Worcester

“Worcester is a log station on the Wisconsin Central Railway. It has a general store and a post office, with a daily mail. J. A. Carlson is the postmaster. During the construction of the railway this point was the terminus for about a year. It then contained several stores, and was an active business center in a small way. As the road was extended toward completion, the settlers abandoned the place, taking with them everything moveable. Considerable land in close proximity to this center has since been taken up by Swedish settlers and utilized for agricultural purposes. Cranberry Lake is three miles northwest of this station.”
From the Historical and Biographical Album of the Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin, 1891-92.
 
"In 1874 Worcester, or station "101" as it was better known because of its distance from Stevens Point, became the headquarters for lumbermen's supplies for the mills in operation along the Flambeau and Chippewa waters. The first men to do lumbering in that region were Eph. Hackett and Charles Hewett of La Crosse who, in June 1872, located on what is now called Hackett's farm on the Dora Flambeau. A tote-road was built during the summer to Kinett's Road and in the fall a crew was sent from Eau Claire to build a camp and begin operations. For the first two winters all the supplies were toted from Eau Claire, but in the summer of 1873, after a road was cut through to "101" by the Wisconsin Central railroad, supplies were brought from Phillips."
 
From the Crop Reporting Service Bulletin, Price County, Wisconsin, Wisconsin County Histories 1952-54

The Town of Worcester was formed February 26, 1879 and was one of the original towns in Price County established by legislature. It was 300 square miles with the Wisconsin Central Railroad running diagonally through it. It had numerous lakes including Elk Lake and Long Lake. The south fork of the Flambeau River ran through the town and the Big Elk River flowed into Elk Lake in Phillips.
 
Numerous railroad stations were located in the Town of Worcester. Station 101 (Worcester) was as far north as the Wisconsin Central Railroad had run in 1873 but building resumed in 1876 moving the tracks further and further north. As the railroad moved north, other stations sprang up including Coolidge, Wauboo and Phillips. The Wauboo station was on a side track built only to serve as a base station to bring in logging camp supplies.
 
Phillips, established on the banks of Elk Lake, was platted on September 23, 1876. It soon became the headquarters for logging camp supplies and for the first ten years the primary business in the settlement of Phillips was for logging.
 
According to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau, the Town of Worchester has a total area of 121.0 square miles (313.4 km²) of which 117.3 square miles (303.8 km²) of it is land and 3.7 square miles (9.6 km²) of it (3.06%) is water.

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