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new buildings were erected during the year. The expenditures in several departments were: Schools, $472,925; street maintenance and construction, $352,162; Fire Department, $220,750; poor, $53,658; police, $121,965; parks, $17,166; health, $10,198; hospital, $68,185; library, $33,052; salaries, $34,675; interest, $105,570. Total expenditures for all purposes, $3,557,784.

The plans having been decided upon, the City Hall Commission, on the 23rd of April, closed the contract for its building with Norcross Brothers. The corner-stone was laid on the 12th of September with appropriate ceremonies, by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Edwin B. Holmes grand master, assisted by Mayor Sprague, who made the address, and a general celebration and military and civic parade on the 12th of September. Before the close of the year the structure was well advanced.

The gift by the Honorable Stephen Salisbury of a large tract of valuable land and $100,000 for the site and building of an art museum for the benefit of all the people of the city of Worcester, was a notable event of the year. The corner-stone was laid June 24, 1897, with addresses by Mayor Sprague and Governor Wolcott.

At the December election Mayor Sprague, with the Citizens' nomination, again prevailed, the Republican nominee being Samuel E. Winslow. The valuation in 1897 was $98,115,000; the tax rate was $14.80 per $1,000, and the amount of taxes collected $1,518,907. At the close of the financial year the debt was $3,498,803. The increase is accounted for by the expenditures for the new City Hall, and the expense attending the taking of the waters of Kettle brook, both of which were decreed by a previous administration.

Expenditures in various departments were: Schools, $504,970; streets, $428,993; Fire Department, $158,739; poor, $70,867; police, $137,646; library, $32,925; parks, $44,947; interest, $128,485. Total expenditures for all purposes, $4,096,495.

During Mayor Sprague's term, streets of unusual importance to the business interests of the city were added to the list of public highways, notably Commercial street, from Front to School; the relocation of West Boylston street, and the extension of Fremont street. To provide for especial construction and general improvement of the streets, $225,000 was provided by loan.

Twenty-one additional acres of land adjoining the purification works were procured to facilitate contemplated constructions in sewage disposal; $100,000 was appropriated for the erection of a sludge disposal plant. Thirteen miles of sewers were constructed.

The fortifying of the water works rapidly progressed. In 1896 a new storage basin was completed and other work executed along the

stream of Kettle brook. A new distributing reservoir and a forty-inch low-service main were completed, together with much other needed construction.

Never in the history of the city were so many school-houses built in two years, the total cost of which was $265,000, the structures furnishing accommodations for 2,800 pupils.

The facilities of the City Hospital were greatly increased by the completion of the new surgical ward and the Winslow Surgery, the latter a gift from Samuel E. Winslow, Esq., in memory of his father, Ex-Mayor Samuel Winslow. The Nurses' Home connected with the hospital, which cost about $50,000, was the gift of Mr. Edward C. Thayer. A hospital for contagious diseases was completed at a cost of $33,000. A public bath-house was erected at Lake Quinsigamond. A large addition was made to the Home Farm at a cost of $25,000. The Police Department was reorganized and the force increased. The new headquarters for the Fire Department was established and the construction of the building well advanced.

Mayor Sprague's administration was particularly distinguished as the one under which the new City Hall was erected, and from the beginning of the work till it was practically completed he was, ex-officio, an active member of the commission under whose direction it was built. He was chairman pro tempore during the absence of Chairman Sawyer in the summer of 1896.

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THE OLD TOWN AND CITY HALL.

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OR more than one hundred years the meetings of the inhabitants of Worcester for the transaction of municipal business were held in the buildings which were used for public worship during that period. Previous to the year 1787 the town and the parish were one so far as temporal interests were concerned, and after that date considerable time elapsed before a separation in fact in the matter of property rights took place. The first meeting-house erected on the Common in 1719 gave way to a more commodious one in 1763, and this later building came down to us, through various alterations, improvements and renewals until, in 1887, its demolition was decreed, and the long-familiar "Old" South Church vanished. In the early time its walls resounded with Revolutionary oratory, and from its west porch was read for the first time in public within the limits of the Commonwealth, the Declaration of Independence. From its pulpit many famous preachers held forth from time to time. Here the immortal Webster spoke while the halo of his anti-nullification triumph was still luminous about him. The resident ministry, while not particularly distinguished, exerted a quiet but powerful influence. Many other associations, more or less interesting or important, are connected with this old building, which was for so many years a landmark in the town. The larger area of the new City Hall almost entirely covers the site of the old meeting-house.

In 1824 the present and prospective exigencies and requirements of the town, and a growing disinclination on the part of members of the First Parish to allow further use of the church for town meetings, brought what had for some time been a thought into definite action. At the annual March meeting a committee was appointed to take into consideration the subject of a town hall, and on the 3d of May a report was made recommending the erection of a building for town purposes, with two full stories and a basement, the first story to be used as a town hall, the second story to be divided into two small halls, one of which was to be devoted to the purposes of the Agricultural Society, on condition that said society should reconvey a piece of land at the

south west corner of the burial-ground on the Common which had been deeded to it by the town in 1823. It was stated in the report that the basement of the building could be rented for not less than fifty dollars per annum; and the whole cost of the edifice, if built of stone and brick, was estimated at $7,000. This report was accepted, and it was voted "to build a town house," and a committee was appointed to locate it, and to decide of what materials it should be built.

It appears that three sites were considered-one, offered as a gift by Dr. William Paine, on Main street, near Thomas; another, the lot already deeded to the Agricultural Society; and the one where the hall was built, at the northwest corner of the Common. On this site was a small building used as a store, the land being held by lease from the town. The building and all the rights appertaining thereto under the lease were purchased for $780; and it was voted to erect on the spot a town house 64 feet long by 54 feet wide, with basement of stone and two full stories of brick, the expense of which was not to exceed $7,000. Frederick William Paine, John W. Lincoln, William Eaton, Otis Corbett and Enoch Flagg were chosen the Building Committee, and they were authorized to borrow the necessary money.

The corner-stone was laid August 2, 1824, with Masonic ceremonies, under the direction of Lewis Bigelow, the contractor, who was master of Morning Star Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and Peter Kendall, who executed the stone and brick work. An address was delivered by Samuel M. Burnside. The completed building was dedicated on the 2d of May, 1825, with an historical address by Honorable John Davis. The total cost was $9,017.90. The arrangement included a large town hall on the first floor, with rooms for town clerk, selectmen, etc.; and the upper story was divided into two smaller halls, one for the Agricultural Society, the other for a Masonic Lodge room. The basement was in part rented for a provision store, and for other purposes. In 1841 a radical change was made in the structure, fifty feet being added to its length on the east end, and the whole upper story was made into one hall, which would accommodate nearly 400 people; the first story of the old part was divided into four rooms, one to be used as an armory. The first story of the new part formed a hall 51 by 48 feet, while the new basement part gave accommodations for an engine company. These and other changes were made at an expense of about $11,000. The large hall in the second story was known as the “Upper Town Hall," and the lower halls as the "East" and "West" halls.

Another change was made in 1848, when the East hall became the Police Court room, and the West hall was divided into rooms for the City Council, and offices for clerk, treasurer, etc. Over $1,200 was expended at this time. Several minor changes were made during the

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