The sidewalks that lead from the Worcester Common to the Worcester Public Library are being ripped up, part of downtown's fevered rash of construction and redevelopment. Some days, it seems the city is changing too fast, that the system shock of progress threatens to wipe away the city’s history. But walking downtown, if you’re paying attention, you can see just how much history is still with us, even as the construction encroaches, and just how much is in danger of vanishing. What follows is a suggested historical walking tour of Worcester, from the library to the Worcester Art Museum.

1. Getting Started: The monument to the “Worcester Whirlwind,” Marshall W. "Major" Taylor, at the Salem Square library is a good starting point. Taylor, who lived from 1878 to 1932, was a renowned cyclist at a time when cycling was more popular than baseball. He was the second black world champion in any sport, and the first African-American international sports superstar. The monument, dedicated in 2008, still has a coppery shine.

From here, to get to the Common, one could simply walk down Salem Street, but to avoid construction, one might instead head toward the back of the library parking lot to Myrtle Street, turning right and passing behind the renovated Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts. From here there's a clear view of the mural on the theater’s back wall, a portrait of a performer created last year by artist Damien Mitchell.

Turning right on Southbridge Street, you can see the front of the renovated, modern-seeming theater. The Hanover has so fully integrated into the city's cultural life that it’s easy to forget that it was built in 1904 as the Franklin Square Theatre, later renovated into a movie theater, then was abandoned for years. Across from the theater is the Franklin Square plaza, dedicated in 1991. It’s a peaceful little oasis with a fountain and, as of this writing, colorful flowers.

Walking down Southbridge, it’s easy to see the mural on the side of the Denholm Building, another recent addition downtown by artist Caleb Neelon, depicting an odd, blue fuzzy creature. When murals downtown were rare, it was roundly dismissed as frivolous, but that sentiment has subsided.

2. The Heart of Worcester: The Worcester Common is a cemetery, one that served the city from 1728 to 1824. According to a plaque, 225 graves remain there. The realization is enough to shake the Common’s urban surroundings away as one investigates its numerous monuments, beginning with the statue dedicated to John Vincent Power, a Worcester native who died during the Battle of Kwajalein in World War II.

There are other WWII memorials around the city, including a larger one in the center of the Common, but somehow, this singular statue is more compelling, a testament to the endurance of one person’s sacrifice. Other standouts include the recently restored Civil War Memorial and a monument to Timothy Bigelow, a Worcester blacksmith who lived from 1739 to 1790 and who fought in the American Revolution as a leader of the Minutemen and a lieutenant colonel in the 15th Massachusetts Regiment. Bigelow’s name pops up around the city frequently, hinting at his significance, but it’s tragic to discover that he died in debtor’s prison because of back pay owed from his service.

Less heartbreaking is the statue of George Frisbie Hoar, who lived from 1877 to 1904 and who served in the House of Representatives. Hoar was notable for fighting for the rights of African-Americans and Native Americans, arguing in favor of women’s suffrage and opposing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a legacy of civil-rights advocacy that still resonates. Diagonally across the Common is the Burnside Memorial Fountain, commonly known as “Turtle Boy,” long a testament to the city's sense of humor, and the Desert Storm memorial.

Just across Church Street is the Vietnam War Memorial, which seems oddly isolated. (The larger Vietnam memorial is in Green Hill Park.) The memorial rests in front of the former Notre Dame des Canadiens Church, a beautiful building, long empty, which is set for demolition to make way for part of the CitySquare development. The future and the past are always tugging at one another, and much is lost in the resultant tide.

3. Into the City: It's not the quickest way to WAM, but a brief detour down Commercial Street reveals a strange marker for Benchley Square, resting incongruously next to the Commercial Street Garage, across from Figs & Pigs in the DCU Center. The square is named for Lt. Edmund Benchley, who died in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, which Rep. Hoar had opposed. Edmund was the older brother of humorist, author and actor Robert Benchley, both of whom hailed from Main South. It may be obscured by new construction and neglect, but it's evident these markers play out the city's story, where soldiers and politicians are just some of the players.

But the march of time transforms everything: Continuing down Commercial Street to Exchange Street, one finds that the old jail has become a high-end cocktail bar: The Still & Stir. Around the corner is Moynagh’s Tavern, established in 1935, which claims to be Worcester’s oldest tavern. Making one’s way to Main Street, Mechanics Hall is to your left. Opened in 1857, the venue has hosted such notables as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.

To your right, in the direction of the museum, is the Palladium, which opened in 1928 as the Plymouth Theatre and has hosted Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Prince, Sam Kinison, the B-52s, Muddy Waters, Frank Zappa and the Three Stooges. Across Main Street, not far from the Palladium, is George Street, the steep hill on which Major Taylor practiced, which is the home now to the annual George Street Challenge: The city tells us a story, and we hardly even notice. We also find Elwood Adams Hardware Store in this neighborhood, built in 1782, the oldest brick building in the city, one that has survived where so much else has vanished.

4. Almost Gone: A few steps transform history from a living thing to empty husks and the detritus. Walking toward Highland Street, past the still active Wesley United Methodist Church (founded in 1925) and the First Unitarian Church of Worcester (established in 1785), is the old Worcester County Courthouse with “Obedience to law is liberty” emblazoned above its doors.

Across Highland stands the Worcester Memorial Auditorium, built in 1933, and the main building of the Worcester Vocational High School. . Preservation Worcester is giving Sunday tours of the Aud this month, trying to gin up support for revitalization. The Voke building remains a question mark.

The Hanover Theatre is proof that some of yesterday's beautiful buildings can be saved, but the tides of history are unsentimental.

Outside the courthouse is a sign identifying where Worcester’s first school once stood, where President John Adams once taught. On the road divider directly across from that plaque is another, unreadable from the sidewalk. It marks that President George Washington had passed there, on his way to take control of the Revolutionary Army.

A statue of Gen. Charles Devens, a Worcester resident who led troops during the Civil War, looms high on the corner, but a short walk past the Aud, down Grove Street, finds us at Wheaton Square, and a statue commemorating the Spanish-American War. It’s impossible to read its plaque without pushing aside bushes. A sign says that this was once the spot of Worcester's first mill, built in 1684 by John Wing. Another sign says that this is the place where Timothy Bigelow’s blacksmith shop once stood. The city tries to tell us its story, but it gets more and more obscured.

5. Living History: Wheaton Square is beautiful. The square is named for World War I soldier (and Evening Gazette sports editor) Homer J. Wheaton, who was killed in 1918 saving four soldiers when a dropped grenade exploded before he could toss it to safety. A plastic surgeon’s office stands in a gorgeous brick building, as does the Worcester Area Mission Society, established in 1829. Straight ahead, across Salisbury Street, is the brick facade of the old National Guard Armory, built in 1889 and currently home to Veterans Inc. Tuckerman Hall — designed in 1902 by Josephine Wright Chapman, one of America’s first female architects, built as the home for the Worcester Woman’s Club and now home to the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra — has a stunning, elegant design. The Salisbury Cultural District has a sort of graceful dignity.

As you approach WAM on your left — a large building that appears both classical and new, depending on the angle you approach it from, with an eclectic collection that includes European masters, modern art and the vestiges of the now-gone Higgins Armory Museum —you can almost believe that history will survive, that it won’t be lost entirely to the future's encroachment. That the story the city tells us — the story of Taylor, Bigelow, Hoar and untold others — won't be forever dimmed and muted over time.

Email Victor D. Infante at Victor.Infante@Telegram.com and follow him on Twitter @ocvictor.

Walking Tour interactive map

T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.