Hopedale houses. Click here to see all of them. |
August 1955 - Flood in Spindleville. |
Sixty-five years ago - August 1955 - flood at Draper Corporation. above |
Oak Street, c.1913 - 1916 |
Hopedale in August 2020 Hopedale in July Ezine for July - Rockwell and Draper Ezine for August - Legacy Looms for Hopedale Recent deaths Hopedale in 2020 Menu HOME |
A few more new words in the Merriam- Webster dictionary in 1920 |
The postcard caption says, "...lookikng South," but with the stone wall on the right, it must be looking north. The Griffin-Dennett Apartments are now on the left. |
Dutcher Street at the Freedom Street intersection in 1908. On the left is the boarding house called the Park House, and on the right, the Dutcher Street School. |
Section of Greene Street mentioned in the article. |
What it is ain't exactly clear. The photo above was sent by Steve Haynes. He said, " My father, Donald Haynes (light colored shirt), is second from the right, just behind the older gentleman who's one of the main subjects of the picture. I think it would be around 1950 judging from my father's age. It would be nice to know who the woman is, and any others." If you can identify anyone in the picture, please email the name(s) to me, and I'll pass them on to Steve.
something from an employee, possibly a retiring office worker. Reference the Steve Haynes (who ran the Automatic Screw Machines) picture, Appears to have been taken in the Screw Department (Commonly called the 'Screw Shop') I also recognized the employee standing directly behind the ladies head as my FATHER (Reginald (Reg.) Redden. Amazing!" |
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Entrance to the Town Park at Freedom and Dutcher streets. Where did the millstones come from? Here's the story. |
"What if it catches fire?" some ask. Here's the MDN article from the last time (I think) that happened. |
The back of the Draper plant, with a little patch of goldenrod to make it look bright and cheery. |
Town Park tennis court - a good place to get a drink - or a bath - or a drink of your bath water. |
This house on Fruit Street in Milford is the only octagon house I know of still in existence in this area. Click here to see the three that were once in Hopedale. Although there are no longer octagon residences in Hopedale there are two octagon structures serving other functions - the George Albert and Jessie Preston Draper mausoleum and the Father Reilley Center at Sacred Heart Church. |
The wind in the willows - August 4. |
Tree by Hopedale Pond that came down in the storm on August 4.
August 5. The Highway Department removed the tree the next day. |
Another nearby tree, but evidently not on town-owned land, came down also. I didn't get a close look, but I was told it's a walnut tree. |
Click here for the Milford News article. |
Not far from the walnut tree that came down, I saw another, smaller one, with some nuts on the ground below it. At first I thought it was a black walnut, but after looking it up in books and online, I think it's more likely that it's an English walnut. It's too early in the season for the nuts to have the familiar English walnut appearance. |
Storm drain guard. There is one on each of the three storm drains on Hopedale Street from the Social Street intersection to near the southern end of the Draper plant. That's the area mentioned in the Milford News article about demolition. |
August 8 |
Test results from July 28 to August 11.
"I dedicate this paragraph to the shop bell, that worthy instrument for tolling off the divisions of Hopedale time, callilng all good people to their daily labors and closing the day with the ancient admonition to cover one's fires for the night." wrote Merrill. "The daily rites of ringing the shop bell perpetuate a cusom of long ago and link us closely with the past. Here is a thread of continuity running unbroken through the years when other remnants of antiquity have all but disappeared, the places thereof knowing them no more. "I first heard the shop bell ring curfew on the evening of my arrival so long ago. (1910) I heard it open the gates of day next morning at six. I heard it call people to work at seven, and again at one. I have heard it perform this routine thousands of times in amost half a century, and its sound falls as pleasantly on my ear as when I first heard it." Charles Merrill. Click here for more of Merrill's memories of the shop bell, and of Hopedale when he arrived here in 1910, in his recollections titled, Hopedalle As I Found It. |
Photo from Bill Redden, who wrote, "My very early bird Nadine caught this beautiful shot of the sunrise over Hopedale Pond yesterday morning." (August 13) |
Friends of Upton State Forest summer newsletter. |
| History of the Upton CCC Camp |
Hopedale Council on Aging outreach coordinator Nancy Mosher visiting with Tom Fee. Click here to go to a Milford News article on how Councils on Aging in the area are dealing with the covid situation. |
From the First Annual Report of the Park Commissioners, 1899. "This land under the ownership of the town is protected for all time from unsightly damage, such as the destruction of the timber and from further opening up of gravel beds. It includes the only good patches of pine timber left in this immediate section, and also some very attractive groves of other varieties. As access at the present time is rather difficult, the inhabitants of the town can hardly appreciate the natural beauty of the scenery included in this tract of land; but when a system of park roads and bridges can be afforded, they will undoubtedly prove that the voters showed wisdom in their anticipation of future necessities." |
Draper shipping room. August 20 |
August 21, 2020
I wish it would rain. Nanci does, too. Five or six hours after posting this, a thunderstorm started. It rumbled on for hours. We got quite a lot of rain with it. Thank you, Nanci, although it seems that you overdid it in some places. |
Click here to go to the article on a page on the G&U eminent domain issue. |
