Industrial expansion in New England gave impetus to large-scale Swedish immigration by the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Swedish American communities were established in many areas, including Worcester County in Massachusetts and adjacent northern Windham County in Connecticut. Swedes of Greater Worcester Revisited, a companion to Swedes of Greater Worcester (2002), expands upon the story of the region's Swedish American population. Vintage images capture the immigration experience, family and organizational life, and religious aspects of the community.
Charlton is a community long known for its rural atmosphere and for the broad vistas seen from its high hills. Once called "Cow Town" because of its many dairy farms, Charlton now hosts a score of housing subdivisions. Most Charltonians commute to jobs out of town but return to the quiet of the Charlton countryside after work. In Charlton, you will return to the one-hundred-year period from the nation's centennial to its bicentennial. Included are rare photographs of not only busy mills, bucolic farm scenes, rural schools, landscapes, and old houses but also sawmills, gristmills, and woolen and shoddy mills. In these pages, you will visit the four villages that grew up around the mills-Charlton Center, Dodge, Charlton City, and Charlton Depot-and experience the activity of Charlton Depot before its slow decline.
By the late nineteenth century, Swedish immigrants began arriving by the thousands in New England, attracted by the area's heavy industry. In particular, the steel and ceramic shops of Worcester provided a livelihood for many of them. As a result, new areas of Swedish settlements developed throughout the surrounding towns. Swedes of Greater Worcester captures the area's Swedish heritage through a collection of images that displays everything from vintage weddings to ski-jumping events and stories known only by the families of the Swedes who first traveled to Worcester. These images represent a time when the Swedish element was a vital and vibrant part of the identity of the greater Worcester area.
Known as "the golden era," the period from 1880 to 1920 brought unbridled growth, prosperity, and national note to the second largest city in Massachusetts. Worcester's population increased by more than one hundred twenty thousand people in this forty-year period, and the city produced the greatest variety of manufactured goods in the country. Worcester: 1880-1920 captures the expansion of the city through the images that feature a variety of subjects, such as the erection of the three-decker buildings in the early working-class neighborhoods, the construction of the new Union Station, and the vitality of the downtown stores and marketplaces. These photographs, most of which have been taken from glass-plate negatives, chronicle the rapid growth of a diverse economy fueled by an expanding multiethnic community.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Worcester was one of the largest inland industrial cities in the world. The city boasted a diverse manufacturing base that drew immigrants from all over the globe. At this time, the postcard was a valuable and inexpensive way for friends and families to keep in touch with one another. The vintage postcards in Worcester show cherished recreation and leisure time in the city and highlight public places such as Elm Park. This book evokes memories of a simpler, slower-paced city.
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