Institute Road
From Worcester Activist wiki
Also JO BILL RD.
Institute road was once Jo Bill road, but received its present name when Worcester Polytechnic Institute came in 1889.
It was a traveled path as far back as 1690.
Joseph Bill in April, 1738, bought a mansion, a barn and 85 acres of land from Thomas Stearns, who had built the house for a brother.
It was a few hundred yards northwest of Lincoln square.
Jo Bill brought his wife from Roxbury to occupy his new home. Their daughter, Rebecca, went to school in the village; later married John Baird, who threw his strength into the Bill farm in 1770. Seven years later he sold it to Timothy Bigelow, the Revolutionary patriot.
The path led from a group of houses along Mill Brook at Lincoln square to the garrison house of Joshua Rice not far from Newton Hill on the north side of the hill. The route was an important link in a western route leading to Leicester, Spencer and the Brookfields.
After leaving the farm, Jo Bill moved to a house on Main street, where he died in 1790. Legend says he returned to the farm shortly before his death. His name clung to the street for more than 100 years later.
Some historians say this is the second oldest street in Worcester.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
