street honors his memory; first appeared with his name in 1845.