WORCESTER/AUBURN—One hundred years after Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket from a farm in Auburn—a breakthrough widely seen as the dawn of the Space Age—Worcester and its neighboring town are preparing to mark the milestone with a multi-faceted, multi-day celebration built around the scientist’s local legacy.
The weeklong centennial, centered on the March 16 anniversary of that 1926 launch, stretches from Auburn’s launch site and Goddard Park to museums, theaters and college campuses in Worcester. The lineup includes a family festival and park rededication in Auburn, an EcoTarium celebration, the public opening of a major Goddard exhibition at the Museum of Worcester, tours of the restored Robert and Esther Goddard House on Tallawanda Drive, events at Clark University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and a March 22 finale at The Hanover Theatre.
For organizers, the centennial is about more than memorializing a famous rocket test. It is also an effort to link Goddard’s work to Worcester’s identity as a city of invention and to use that history to inspire future scientists, engineers and educators.
Charles Slatkin, a Clark University alumnus and founder of the Wonder Mission and its Goddard Project initiative —one of the main organizations behind the centennial effort—said the celebration is meant not only to honor Goddard’s breakthrough but also to use his story to inspire future scientists.
“Leveraging Robert Goddard and his collaborator wife Esther Goddard’s legacy to inspire a younger generation to pursue science, and STEM careers has become my mission and my purpose,” Slatkin told the Worcester Guardian.
He noted that after Goddard’s death in 1945, Esther worked tirelessly to preserve her husband’s legacy, organizing his papers, pursuing many of his patents and commissioning his biography. The family home on Tallawanda Drive in Worcester, now owned by the Wonder Mission, has been renamed the Robert and Esther Goddard Center for Innovation.
Slatkin said the centennial is also intended to recognize what he calls the “Goddards of today and tomorrow,” including modern scientists, engineers and innovators as well as young people who may shape the next generation of discoveries.
He said the celebration took an incredible amount of collaboration, and time to build.
“It was challenging at first and a bit of an uphill battle,” he told the Guardian. “But in the last six months our early outreach efforts have inspired others all over the country to celebrate and leverage Goddard Centennial in their own unique and creative ways and for the greater good.”
The first major public events begin Saturday, March 14, with a rededication of Dr. Robert H. Goddard Park in Auburn and a Family Fun Festival featuring food trucks, historical reenactors, a scavenger hunt and a STEM panel.
The centerpiece event planned for Monday, March 16, at the Auburn launch site has been moved up to Saturday afternoon because of the forecast for inclement weather. Auburn officials announced that the commemoration at the Pakachoag Golf Course launch site now takes place Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m., marking the 100th anniversary of Goddard’s first successful liquid-fueled rocket launch. The program will include remarks and a recreation tied to the historic launch.
The same day, the Museum of Worcester opens “Worcester to the Stars: The Goddard Rocket Centennial,” an exhibit running through Aug. 1 that examines Goddard’s life and education in Worcester, his later work in Roswell, New Mexico, and the role Esther Goddard played in preserving his legacy.
A livestream of the Auburn event will begin around 1:45 p.m. Saturday through Franklin All-Access TV.
“The Museum of Worcester is honored to be celebrating the life and accomplishments of Robert Goddard, a physicist, inventor, and engineer, whose work, vision, and fortitude continues to inspire the present and future generations of scientists and entrepreneurs,” Executive Director Eric Butler said in a museum announcement.
On Sunday, March 15, the EcoTarium hosts a full day of Goddard-themed programming, including rocket story time, a model rocket launch, planetarium presentations, stomp rockets and other hands-on activities tied to the 100th anniversary.
Clark and WPI are both using the centennial to highlight Goddard’s ties to their campuses. Clark, where Goddard earned his master’s and doctoral degrees and later taught, has been digitizing what it describes as the most extensive Goddard collection anywhere, including papers, diaries, patents, photographs and other materials preserved by Esther Goddard. Clark Digital Projects Librarian Catherine Stebbins said in an announcement that “The contents of the Clark collection bring Robert Goddard to life. There is a personal intimacy within his drawings and his handwritten entries in the tiny diaries he kept every day. It’s hard to describe.”
WPI, where Goddard studied and taught and conducted early experiments, has already begun its own centennial programming with pop-up exhibits drawn from its Robert and Esther Goddard Collection and a digital exhibit on his student years and research. “Robert Goddard’s story is a powerful reminder that world-changing ideas can take root right here in Worcester,” WPI President Grace Wang said in a university announcement. WPI’s centennial events continue March 18 with a public panel on the future of space and conclude April 19 at Mechanics Hall with the premiere of “To Fly Without Wings,” a newly commissioned orchestral work inspired by Goddard’s life.
Other stops in the celebration include the National Space Trail, which features self-guided visits to sites including the Goddard House, Clark, WPI, the Auburn launch site, Worcester City Hall, the Museum of Worcester and Worcester Regional Airport. Guided tours of the Robert and Esther Goddard House in Worcester are scheduled March 17 through March 21, with presentations by historian and author Kevin Schindler. The centennial week wraps up March 22 with a free family-friendly event at The Hanover Theatre featuring speakers from the space and science world.
At Clark, Worcester’s claim on Goddard is already written into the landscape. The campus is home to the Robert H. Goddard Library, a permanent Goddard exhibit, and the only permanent national monument to the physicist. For centennial organizers, though, the larger goal is to make sure Worcester’s connection to the scientist no longer feels like a niche historical fact.
As Vanessa Bumpus, exhibition coordinator at the Museum of Worcester, put it in a Clark University release: “We always remind people that you can’t get to the moon without Worcester.”
Goddard centennial: key events
Saturday, March 14
Family Fun Festival and Goddard Park rededication — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Dr. Robert H. Goddard Park, Auburn. Food trucks, historical reenactors, a scavenger hunt and STEM activities.
Sunday, March 15
EcoTarium Goddard celebration — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., EcoTarium, 222 Harrington Way, Worcester. Rocket-themed activities, a model rocket launch and planetarium programs.
Monday, March 16
Launch site anniversary event — 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Pakachoag Golf Course area, Auburn. Marks the 100th anniversary of Goddard’s first liquid-fueled rocket launch.
Monday, March 16
Museum of Worcester exhibit opening — “Worcester to the Stars: The Goddard Rocket Centennial,” Museum of Worcester, 30 Elm St. Exhibit runs through Aug. 1.
March 17–21
Goddard House tours — Guided tours and presentations at the restored Robert and Esther Goddard House, 1 Tallawanda Drive, Worcester.
March 17–22 Clark University events — Talks, exhibits and programming highlighting Goddard’s work and legacy.
March 17–18
WPI exhibits and space panel — Pop-up exhibits from WPI’s Robert and Esther Goddard Collection and a March 18 panel on the future of space.
Sunday, March 22
Hanover Theatre finale — 4:30 p.m., The Hanover Theatre, Worcester. Free family event celebrating Goddard’s legacy.
For a complete list of Goddard centennial events (and there are many!) visit First Launch Centennial.
Brendon Bailey is a fifth-year communications major at Worcester State University. He can be reached at bbailey8502@gmail.com
