The star in front of City Hall marks the spot where, on July 14, 1776, Isaiah Thomas stood on the western porch of Old South Meetinghouse and delivered the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in Massachusetts. The plan was to read it at Boston but, fearing interception by British patrols occupying the city, it was decided it would be read in Worcester by the distinguished patriot. The marker was placed by the Worcester Society of Antiquity (now Worcester Historical Museum) in 1897.