Grove Street
From Worcester Activist wiki
Also WORCESTER LOG CABIN
The excitement that grips Worcester when one of its college teams nabs a national championship isn’t new.
The only difference is that in the old day, Worcester reacted similarly in politics. Take 1840.
Worcester was all steamed up in a political battle between the Whigs and Loco Focos. The population of 7497 made double the noise of our 198,000.
The big issue of course, was the election of Harrison vs. Van Buren for the presidency. One June 17, 1840, anniversary of Bunker Hill, there were big doings.
On Grove street, near Salisbury, was the Worcester Log Cabin, a political structure if ever on existed. It was 100 feet by 50 feet and flew a flag from a 100-foot staff.
Worcester Whigs had called a convention to nominate a candidate for Governor – “Honest” John Davis of Worcester.
Cannons were fired in the morning; church bells pealed at the convention’s opening. The parade formed on the Common and marched up Main street to the log cabin.
The parade was over a mile long.
“Log cabins, drawn by horses, and barrels of cider were prominent in the procession, and there were five barouches, each drawn by four horses for the soldiers of the Revolution,” wrote Nathaniel Paine, Worcester historian.
Worcester County boys flew a banner with the arms of the County in 1731- a deer with the motto “Not Slow!”
Part of Barre, on horseback, wore black coats and white pants. On their hats they wore log cabin buttons as cockades. Their band was in a stage coach.
A barrel of cider (hard) was on the rear rack, marked “Oll Korrect.”
Sutton had a banner: “It’s all over. There comes old Sutton as long as Eternity!” Southboro had a log cabin 42 feet long, 10 feet wide, full of delegates, drawn by 16 horses. Boylston proclaimed: “Van Tip’d Out and Tip Tip’d In!”
How did Grove street get its name?
When Salisbury Pond now placidly ripples was once a low meadow through which ran a brook. At one point it stretched out into a shallow pool, overhung with trees, and was called “The Grove”. Bathers dipped their calves in it.
Stephen Salisbury scraped out the meadow, using the fill to form hillocks to the south of the pond. When Grove street was laid out in 1832, an name wasn’t hard to find.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
