Beginning in the 1940's prominent businessmen such as the late Israel Katz, Arthur LaRiviere and others organized to deal with problems and threats of the day.
In the mid 1960's Leo Charbonneau and Ed Edison came in and called the group the Landlord's Guild until 1970 when Irving Coven formally established it as the "Rental Housing Association of Worcester County".
The group developed cohesiveness through the oil embargo days of the late 1970's when sudden heating oil price increases followed by rent increases brought out increased attacks by tenants groups and talk of rent control.
In the late 1970's the name was changed to Worcester Property Owners Association. In the 1980's Under the guidence of Haskell Morin and Bob Sweeney it has grown to one of the largest Organizations of its kind.
In the Late 1980's with former Presidents Irene Chiavalloti and JoAn Geissler WPOA helped to defeat rent control in Cambridge and joined with Mass Rental Housing Association (MRHA) teaming up with rental groups all over the state.