Photograph Information

The Worcester Township Photograph Collection

The photos have been collected over a period of several years through donation or loan and have been computer scanned for web use. Worcester Historical Society stores many originals and copies at the Farmer’s Union Hall (2017).

Web photos have been divided into several groups to allow for easy searches. People and places are two areas of interest. School photos have been presented separately.

The Worcester Township School Photograph Collection ranges from early undated photos of one-room school houses to the 1970’s at Worcester Elementary School.

Public “community” schools began in Worcester in 1849, before photography became widely used. The “class” system was not adopted until 1886 so many school photos were of a whole school population. Graduation photos prior to 1908 are of students from their respective one-room schools upon completing the 8^th grade. In 1908 “high school” was offered at the Farmer’s Union Hall until Worcester High School was built in 1912. The one room schools were finally closed and sold at auction in 1915. Fairview Consolidated School continued until 1945 and Worcester Consolidated School into the 1960’s. Individual photos and class photos were taken in alternating years.

Thanks largely to the dedication of Worcester alumni Sarah Slough Cook (1937-2014), many class members have been identified. If you were kind enough to help with this project we appreciate your contributions and know that others will benefit from referencing this great collection.

If you recognize an unidentified or misidentified student or faculty member, please email WHS at librarian@worcesterhistorical.org Please include the year, class, row and position of those you can correctly identify. If you have a photo that is missing from the collection or in better condition, we would appreciate receiving a scan (in jpeg format) that will help complete this project.

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School Photos

People of Worcester