Dodge Avenue
From Worcester Activist wiki
In the pressroom of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette are tow huge, high- speed rotary presses roaring in a fine mechanical frenzy come edition time. They can roll out 240,000 16-page newspapers an hour. That is why you can read your newspaper over a breakfast cup of coffee.
The process of printing from a roll of blank paper was invented in 1850 by a man who later became a Worcester lawyer.
When you send a letter that cannot be delivered it comes back to you, instead of stacking up in a dead-letter pigeonhole for keeps-thanks to the same Worcester lawyer.
Thomas H. Dodge was born in Eden, Vt., Sept. 27, 1823. His early life was spent on a farm. At 14, he moved with his family to Nashua, N. H. In the Nashua Manufacturing Company he learned the technique of spinning, weaving, dressing and cotton-carding.
He invented several valuable improvements in machinery; meanwhile continued his schooling. He hired a Latin tutor; took up law. He was admitted to the bar in Manchester in 1854.
A treatise on the manufacture of cotton and woolens attracted attention. In 1855, he was appointed assistant examiner of patents in Washington. He was soon chief examiner, later chairman of the Board of Appeals from which he resigned in 1858.
Admitted to practice before the Supreme Court, he enjoyed a large practice on patents. He was also affiliated with several manufacturers of agricultural machinery and barbed wire fencing.
He moved to Worcester in 1864 and in 1883 retired from practice.
While in Washington, he proposed that letters which could not be delivered be returned to the sender. The plan was adopted.
Mr. Dodge owned considerable real estate in Worcester. On Oct. 1, 1890, he gave Worcester 13 acres for Dodge Park between West Boylston and Burncoat streets.
He also gave a tract of land for the Odd Fellows Home; liberally assisted the Natural History Society, Union, Trinity, Methodist, Piedmont churches and other institutions.
“He is a man of impressive personality and dignified presence,” wrote historian Franklin P. Rice, “yet of a genial disposition, finding his chief satisfaction in the contemplation of a past life usefully employed.” Mr. Dodge died at 87 on Feb. 12, 1910.
Dodge avenue, Dodge Park road and Dodge Park honor his memory. Dodge avenue made its debut in 1899.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
