250th Anniversary
EVENT: Reading of Declaration of Independence
July 14th 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of New England's first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, read by Isiah Thomas, at what is now Worcester city hall.
There will be a 10:00 AM ceremony at Worcester city hall with thirteen readers representing the thirteen colonies to read the Declaration of Independence. Scheduled readers are city officials, candidates, members of the Worcester Historical Museum and American Antiquarian Society, Worcester Police Department, and others.
This is a free all-ages historical/civic event.
Worcester Since July 14th 1776
Statement
As we peacefully assemble here in Worcester - the 'Heart of the Commonwealth', to read the Declaration of Independence, as Isaiah Thomas did 250 years ago today, we are reminded about how our declaration forever changed the world, and the course of history.
Freedom is more than an American value; it is a human instinct.
Our Declaration is the founding statement for the freedoms that continue to allow ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
Throughout our history, Worcester led the way in doing those extraordinary things - in science, economics, manufacturing, and national security, always in the name of progress, liberty, and freedom.
Worcester revolted before Paul Revere's midnight ride through Lexington and Concord, and before blood stained battlefields became hallowed ground, abolitionists began the moral crusade against the evils of slavery, as Worcester held the first national Women's Rights convention in 1850.
Nearly a century after Worcester-born George Bancroft founded the US Naval Academy in 1845, the Norton Company played an incalculable role in winning World War II.
Worcester's industrial base and inventors, alongside Worcester-born Edward Davis Jones - the 'Jones' in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, founded in 1882, helped lead the Second Industrial Revolution into the modern era and into the final frontiers.
Worcester-born Robert Goddard launched the first rocket one hundred years ago, setting the stage for the David Clark Company's vital role in sending a man into space for that "one giant leap for mankind." To this day, David Clark Company continues to manufacture their industry standard aviation headsets.
Because of our Declaration of Independence and the subsequent United States Constitution, it is indisputable that American capitalism in conjunction with free markets, has created more freedom, prosperity, wealth, and technological advancement, with longer and better quality lives than any place in history.
Isaiah Thomas could not have predicted what 2026 would be like, nor can anyone predict what Worcester and the world will be like 250 years from today, but if past is prologue, and if Worcester never forgets its past and the truths acknowledged in our Declaration, "to be self-evident', Worcester, the Heart of the Commonwealth, will continue to be at the forefront of keeping America free, innovative, and great.
May God bless Worcester and the United States of America.
