The New York Times recently profiled the transformation of the city of Worcester, M.A., location of the College of the Holy Cross, which was founded by the Jesuits in 1843. It looks like students will no longer need to be trekking to Boston for a slice of city life and things to do:
From one end of the city’s 245-acre central core to the other, Worcester is attending to the 35,000 college students who study and live here, and its primary boulevards are steadily filling up with the civic amenities that attract new residents. They include a busy public transit hub, comfortable and affordable housing, new restaurants and watering holes, computer stores and coffee shops, a performing arts theater, biotech research facilities, incubators and office space for start-up companies, and renovated parks — including one alongside City Hall with an ice rink larger than the one in Rockefeller Center.
Read here for "Long a College Town, Worcester Now Looks the Part."