By The WHEN MAIN STREET WAS GAY team
Reverend Nancy Wilson and Heather Anderson organized a branch of the MCC in Worcester in 1974, operating both out of their home at 744 Main Street and conducting services at United Congregational Church at 6 Institute Road, for which they each…

By The WHEN MAIN STREET WAS GAY team
Known by many names but most frequently “the Block,” the circuit defined by Salem, Portland, Franklin, and Myrtle Streets was Worcester’s most popular zone for gay male cruising and prostitution beginning in the early 1970s. In 1976, the Gay…

By The WHEN MAIN STREET WAS GAY team
David Marshall, who had invested in the Mailbox and other gay bars, went on to establish Club 241 at 241 Southbridge Street, which quickly became one of the centers of gay life in Worcester for over a decade. A lavish opening party took place on…

By The WHEN MAIN STREET WAS GAY team
With the rising visibility of gay culture throughout the country in the 1970s, a string of gay bars opened in downtown Worcester. John Coleman, a lawyer from Manhattan, opened one of the first, the Exit Two, at 282 Main Street in September 1972.…

By The WHEN MAIN STREET WAS GAY team
Located at the corner of Wellington and Main Streets, the New Yorker (renamed the Ports O’ Call after 1967), provided shelter and comfort to Worcester’s LGBTQ+ community. In his 1973 story on Worcester’s gay bars for the Evening Gazette, Frank…