Blake Street
From Worcester Activist wiki
Also WEBSTER SQ., and NOBILITY HILL
When public transportation first began in Worcester the public was coaxed to ride by animals.
In Webster square, a park containing wild animals was established by the city – to stimulate travel in street cars.
This was built during the administration of James B. Blake, 12th mayor of Worcester and a remarkable administrator.
While he was in office, the city sewer system was begun and put into use. The highways were improved to a large degree. New schoolhouses were put up. A steamer was added to the Fire Department. The Police Department increased its force.
A railroad running across the Common was removed. Chatham street was regraded. Nobility Hill – opposite the Common – was flattened.
Mayor Blake was born in Boston. He began the study of engineering at 18 with an uncle’s firm, Blake & Darracott of Boston.
They built Worcester’s first gas works.
In January 1852, Blake became its agent and superintendent. He kept the positions while mayor. He also became a trustee of the Five Cents Savings Bank, director of the City National Bank and a pioneer in the early street railway system.
Shortly after he was elected to his sixth term, Mayor Blake went to the gas works with a foreman. He carried a lighted lantern.
A stop-cock connecting with one of the purifiers had been left open. The escaping gas, ignited by the lantern, exploded, wrecking the building. Blake and the foreman were both severely injured.
The Mayor died 36 hours later; was given a public funeral in Mechanics Hall on Dec. 22, 1870.
The newspaper obituary read: “He had a pleasant word ready for the poor laborer, as well as the rich merchant; and the ill-dressed soldier’s widow visiting his office to talk, maybe of some little grievance, was treated with as much courtesy and consideration as if she were the proudest lady in the land.”
For him, Blake street was named in 1869.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
