Rev. Dumbell???Wouldn't you consider changing your name? |
A man by the name of Edmund Soward, being interested in the Hopedale Community, came here to live. He was very much interested in the education and social welfare of the young. In his will, he left most of his property to the Community, in trust, to be expended in the culture and comfort of the children of Hopedale. On one ever to be remembered occasion, Reverend W. S. Heywood told the younger school children that on the following Saturday we were to go to Boston to see the trained seals and mice, the money to defray the expenses to be taken from the Soward Fund. Great excitement prevailed. One little girl asked her mother what she should wear for a wrap, and when told she could wear her sister's cape, she replied, "Why, everybody will know it is my sister's, because she wore it last spring when she went to Boston." We took our dinners and ate them on Boston Common. Ida Smith, Hopedale Reminiscences. For more on Soward Street, see Now and Then - The Lake Street Area |
The stone shelter/fireplace (Maroney's Grove) in the photo below hadn't been built at time of the picnics mentioned in the clippings above. That occurred in 1923. Nevertheless, it was a popular picnic area both before and after that time. |
From the Park Department history on the town website. |
Hopedale in June 2015 June 1 Hopedale history ezine - The Hurricane of '38 June 15 ezine - Mill River Men Hopedale in May 2015 Ezine Menu HOME . |
Click here to see more of the Unitarian Church stained glass windows. |
I put one of these reports from Weather Underground on the March page (March 11) when the temperature was 52. That felt pretty warm at the time. Today the high was 51, but it didn't feel warm. Must have something to do with expectations for the first day of June. |
Click here for an article on income and social mobility throughout the US that the above table came from. |
Click here for more on sunscreens. |
June 2 - Here's a look at a bit of the work that's been going on at the Griffin-Dennett Apartments recently. |
Sylvester Graham was one of many reformers who visited the Hopedale Community in the mid-nineteenth century. Chocolatey Chip, Cinnamon, etc. I think poor old Sylvester, who claimed to be an advocate of diet reform, would be rather shocked to see how his name is now used. Here's a page about him. The title of the article is Sylvester Graham: genius or humbug? Most would say humbug or worse. Here's what Anna Thwing Field wrote about his visit to Hopedale.
procure graham flour for his cooking, though at supper he astonished her by declining the graham flour and choosing white biscuit, saying he had plenty of graham bread at home. "Consistency, thou art a jewel. |
It's been a tough spring for my apple trees. What you see above is actually better than a lot of the leaves. From what I've heard, the damage has been done by the hungry caterpillar stage of the winter moth. Here's an article about them on boston.com. UMass fact sheet, including lots of photos. Winter Moth will eat the young leaves of trees as the leaves are emerging from the bud in spring. Many deciduous plants are hosts for the winter moth including oaks, maples, basswood, white elm, crabapples, apple, blueberry, and cherry. It is important to treat for the pest early as the damage is done while the buds are breaking. By mid-May to early June the pests are pupating or becoming dormant until they emerge in late fall as moths. The larvae are loopers or inch worms and are green. They are very small when they hatch and difficult to see with the naked eye. The larvae hatch in spring when temperatures are around 55F. Young larvae tunnel into buds, especially the flower buds of fruits, and feed inside buds. Once the bud has been devoured the larvae will move to another bud to feed. In areas with large infestations winter moth larvae can completely defoliate host plants. If your tree gets defoliated and is weak it can kill a tree after years of damage.
sometime in the late 1990s and was only definitively identified in 2003. But the pests have quickly established themselves and spread, with no natural enemy to keep the population in check.
neighborhood and town. There are pockets where the caterpillars have severely defoliated the tree canopy, while areas down the road might be lightly affected. |
My rhododendrons are looking pretty good, but it seems that they start falling apart after about three days. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. At least I'll have a picture to look at. |
Hopedale High graduation - June 6. Click here for stills and video on YouTube. |
Physicians of Milford and Hopedale have voted to increase the price of day calls from $1 to $1.50; night calls from $1 to $2, and office calls from 50 cents to $1. Milford Daily News, February 16, 1906
to $25.95 now. Of course we should keep in mind that doctors have helped with "life expectancy inflation" over those years also. |
Flags in town at half-staff for Dennis Breen, who had been Hopedale school superintendent from 2011 until his retirement a month ago. He died on June 8. Milford News article. |
FAMILY FUN NIGHT With DJ Mike Rutkowski Hopedale Town Park Wednesday, June 17 6:30pm Rain date: Thursday Music and Dancing Dance, limbo, and hula hoop contests Balloon animals “Hide the Diamond” Candy and prizes Refreshments available |
2015 SUMMER BAND CONCERTS Hopedale Town Park Wednesdays 7-9pm Rain dates on Thursdays June 17 Family Fun Night 6:30pm June 24 Blackstone Valley Community Concert Band *MCC Grant Recipient July 8 Infractions Classic horn-driven rock July 15 Fantasy Big Band Swing to contemporary July 22 Mondo Soul Classic funk & soul July 29 Mahrud Contemporary big band jazz August 5 Fourcast Acoustics from the 70’s to today 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 |
This phone book cover is one of several items from the pasent by Kurt and Joyce Anderson. On the back there are calendars for 1956, 1957 and 1958, so I presume this must be from 1957. I thought we had dial here a couple of years before that, but considering the phone numbers, evidently not. They also sent a picture taken inside the Draper Main Office in 1960. It's the best I've seen of the inside. You can see it on Now and Then - Draper Main Office/Atria Draper Place Assisted Living. It's the picture just above the Draper Place articles. |
MILFORD – Trucks carrying two, 120-foot-long, 80,000-gallon propane tanks postmarked for the Grafton & Upton Railway yard in Hopedale hit a snag Sunday morning.
problem. When the drivers' route brought them to a tight turn leading from Congress Street to West Street, they were forced to turn around. The trucks had to back up and move their loads – which are empty, officials stressed – to parking spaces bordering Draper Park. The problem was solved, and the pictures above were taken in Hopedale on June 16. . They're tanks were loaded onto rail cars to take them to North Grafton. Here's a link to the Milford News article. Here are some more pictures of the move in Hopedale.
others are from the G&U yard behind the Griffin-Dennett Apartments.
occurred when the train reached Grafton. |
I saw this on ebay and decided to put it here because the name Lucy Day would be familiar to many of you who look at these pages. Lucy Day, Hopedale, Massachusetts. Enough of an address in 1919 to get it to her. |
Annual Council on Aging barbecue - June 17. |
pond without any additional feeding. Here's what the allaboutbirds.org site says about that. In spring and summer, geese concentrate their feeding on grasses and sedges, including skunk cabbage leaves and eelgrass. During fall and winter, they rely more on berries and seeds, including agricultural grains, and seem especially fond of blueberries. Here's an interesting little goose fact from the National Geographic site. Just 50 geese can produce two and a half tons of excrement in a year. |
I don't know the origin of the name Dana Park in Cambridge, but Dana Park in
Hopedale was named for Dana Osgood. Here's a page about him. After he sold
his house and moved south, it became well-known in this area when it was
operated under the name, the Harel House.
Hopedale was named for Dana Osgood. Here's a page about him. After he sold
his house and moved south, it became well-known in this area when it was
operated under the name, the Harel House.
I can recall that for the first few years after the building of what is now called Dana Park, that name wasn't on any street sign. While the Nov. 25, 1947 article to the left indicates that was the plan, Louis McVitty, must have decided that McVitty Road was a better name for it. McVitty was the real estate developer who had purchased what had been the Dana Osgood property, including the family mansion that became the Harel House, down to what is now Dana Park and McVitty Road. At the town meeting in 1956, Article 20, naming most of the road Dana Park, passed unanimously. Osgood was the son of Edward and Hannah Thwing Draper Osgood. He died in 1951. |
The dam that went out on the mill pond by Route 140 last winter has been replaced. Click here to go to Now and Then at the Mill Pond at Route 140. |
Work has been going on at the solar farm site on Route 140 near the Upton line. June 21 |
LNG tanks 3 and 4 coming down Route 16, heading toward the G&U yard. Thanks to John Gagnon for sending. |