HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS             Hopedale,MA This site is an attempt to relate a little of the history of Hopedale, Massachusetts.  The town was settled in 1842 as a Utopian socialist commune and evolved into the home of the Draper Corporation, at one time the world's largest manufacturer of automatic cotton looms.  Hopedale has an area of only five square miles, a population of about 6,000 and is located in the Blackstone Valley in south-central Massachusetts. Massachusetts maps showing Hopedale's location. While this site originally included only Hopedale history, since 2005 some current stories and pictures have been added. Most of them can be seen by going to the Recent Pictures Menu on the right                                 *************** If you have additional information, corrections or opinions on any of the material here, e-mail me and I'll add your thoughts to the site. SEARCH THIS SITE   (Thanks to John Bevilaqua for the use of his site search engine.).                              ***************                                         NEW. Hopedale in February.   Hopedale Pond and Parklands, 2009 - slideshow on YouTube Charles E. "Chuck" Patton, Milford News obituary.   Pictures of Chuck moving looms to the Little Red Shop. February 1 story - Extending the G&U Railroad.   Hopedale High basketball Clark Tournament reunion   The booklet for the Hopedale Centennial parade. Committee, contributors, sponsors, parade participants. If you lived in Hopedale at that time, you'll see lots of familiar names. Coming to America - The Midgley family.   Retirement party for Harry Pickard, 1950. Many photos of Draper management at that time. As of January 18, another page of Pickard pics has been added. And here's page 3,   and now page 4.   January 15 story - The Depression Era in Hopedale.   Draper shop organization chart, c. 1950. Lots of familiar names here for those of you who remember Drapers in that era. The G&U Railroad - a history of the Hopedale yard, including a diagram of tracks, spurs, sidings and buildings. Caboose houses in Hopedale - Also, a G&U Menu.   Hopedale 1n 2009 YouTube                              ***************                     HOPEDALE BUSINESSES Hopedale Power Equipment   21st Century eCommerce - Watches and more watches TWM Systems - Customized computers and services Little White Market - Photos and flyer AllinOneFunFavors.com - Shower and holiday favors, etc. CandyUnderCover.com - Candy bars, etc. with personalized wrappers Appell Engineering - Computer security consulting

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MENUS Buildings, Businesses, Cemeteries, Churches and Town Departments Draper Corporation and Draper Family Grafton & Upton Railroad   And trolleys, also. Group Pictures from decades ago Hopedale Community - 1841 - 1856 Hopedale History Email Stories Hopedale Reminiscences A dozen stories written in 1910, by people who, as children, lived in the Hopedale Utopian commune of the 1840s and 1850s. Hopedale on YouTube - Video and slide shows. Links to Hopedale related sites Little Red Shop - history and pictures Little Red Shop interior - photos of looms, etc. Little Red Shop renovation - photos from each week of the three month project. Maps - maps of Hopedale going back to the 1850s. Memories - individual and family stories Now and Then - pictures taken a century or so apart Park, Pond and Sports Recent Pictures   Through 2007     2008      2009 Short Stories and Pictures War Veterans Wildflowers of Hopedale                        ***************               MISCELLANEOUS STORIES Hopedale History Chronology Short Biographies of Prominent Hopedale Citizens A Brief History of Hopedale (From the book, Images of America: Hopedale.)    A History of South Hopedale    Origins of Street and Place Names Hopedale, 1881 Milford, Hopedale, 1880 - 1930 The Separation from Milford   Hopedale As I Found It (Hopedale in 1910) Hopedale Inventors Underground Railroad???    Mill Town or Shop Village?  Spindleville White City The Dutcher Family Gilbert Thompson, National Geographic Society founder and fingerprinting pioneer. Sleepy Little Town   A song about Hopedale. Recent Deaths (This may be useful to those of you who don't receive the Milford News.) Aerosmith Questions about Hopedale history. Can you make changes to your house if it's in a National Register District?  Find the answer here.

Who are these guys? Draper management in 1950. Click on the picture for their names. There are four pages with 32 pictures from the retirement party for Harry Picard..