Talk:MetroWest (Massachusetts)

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Why is Worcester not included in MetroWest? Innovations include: liquid fuel rocket (Robert Goddard), hardened steel, human insulin produced from goat's milk, the first graduate school in the United States (Clark University), the diner, space suits (David Clark Company), psychology as a science (G. Stanley Hall, Clark University), Isaiah Thomas's Massachusetts Spy (Am. Rev.), first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, discount retailing (Spag's), and others.

Is it because Worcester is perceived as a blue collar town?

Jon Kabat Zinn (UMass Med) and Dean Ornish did the first scientific studies of the benefits of meditation. The first mental hospital ever that featured the humane treatment opened in Worcester. The birth control pill originated at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology.

Local authors include: Stanley Kunitz, Charles Olson, Esther Forbes, Nick Gage, Eleni Gage, Christos Gage, Sarah Beth Durst, and Elizabeth Bishop.

Elm Park is the first public park in the US.

The American Antiquarian Society has the largest collection of early American print materials in the US, with the possible exception of the Library of Congress.

The largest employer is UMass Medical School. There are 10 other colleges and universities in town, including: Clark, Holy Cross, WPI, Assumption, Becker, Mass College of Pharmacy, and Tufts Vet. School (Grafton).

Is Worcester a blue-collar town? Is it part of the innovation belt that stretches west from Boston?


 * Worcester isn't part of MetroWest because it's a major city, not a suburb of Boston. MetroWest is the western suburbs of Boston; Worcester has its own suburbs. AJD (talk) 04:09, 18 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Yeah, Worcester is the second biggest city in New England. MetroWest is defined as the region between Boston and Worcester. Boston is not a part of it and Worcester is not a part of it because they are two major cities. Some suburbs of each of these major cities are defined as MetroWest. I'm as big of an enthusiast of Worcester as you are, but having people look at Worcester as a western suburb of Boston is not the way to improve perception of the city. Be proud that it's big enough to share a suburban region with Boston and be the capital of central Massachusetts.


 * P.S. the birth control pill was developed in Shrewsbury, which is included in MetroWest. Quentinisgod (talk) 17:15, 30 April 2008 (UTC)