Thanks to Lisa DuBois for this picture of Draper Field. I have another
    one dated August 10, 1948. That one was taken from a different
    angle, but based on the cars in the parking lot and a few other little
    details, such as the sprinklers in operation in both photos, I'd say
    they were probably taken no more than a minute apart. Click here to
    see more pictures of Draper Field.

    Photo sent by DJ Malloy. He said, "The commuter rail drawbridge
    from North Station had opened for a boat on the Charles."

    The house on the left, 120 Dutcher Street, was the Durgin home in
    1936 and for years before and after that. The next house was the
    home of George, Hannah and Annabelle Jenkins. Beyond that, there
    were no houses for some distance in 1928, so that may be what the
    Milford News article referred to as "Durgin's grounds, Dutcher Street."
    Click here to read more about the Our Gang circuses.

    The G&U yard used to be filled mainly with stacks of drywall. There
    is still a lot of that, but now there are also stacks of stockade fence
    sections and other (vinyl, I think) fence sections.

Model A Fords in the Willow Brook parking lot, Mendon.

Hopedale in June 2016

Hopedale history ezine for June 1 - Hopedale's Early Homes   

Ezine for mid-June -
Adin Ballou's School Days   

Ezine Menu                    HOME   

.

    A week after two houses in Hopedale were turned to rubble, the beautiful old
    Votalato house a half-mile away in Milford was taken down. Milford News article.

    The Dr. John Votolato home, across Route 16 from Milford Hospital. Thanks
    to Cesare Comolli for sending the picture which is from the Robin Philbin
    collection. Cesar said of the house,

    "Here is a nice old photo of Dr. John Votolato's home. Originally the
    residence of Frederick Ellis, corner of Main and Prospect streets ca 1904.
    Current home of Dr. Votolato [2013] Robert Allen Cook, Architect."

G&U yard - June 3.

Hopedale Pond - June 4.

    I was in the front yard making a new door for under the
    front porch, when this little guy came along to join me.

    This picture was sent by my son, DJ. He said, "It didn’t take long for someone to do
    this mural of The Greatest in a graffiti-filled alley in Central Square in Cambridge.  
    Another artist was adding something to the wall to the right as I took this."

    Who's buried in Draper's tomb? Good question. You can't tell just by walking up to them
    and taking a look. Click here to find who is in each of the five Draper tombs at Hopedale
    Village Cemetery, plus a few more of the prominent early Hopedale residents.

    They're back! Just as the winter moth caterpillars
    had finished eating all they could hold, the gypsy
    moth caterpillars arrived. The pictures show them
    on one of my apple trees.  It hasn't been as bad
    around here as it was one year in the '80s, (1981, I
    think) but there are places where some trees have
    no leaves left. Here's a New York Times article
    about the damage done by them in 1981.






    June 22               Family Fun Night    6:30pm
                                         
    June 29               Blackstone Valley Community Concert Band  *MCC Grant Recipient   
                        
    July 13                 Fantasy Big Band  Swing to contemporary

    July 20                 Fourcast  Acoustics from the 70’s to today

    July 27                 Nowheremen   Beatles tribute band

    August 3             Whiskeytone   Rockin’ country blues

    August 10           Mahrud  Contemporary big band jazz

                                              Refreshments available

    Sponsored by the Hopedale Cultural Council  and the cooperation of the Hopedale
    Parks Department

    Kayak and canoe rentals on the pond from Fin and Feather Outfitters

    Join us on Facebook: Hopedale Cultural Council – Community Organization

2016 Summer Band Concerts
Hopedale Town Park
Wednesdays  7-9pm
Rain dates on Thursdays

    You can now dispose of unwanted prescription drugs
    and OTC medications at the Hopedale police station.

    This portrait of Ira Draper was recently donated to the Community
    House by the Gannett family. Ira was Bill Gannett's great-great
    grandfather. The object he's holding in his left hand is the loom
    temple that he invented in 1816. It became the starting point for the
    whole Draper business. Click here for more on the temple.

    There was a fire at the Haywagon on the morning of the 16th.
    Evidently there wasn't too much damage. I saw a family
    leaving there eating ice cream cones a few hours later.

    The new Community House bowling alleys. Click here for information
    on bowling. Click here to go to the Community House homepage.

    The page above is from Cotton Chats, May 1939, from a collection of
    the Draper monthlies saved by Joseph P. Calagione, who saved them
    during his 42 years of employment with Drapers. Thanks to Lisa and
    Joe Calagione for them. This is the only edition of Cotton Chats that
    I've seen written in Spanish, although after World War II Draper
    Corporation published a book about the company in Spanish. Seda
    artificial translates to artificial silk, which usually meant rayon.The title
    of that issue was El Grupo "X" Se Ha Aumentado El Telar Modelo "XD"
    es el Recien Llegado.

The old town dump looks better now than it did 50 years ago.

    My daughter, CeCe, often gives gifts that are a bit out of the ordinary. When I opened
    a package this morning that she sent for Fathers' Day, it contained a book of Soviet
    Union propaganda posters, Movie Stars,1959, and a Baltimore Catechism from
    1941. A mixed bag, you might say. Lots of fascinating stuff from  the past.

    Here's the message from the poster: The Machine-Tractor Station is the Linchpin of
    Collectivisation. Get a Tractor! Let's Double and Triple the MTS. Artist unknown,
    circa 1930  The Machine Tractor Stations were first set up in 1929 as marshaling
    yards for the maintenance and distribution of agricultural machinery at the start of
    Stalin's notorious campaign of collectivisation. Russian Revolutionary Posters:
    From Civil War to Socialist Realism. From Bolshevism to the End of Stalinism.
    David King

    Linda Hixon's 2015 lecture for the Friends of Adin Ballou, taped by Hopedale
    Cable, is now on YouTube. The subject is the women's sewing circle of the
    Hopedale Community. Actually it's not about sewing. It's about what was
    evidently a more important matter to the ladies; abolitionism. It's difficult to
    hear for the first few minutes, but then it gets much better. Click here to see it.

    On the first day of summer, after bringing
    Elaine to Green Airport, DJ and I went to
    Cambridge and paddled a few miles
    along the Charles.Click here for more
    views of the river between the cities.

    DJ took this picture looking out his window at about 4 AM
    on the night of the 21st. No, he doesn't have a really great
    flash. We had quite a thunderstorm at the time, and he
    clicked the camera just as the lighting lit up the area.

Leon and Flora were Robert "Zeke" Hammond's parents.

Family Fun Night - June 22

    I received this thank you note from the Memorial School
    third grades for speaking to them about Hopedale history.

    Turkey vultures love Woonsocket. Whenever we paddle along the
    Blackstone River there, a flock is usually circling overhead. Hmmm.
    This time, later in the day, they were on the ground and in the trees.