Hopedale History - Remains of the Trolley Path

Remains of the car path in Hopedale, near Draper Field.

Hopedale History

November 15, 2012

No. 216

Remains of the Trolley Path

Hopedale in November

Council on Aging Breakfast for Veterans

Unidentified World War II vets photos

– Can you help?

Chestnut Hill Meeting House

The G&U Railroad, Past and Present by Gordon Hopper, 1978

The Home School

– the boarding and day school of the Hopedale Community.

During the last two weeks I’ve made additions to several web pages including

Now and

Then – The

Dutcher Street School

Trains in Hopedale this fall

Baron Emile de Cartier de Marchienne was the husband of Alice Draper Colburn and

the son-in-law

of George and Hannah Draper. Thanks to Debbie Carnaroli for sending

a link to this Wikipedia page

on him

. He died in London in 1946.

Here’s a link to a video

of his funeral

, which appears to have

been quite a big deal.

For candy lovers, sent by Victoria Regina,

a history of the NECCO Company

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When I was in fifth grade, the Hall family at the corner of Northrop and Oak streets

moved to Mendon.

Their oldest son, Billy, was a good friend of mine. During a school

vacation, not long after the move,

five or six of us decided to visit him. Since he was

living on North Avenue, close to where the trolley

tracks, or “car path” came out, we

decided that would be the way to go. We took our bikes, but I don’t

think we rode much

of the distance. Most of the ties were still there and the path was pretty rough. The

bridge that had crossed Muddy Brook had collapsed long before our trip, so we had to

drag the bikes

down into the remaining jumble of stones and cross as best we could,

while trying not to get too wet. I

think we must have had a good visit with Billy, and

maybe with his brothers Wayne and Galen also,

but I can’t say that I remember it as

well as I remember the trip over there. Here’s an article by

Gordon Hopper on the

trolley line, written almost twenty-five years after we traveled over it.

Trolley Line Between Hopedale and Uxbridge

By Gordon E. Hopper

Comments received from a previous historical feature relating to the loss of what had

once been a

street car private right-of-way in Holliston has resulted in a search of the

former electric car line

between Hopedale and Uxbridge for additional losses being

caused by changing times.

Starting on Freedom Street at the former Draper complex, a pair of stone abutments

remain on the

shores of Hopedale Pond where a steel bridge had carried streetcars

across a portion of the pond

for nearly 40 years.

Streetcars traveling toward Uxbridge, after leaving the bridge, crossed the tracks of the

Grafton and

Upton Railroad and after going up a slight grade and a curve, made a long

run toward North Avenue

in Mendon on what is believed to have been one of the

longest straight runs on the Milford & Uxbridge

car line.

Although the tracks were pulled up some 55 years ago, some sections of the roadbed

have

remained visible until construction of various types have caused their

disappearance. What had once

been a land cut and grade on the roadbed near the

Grafton & Upton Railroad crossing adjacent to the

large Draper building, has been

reworked by earth equipment to now include a buried sewer line, It is

not known

whether or not this will become a new street.

After the sewer line crosses a stone-walled brook, the roadbed curves into an area

where new

homes are presently under construction. The trolley roadbed separates

from the sewer line on this

curve and enters another area where the roadbed had been

cut through some elevated land. Fallen

trees lay across the land cut today with enough

room under them to still walk on the old roadbed.

After passing through some improved land, the roadbed crosses Westcott Road, a new

street

located in a large development of new homes. The roadbed becomes wet and is

visible for a short

distance at the rear of homes on nearby Ballou Road, another new

street in the development here

that is called “Neckwood at Eight Rod Road.” (

Now there’

s a bit of Hopedale trivia for you. Maybe that

was a little too wordy so they settled on

Pinecrest instead

According to Mrs. George Howarth, who lives on Eight Rod Road, the street and a trail

in the area had

been a section of the old Hartford Turnpike.

The roadbed continues toward North Avenue and crosses a natural gas pipeline owned

by the

Tennessee Gas Company. A few hundred feet further and a metal pipe that

carries Muddy Brook

under the roadbed is crossed. While the trolleys were in

operation, there had been a small bridge at

this stream and a portion of one of its

stone abutments remains in place.

The roadbed runs up a grade again, and through a cut in the land that includes stone

walls. Gravel

repairs have been made on this grade and the road is used by equipment

engaged in a logging

operation.

Starting at a point on North Avenue near a high voltage electric line, several hundred

feet of the

roadbed has become driveways to homes owned by Albert and Dennis

Shaheen. John J. Porter, who

lives at 33 North Avenue, confirmed the location of the

electric car right-of-way in this area and

traveled a portion of it with the writer.

None of the roadbed is recognizable from North Avenue, but when Lake Nipmuc is

reached a portion

of it can be seen. It appears to be an embankment that was built as a

filled-in area along a section of

the lake’s shoreline. Some stone work beside the

highway opposite the entrance to the Myriad

Ballroom cannot be identified.

Approaching Wheelockville

(

a village in Uxbridge

)

from Mendon on Route 16, a pair of

granite block

abutments remain in

place on the north side of the highway where a

trolley bridge once crossed

Rock Meadow Brook. A

long length of roadbed is still

recognizable near the abutments. At

Wheelockville near the old mill on

Route 16, a

short, but complete concrete bridge on the trolley

roadbed remains on its abutments

across the West River.

Approaching the Stanley Woolen Mill in Uxbridge from Milford, but on the opposite side

of the

highway, no signs remain of a long wooden trestle which once crossed the

wetlands. However, a

short distance further on toward the center of Uxbridge, a single

stone abutment remains where the

car line crossed the Blackstone River together with

a length of roadbed.

Milford Daily News, January

10, 1987

Milford Journal articles on the M&U Street Railway

                                      First trip of the Milford & Uxbridge Street Railway

                                                 Another Hopper article on the M&U

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