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Worcester’s Canal District

The Blackstone Canal District is widely considered to be the city’s hottest, hippest and most hospitable inner-city neighborhood, having experienced a grass roots renaissance of bars, restaurants and retail shopping in the past 15 years.

Easily accessible from Union Station and I-290, it has become a go-to entertainment district for city residents and visitors alike, hosting a growing community of food-oriented establishments. Its heart is the infamous Kelley Square, featuring seven streets, six traffic islands and no traffic lights, and it accommodates traffic in notoriously smooth and interactive fashion.

The Canal District draws its name from the Blackstone Canal, which gave the city a commercial waterway to the ocean at Providence almost 200 years ago. Opened in 1828 and closed as a commercial enterprise only 20 years later, it still flows underneath present-day Harding Street where it was entombed in the 1890s. The endeavor first brought the Irish to town and hastened the advent of the railroads, which further fueled the growth of the city. In tandem with the original Mill Brook, it created an actual island south of Kelley Square, where the current Island District was born.

Growing steadily as a commercial district, The Canal District saw its heyday in the first half of the twentieth century, when it served as the seat of Eastern European immigration to the city. Primarily Jewish in population, it was close-grained and European in character, providing the neighborhood and city around it with a vibrant shopping area for ethnic food and other goods. It gradually declined throughout the latter half of the 20th century, falling victim to bisection by Interstate 290, the migration of the Jewish population to the west side of the city, and the general national trend of suburbanization.

Following the re-establishment of commuter rail service out of a renovated Union Station, and fueled by dreams of unearthing the canal itself as a water feature, the district has seen a wave of entrepreneurial investment in the new century, gradually becoming a local nexus of culture with food, music, public art and antique shopping activity.

The recent announcement that the Pawtucket Red Sox will relocate to the district in 2021 brings the promise dramatically increased visitorship to help fuel its ongoing commercial growth.

Learn more about The Canal District here.