In my first year I attended the Community school, -- ungraded, -- of which Miss Abbie Ballou, (later Mrs. Heywood), was the teacher, and a most excellent one. After this, it being one of the tenets of the Community that boys should be taught to work, I spent three years in manual labor between April 1st and Thanksgiving Day, and attended school only during the winter terms. Two years I was employed by the "garden" branch, in raising vegetables for the Milford market, being expected to hoe my row with the men employed and succeeding fairly well. Click here to see whose memories of the Hopedale Community these are. |
Above - Atria - Draper Place at the corner of Social and Hopedale streets. Below - A postcard (for sale on ebay) showing the same location during the IWW strike of 1913. The Draper Company hired police from a number of New England cities to break the strike. The window grates may have been put on when the strike began. They aren't any on ground-floor windows in an earlier postcard view. |
Here's the back of the postcard shown above, which was written during the strike. The strike began on April 1 and ended during the first week of July. |
Hopedale in July 2019 July ezine - Historic Monument Dedication Hopedale in July 2018 Hopedale in June 2019 Recent Pictures Menu for 2019 HOME . |
From 1969, The Band - "The Weight" |
Message from the Hopedale Water Department. As required under the Town of Hopedale's Water Management Act permit, we are required at this time to implement mandatory water restrictions. As of today, July 1, 2019 there shall be no nonessential water use between the hours of 9AM and 5PM. This includes the irrigation of lawns, washing of vehicles, walkways or driveways. For additional information a copy of the departments WMA permit will be available on the Town of Hopedale's website. These restrictions will be in effect until September 30, 2019 or when stream flows return to normal for 3 consecutive days. |
Above - The carousel at the Boston Common, sent by my son, DJ. Below - A horse from the carousel at Nipmuc Park, Mendon. It was eventually moved to Pleasure Island in Wakefield. Click here to see much more about it. |
Work is continuing on the G&U extension to Milford, as can be seen in this picture of the bridge over Hopedale Street. |
The school buses are now being parked at Rosenfeld's. |
When I went in to the town hall to pay my property tax this week, I asked if anything was happening next door. I was told yes, a restaurant would be opening there in a couple of weeks. |
I was down by Hopedale Pond on the evening of the third, looking for beached minnows to rescue, when a guy with a radio-controlled boat came by. It turned out that he was one of my pupils several decades ago, and he recognized me right away. Probably I had the same mean expression I did when he was in fifth grade. The boat is operated from a battery and gets amazing speed from a tiny propeller Jeff was careful not to get the boat too close to the swans that were over near the island. They didn't seem concerned. It's not seven swans a-swimming now, though. Just six. |
Click here for the rest of the article, and an article on the celebration of Independence Day in Mendon in 1882. |
The Declaration of Independence... was to some extent anticipated by the action of various towns and counties. The first of them all, probably, was the town of Mendon, Worcester County, Mass, which in 1773 adopted these resolutions. William Cullen Bryant and Sydney Howard Gay, A Popular History of the United States, volume 3 p. 472. Here are some of the "resolves" passed at a town meeting in Mendon in March, 1773, and referred to in the paragraph above. 1. Resolved, that all men have naturally an equal right to life, liberty, and property. 2. Resolved, that all just and lawful government must necessarily originate in the free consent of the people. 3. Resolved, that the good, safety, and happiness of the people is the great end of civil government and must be considered as the only rational object in all original compacts and political institutions. 10. Resolved, that introducing and quartering standing armies in a free country in times of peace, without the consent of the people, is a violation of their rights as free men. 19....voted that the foregoing Resolves be entered into the Town Book , that our children in years to come, may know the sentiments of their fathers in regard to their invaluable rights and liberties.
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Observe the Fourth by reading Rev. Ballou's speech from July 4, 1843, if you have an hour or so to do it. |
When you're finished with Ballou's speech, if it's not time for bed, you can go on to the story of his connection to Tolstoy. |
July 4, 1975 - Bicentennial parade. Click here for more photos. |
Back by popular demand: 4EverFab the Beatles Tribute Band will be on the Hopedale bandstand on Wednesday, July 10 7-9pm. Pre-concert fun for the kids with DJ Mike from 6-7pm Refreshments available and a Red Sox ticket raffle |
A splendid stand of stately sycamores. Say that five times fast, without sounding like Daffy Duck. Prospect Heights, Milford. I've never seen that many sycamores in one place anywhere else. |
While the cancellation mark is a bit of a mess, it was evidently 1960. That would make sense, because three cent stamps on post cards began in 1959 and it went to four cents in January 1963. |
Above is a list of words that have been with us for fifty years. It's from Merriam-Webster's page of "First Known Use." I was surprised to see bubblegum there. Since it's been around since long before 1969, I took a look for it's origin. Here's what I found on Wikipedia. In 1928, Walter Diemer, an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company was experimenting with new gum recipes. One recipe, based on a formula for a chewing gum called "Blibber Blubber", was found to be less sticky than regular chewing gum, and stretched more easily. It was a dingy grey color, so Diemer added red dye (diluted to pink), that being what he had on hand at the time. This gum became highly successful and was eventually named by the president of Fleer as Dubble Bubble because of its stretchy texture. The original bubble gum was pink in color because that was the dye that Diemer had most on hand at the time. This remained the dominant kind of bubble gum until after WWII, when Bazooka bubble gum entered the market. The two first brands in the US were Hubba Bubba and Bubble Yum.
the different brands, "bubblegum," didn't get into the dictionary until that year.
In 1996, Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, California set the Guinness World Record for largest bubblegum bubble ever blown, which was 26 inches (66 cm) in diameter. Chad Fell holds the record for "Largest Hands-free Bubblegum Bubble" at 20 inches (51 cm), achieved on 24 April 2004. |
Hopedale Pond Above - July 7 Below - July 8 |
Go to the Guiness Book site for more bubblegum records, including largest bubble blown from nose. |
Above - a scene from this month fifty years ago - the Cuyahoga River fire. Below - The fire department at Hopedale Pond, but fortunately if wasn't on fire. |
I've heard it mentioned a few times that these swans are an invasive species. Mmm, yeah, so are we. |
Band concert - July 10 - 4Ever Fab |
Click here for a 13-minute video of aerial (drone) views of the Draper plant on YouTube. It's a very well done production. It was done by Doug Scott, who grew up in Hopedale. His parents worked at Draper in the fifties, and in the eighties his mother taught first grade at Memorial School. |
This is a Google Earth view (April 2018) mainly of the area just beyond the Parklands that was the subject of a recent eminent domain meeting held by the Mass. Publice Utilities Commission and also of a Hopedale selectmen's meeting. Click here to go to the G&U site where there is a link to the notice of filing. The line that goes from the bottom middle and loops over to the left middle is the G&U track. "The legislature may also delegate the power to private entities like public utilities or railroads, and even to individuals. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently deferred to the right of states to make their own determinations of 'public use.'" From a Wikipedia article on eminent domain.
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From Billi Manning for the Cultural Council: Last night's concert with Mondo Soul ("The Grove that Moves You") has been rescheduled for Wednesday, July 31 at 7pm with DJ Mike at 6pm for some pre-concert fun. Next week's concert July 24 features the Fantasy Big Band at 7pm. Joel Warren will have pre- concert fun at 6pm for the kids. Refreshments are provided by the Boy Scouts, the Park Department, and the Cultural Council. Boats rentals from Fin and Feather are available on beautiful Hopedale Pond . There is always a nice breeze by the pond, so bring a chair and join us! |
Kids love an excuse to get wet. I've been doing soda bottle rockets at the library for quite a few years now. |
The G&U bridge over Hopedale Street. Click here for more photos of work on the railroad during July. |
What is the most grown crop in the U.S? Click here for the answer. |
I stepped in to the former Town Common today to see what's going on there. I spoke with Susie, the soon-to-be head waitress. The menu (I expect to put it on the August page when they say it's finalized) has been described as breakfast- lunch-brunch. The plan is to open on August 11. Thje name, Beyond Full??? Does everything have to be supersized? Click here for the story of the place in the 1940s when it was the Town Hall Spa. Below are a couple of pieces of the menu, as it stands now, to give you a bit of an idea of what they'll have there. |