Worcester: All-America City

The words are proud and bombastic, a declaration that Worcester is not just American, but America – a city that embodies what the country collectively desires to be. “All-America City” is an award bestowed by the National Civic League on communities that work on local challenges, including stagnant economic development, lack of affordable housing, crime, poverty, and environmental contamination.

In this context, the city’s slogan seems less like a boast, and more like an aspiration. It’s no secret that Worcester today struggles to regain the glory of its industrial era heyday, and it is this story – a place pursuing the mythic ideal of the all-American city – that we have tried to document in our exhibit. From industrial epicenter, to vacant brownfields, to current attempts at revitalization and change, the ongoing history of Worcester is revealed in its landscape.

Some of the images are unmistakably rooted in Worcester, but many could be from any other rustbelt town that has gone through boom and bust. In this sense, Worcester might be considered archetypal, and the city’s slogan might be a fitting one after all.

— Dale Lum and T. Luke Young