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WORCESTER — More than 20 years after the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire claimed the lives of six firefighters, a memorial for all city firefighters who have died in the line of duty was dedicated on Sunday in Institute Park along with new O'Connell Field turf and a walkway.

In the blue-tinged photograph, two women clad in long gowns and hats promenade along a path that borders a tranquil pond. Behind them, people relax on benches or the grassy bank; a stone tower sits on a rise, and trees wave slightly in an apparent breeze. It’s 1902, and the smokestacks of Washburn and Moen’s enormous North Works on Grove Street jut into the sky of this bucolic scene. Institute Park, one of industrialist and philanthropist Stephen Salisbury III’s many gifts to Worcester, is in its heyday, intended as an oasis for workers as a respite from their long hours in the factories. In

When Dennis Berkey, president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, announced that WPI is giving a long-term gift to the city that amounts to about $9 million in 25 years, he also handed a check for $50,000 to Paul J. Levenson, an activist extraordinaire, who made a lasting contribution to Worcester by restoring Tuckerman Hall. The donation will be used to improve and enhance another great community asset: Institute Park. The project has all the elements of a worthy community cause - historic connections, natural beauty and practical applications. In 1887, Stephen Salisbury III donated 18 acres