Why’s it called that? Before Walmart, Tobias Boland guided construction of Worcester canal

A trip to Walmart or a visit to Polar Park might unwittingly provide a brush with an influential figure in Worcester’s history.

Tobias Boland was an Irish immigrant — by way of the Erie Canal, where he oversaw work crews — who arrived in Worcester in 1826 and soon began planning the Blackstone Canal.

Two centuries after his arrival, his name is known to many in the city, if not because of his accomplishments but because of Tobias Boland Way, the name attached to the street off Route 146 that leads to a busy Walmart. The route got the name when the store opened 15 years ago.

Outside Polar Park, in Rockland Trust Plaza, connecting Green Street to the rear of the Triple-A baseball park, there is a statue of Boland, eventually the project general contractor, and Benjamin Wright, the designer of the canal.

Beyond the street signs and statue, Tobias Francis Boland’s role in changing the landscape of the mid-1800s is a key part of Worcester’s written history.

He helped shape the College of the Holy Cross, overseeing the construction of early buildings on what would become a sprawling campus. Boland was a friend of the Rev. James Fitton and Bishop Benedict Fenwick.

But his biggest accomplishment was the building of part of the Blackstone Canal, initially intended to be a water trail from Nashua, New Hampshire, to Providence and the Atlantic Ocean. Boland led a workforce of Irish immigrants.

Worcester leaders learned of Boland while he directed crews working on the Erie Canal. He was someone who could bring knowledge and workers to Worcester, then a town on the edge of significant industrial growth.

Boland came to America as a young man, having been born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1775, and raised by relatives in England after he became orphaned.

He was brought to Worcester as consultant for the construction of the Blackstone Canal.

From Worcester, he orchestrated the arrival of hundreds of Irishmen from New York, where they built the Erie Canal. There was a notable influx of workers to Worcester on July 4, 1826. That date is significant in U.S. history. Two former presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

In Worcester, Boland and Wright got to work charting the course of the proposed canal. They focused on the neighborhoods of Green and Millbury streets, known these days as the Canal District. The digging of the canal, with spades, shovels and wheelbarrows, required many hands.

The 45-mile link beteen Worcester and Providence, some of it on the existing Blackstone River, opened in 1828. At that time, many of the workers brought to Worcester by Boland shifted to railroad construction.

By then, Boland was a wealthy and influential figure in Worcester. He helped build Christ’s Church, later St. John’s Church, laying the cornerstone in 1845.

He lived on Green Street, not far from the tenement homes he built for Irish families. He opened the Irish community’s first store and served as its postmaster.

Later in life, in the midst of a dispute with railroad workers who were working for him, he relocated to Boston. He died in Charlestown in 1886.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Why’s it called that? Before Walmart, Tobias Boland guided construction of Worcester canal