College Street
From Worcester Activist wiki
Also HOLY CROSS COLLEGE, FATHER JAMES FITTON & PAKACHOAG
Also HILL OF PLEASANT SPRINGS & MT. ST. JAMES
On May 9, 1947, 35,000 Worcester residents turned out to watch a victory parade honoring a championship basketball team from Holy Cross College. It would have warmed the heart of Father James Fitton, who lies in Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden. He founded a seminary that became the great Worcester college - one of the largest in the East.
Father Fitton was Worcester’s first priest. During his early days here, he bought a tract of land on Pakachoag, or Hill of Pleasant Springs, later call Mt. St. James. During the Indian days, it was the largest settlement of Nipmucks in Worcester.
Here the priest built in 1840 the Seminary of St. James, in honor of his patron saint. Two years later, he placed the seminary and 60 acres of land under jurisdiction of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus.
Holy Cross College itself was founded in 1843 by the most “Rev. Benedict Joseph Fenwick, second Bishop of Boston.
On June 21, 1843, the cornerstone of the central building of the college was laid. During its first year, the enrollment was 25 students. In 1947 it was 1500.
“The Cross,” as it is affectionately called by its students, has had its troubled times.
In 1852, it was swept by fire and destroyed. Friends subscribed sufficient money to remodel and enlarge it. In 1853, it was a going institution once more.
In 1849, the College petitioned for a charter from the state, required to grant the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
The charter was withheld. Meanwhile Georgetown College conferred degrees on graduates of Holy Cross!
When the charter was finally obtained in 1865 through Governor Andrew, it
stated: “The object of the institution is to prepare youths for a professional
or for a commercial state of life.”
Looming high on its impressive location, the College of the Holy Cross has more than fulfilled the hopes of its founder. The grave of Bishop Fenwick is in the rear of the chapel. Holy Cross is proud of being the first Catholic college in New England.
College street-from Southbridge street south to the Auburn line-was named in honor of Holy Cross. It first appeared with that name in 1851.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
