GCEG Gala Dinner
June 7, 2025, 6-9pm
Capacity: 224
Join us for a relaxed lakeside dinner for a complete change of scene from Worcester, mingle you’re your colleagues, celebrate the EG centennial and hear where the 8th GCEG will be hosted in 2028!
Registration fee: $125 (includes transportation, buffet dinner and a drink ticket).
Fieldtrips
The New England region is the origin place of America’s industrialization. The fieldtrips will showcase aspects of historical industrialization and contemporary urban contexts in central Massachusetts.
Springfield Armory and Museums
June 8, 2025: 9am-6pm
Every economic geographer is familiar with Springfield Armory, one of the origin places of early assembly-line mass production using inter-changeable parts. It was the first federal government funded armory that manufactured military firearms 1777-1968. Springfield Armory National Historic Site commemorates the site with an exhibit hall, where we will watch a video followed by a guided tour specifically designed for GCEG.
At the Springfield Museums, which is comprised of 5 buildings on art, history and science, we will follow a guided tour specifically designed for GCEG of the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History, where it showcases why Springfield has been known as ‘the city of the firsts’ in various innovation, such as handcuffs, lawn mowers, fire engines, etc. The exhibits include a collection of ‘horseless carriages (automobiles)’, weaponry and Indian motorcycles.
You will also have an option to spend some time visiting either exhibits of four other buildings of Springfield Museums, or make your way to the Basketball Hall of Fame (entrance fee not included) where the game was invented.
Registration fee: $85 (includes boxed lunch, transportation, museum entrance, guided tours)
Slater Mill and Boott Cotton Mill
June 8, 2025, 8am-5pm
This tour takes you to two important mills in New England, Slater Mill and Boott Cotton Mill Museum.
Slater Mill (1793) was the first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill in the United States, and is located along the Blackstone River, a long-time working river that runs from Worcester, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island. Financed by the family which also founded Brown University, it originated with a technology transfer (or some may call it industrial espionage) of Awkright system from Belper, United Kingdom. With a guided tour for GCEG audience, you can observe technological evolution that took place once the technology arrived from the UK.
Boott Cotton Mill (1835-1958) showcases a live demonstration in the 1920s era weave room, as well as various exhibits of textile products, labor conditions, and the decline of the mill. A guided tour for the GCEG audience will be provided. It also features 1840s Boarding House, which showcases the room and board services provided for women who worked in the factory.
Registration fee: $75 (includes box lunch, transportation, museum entrance, guided tours).
Planned: The Walking Tour of Worcester’s Canal District
A half-day tour. More information will follow.