Central Massachusetts: Facing the Second Industrial Revolution

John R. Mullin, University of Massachusetts

Abstract

The cities and towns of Central Massachusetts, many of which played a critical role in the nation's first industrial revolution, are in dramatic flux. Indeed, it is common to note the mills formed under Samuel Slater's nineteenth century system of manufacturing now juxtaposed with futuristic industries making products for the new millennium. The region serves as both the center of the Commonwealth and of New England. From the cultural attractions of Worcester's famed institutions, to skiing on Mount Wachusett, to tourism in the Blackstone Valley, to pockets of modernized traditional industries, to high technology firms and biotech research, the area is steadily transforming itself.