King Street
From Worcester Activist wiki
There’s no royalty in King street.
Samuel H. Colton, born in Longmeadow in 1804, came to Worcester as co- publisher of the Worcester Spy with John Milton Earle. Earle had bought the paper from the heir of Isaiah Thomas, who first brought it to Worcester from Boston.
Associated with Mr. Earle in the purchase in 1823 was Anthony Chase. Mr. Colton joined them in 1825.
Samuel Colton had married Anna Earle of Leicester. She died soon after the marriage. His second wife, whom he married in 1843, came from Flushing, Long Island. She was Ann King, daughter of a London banker, John King.
For her King street was named in 1851. It runs from Main street northwest to Chandler street.
There is a popular belief that Mr. Colton named Queen street to match, and a street that intersects both, Prince street.
But Prince street was changed to Jaques avenue to honor George Jaques, benefactor of City Hospital. Part of Queen street was renamed Kingsbury street, the family name of Rev. George Allen’s mother.
Rev. Mr. Allen, a Worcester native and Congregational preacher, was a noted scholar, who died in 1883. His life-time library, considered one of the best representative libraries on New England theology, was bought for the Worcester Society of Antiquity after his death. It included 2300 volumes and 2000 pamphlets.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
