The Portraits of Mechanics Hall
Since 1866, the walls of the Great Hall in Mechanics Hall have held portraits of distinguished Americans who represent the values of the Worcester County Mechanics Association founders: education, excellence, human welfare, and a wider vision of human endeavor. The individuals portrayed include Mechanics, Social Reformers, Civil War Heroes, and Political Leaders.
The first portraits were installed in 1866 when Ichabod Washburn and Stephen Salisbury II presented the Association with Thomas Badger’s portrait of George Washington, a copy of the well-known Gilbert Stuart painting. The work was hung in a place of honor over the stage. In the same year, the trustees accepted the E.T. Billings portrait of Abraham Lincoln, a presentation of the “lady friends" of the Bay State Shoe & Leather Company. Lincoln’s portrait was hung in the other place of honor over the stage.
Over the next several decades, local organizations and individuals donated an additional 17 portraits. In the 1990s, the Worcester Women’s History Project spearheaded an initiative to honor women in Mechanics Hall. The portraits of four women—Clara Barton, Dorothea Lynde Dix, Abby Kelly Foster, and Lucy Stone—were added to the Hall’s iconic gallery in 1999. In 2019, Mechanics Hall began a new initiative to add portraits of Black Americans to the gallery.
Learn more about the Mechanics Hall portraits here.
Mechanics Hall has embarked on an important project to include impactful Black and Indigenous Americans of the 19th century to the Great Hall portrait gallery. This project will allow us to present a more complete American and Worcester history, portraying the story of America more vibrantly and with deeper dimension.
Learn more about The Portraits Project here
