Now and Then - The West Street Dam and Mill Pond   

    Website additions during the past two weeks: Draper Strike of 1913 (Several news clippings added to
    the page with Anita Danker's paper.)     Dutcher Family (Martha Dutcher obituary)    Adin and Mendon
    Streets Corner (1923 clipping)   

    In 2001, preservation consultant Kathleen Kelly Broomer was hired by the Hopedale Historical
    Commission to do the research necessary for the establishment of an historical district recognized by
    the National Park Service. The document she produced is referred to as the National Register
    Nomination. Links to two new Now and Then pages and additions to several others below include
    material from the NRN. Also, here's a page of photos of some of the earlier houses with architectural
    descriptions from the NRN. I expect to do more similar pages over the next month or two..

    Hopedale quartzite? Who knew? See Now and Then - Inman Street.
      
    Now and Then - Jones Road  

    Website additions during the past two weeks:     Now and Then - The Lake Street Area         Now and
    Then - Bancroft Park           Now and Then - The Seven Sisters  

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    Twenty-five years ago - January 1989 - George H. W. Bush succeeds Ronald Reagan as the 41st
    president of the United States.

    Serial killer Ted Bundy is executed in Florida's electric chair.

    On TV - Moonlighting, Newhart, Fresh Prince, ALF, Roseann, Matlock, In the Heat of the Night, A-Team,
    Night Court, Wonder Years, China Beach, Moonlighting, Midnight Caller, and The Cosby Show.

    Chris Farrar hits two free throws with one second left as Hopedale defeats Sutton, 52 - 50. Farrar was
    top scorer with 20 points.

    Residents taking out nomination papers for the upcoming election include Mark Ansart and Michael
    Cyr, Board of Health, Jaime Wagman, Board of Selectmen, Al Carnaroli and John Farrar, Road
    Commission, Edward Malloy, Housing Board, David Sawyer, tree warden, Mary Draper, town clerk,
    Bruce Lutz, Park Commission, and Susan Hourihan, School Committee. John Abbruzzese and John
    McGrath, Jr. won't seek reelection to the School Committee.

    Fifty years ago - January 1964 - United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that
    smoking may be hazardous to one's health.

    A United States Air Force B-52 carrying two nuclear bombs crashes on Savage Mountain near Barton,
    Maryland. Only two of the five crewmen survive. The bombs are recovered two days later.

    Plans to build the New York World Trade Center are announced.

    The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group is secretly
    established by the USA to conduct covert unconventional warfare operations prior to and during the
    Vietnam War.

    Hopedale Community Historical Society members Mortimer Dennett, Lucile Damon and Donald
    McGrath will meet with Judge Shaw to discuss legal incorporation of the society. Then the papers will
    be filed with Secretary of State Kevin White.

    Hopedale High students who participated in a concert at Fitchburg State College include Joseph
    Pantani, Linnea Soderberg, Leslie Damon, Donna Apicella, Charlene Shaw, Kenneth Dec and Paul
    Racine.

                                                                




    In  General William F. Draper's autobiography, Recollections of a Varied Career, it's not until the next
    to the last page that he devotes a couple of paragraphs to one of the major events in his life; his
    resignation from the Draper Company and his split with his brothers, Eben and George Albert. Here it
    is in the generals words:

    This record has not been written continuously, but at various times during the last seven years, as
    some event seemed to me worth noting. The right stopping place did not present itself until after my
    return from my foreign trip in June 1907, when I resigned as President of the Draper Company, and
    severed my connection with its management.

    The diversity of opinion before referred to, as to the policy which the company should pursue in
    important lines, continued, and it seemed that it would be a relief to all concerned if I left the carrying
    out of certain views to those who believed in them. It was also for the advantage of the company to be
    free from divided counsels, as almost any course consistently pursued would produce better results
    than deviations made to meet special emergencies. Further, at sixty-five years of age it did not seem
    worth my while to live in an atmosphere of continual discussion with no hope of agreement.
    Still further, it appeared that the care of my private affairs, together with my interest in public policies,
    would provide me sufficient occupation; and six months' experience has confirmed that view. It is
    therefore likely that the events worth chronicling in my life have passed; but if not, there will be no
    insurmountable obstacle in the way of my adding another chapter in a later edition.

    As to the future, I shall doubtless continue to be interested in the textile industry, particularly in
    improved processes and machinery as they come to my knowledge, but whether I shall again enter
    into the direction of business operations is another question, and the chances are decidedly against it.

    The general goes on for only about a hundred more words, ending with this:

    In closing I will make use of a quotation that was a favorite of my father, and that is perhaps more
    applicable to my generation than to the one now coming on the stage.

    "The minor longs to be of age, -- then to become a man of business, -- then to arrive at honors, -- then
    to retire." William F. Draper, Recollections of a Varied Career, pp. 398 - 399.

    The book was published in 1909. The general died in 1910. What was the cause of the feud? Here are
    a few sentences on the matter from Edward Spann in Hopedale: From Commune to Company Town.

    General Draper must have found considerable satisfaction in watching the development of the village
    from the tower of his mansion at the corner of Adin and Hopedale streets, but in the 1890s he
    acquired significant outside interests far beyond the Blackstone region, first as a member of
    Congress and then as ambassador to Italy. Eventually, his separation was made complete when in
    1906 (Draper says 1907) he was ousted by his brothers as head of the company, supposedly
    because in their view he was spending too much money on research and development. This coup led
    him to sell most of his stock in the company and retire to Washington, D.C. When he died there in
    1910 at age sixty-eight, no reference was made to Hopedale in his death notice. Spann, p. 176

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The General and the Feud