More words first in the Merriam-Webster in 1970.

    The Periodic Table of Haiku - Hover over an element and a haiku poem for it will
    appear. (Not on this site - you'll have to go to the page the link will take you to for
    that to work.) As you can see, I was on copper when I got a screenshot of this.

    Above - Bancroft Park in 1948. Also in the photo are the
    garages on the left, Draper Field on the upper left, and
    the Seven Sisters on the upper right.

    Below - Google Earth view of Bancroft Park in June 2019.

    Bancroft Park in 1900. Click here to
    see more about the neighborhood.

In praise of prunes, from the EWG site.

Mendon in the spring. Photos from 1989 through 2006.

Thanks to Peg D for these.

Hopedale, etc. - April 2020


March ezine - Hopedale in 1920, Part 3

April ezine - Adin Ballou by Rev. John Hannom   

Hopedale in March 2020

Hopedale in April 2019

Recent deaths


Ezine Menu                  HOME


.

    Notes from librarian's reports and trustees minutes on how the Bancroft Library dealt
    with epidemics in the past.

    1912 - We have adopted an approved plan for disinfecting books.

    Voted – That the sincere thanks of the Trustees be extended to Mr. Messenger for his gift
    to the library of the sterilizing case.

    1918 – The library closed for six weeks due to the flu epidemic.

    1922 - When measles held sway (in the Smith home, South Hopedale Branch Library)
    books were brought directly from the main library in baskets and were placed in the yard
    beside the road, and here – the weatherman being kind – all exchanges were made until
    the house was fumigated. In the worse weather in winter one of the sons sometimes
    delivers books by sled.

    Click here to see the State of Massachusetts page on the epidemic. As the
    days and weeks go by, some of the information above may be changed.

    The Statue of Hope under its winter cover.
    Click here to go to a history of the statue.

Thanks to Bruce G. for this.

    This tree is eating a fence. That's the caption with the picture. Thanks
    to Peg D for sending.

    A familiar face? Probably it is to those of you who
    attended Hopedale Jr Sr High in the 1960s and
    1970s.  It's one of a dozen or more Milford News
    pictures of Hopedale people for sale on ebay.

    As described above, the Hopedale Library was in the town hall from the time it opened
    in 1887 until the opening of the Bancroft Library in 1899. Click here to see pictures of
    the library and reading room when they were in the town hall.

Water over the dam at Freedom Street.

From Facebok

    Brian Keyes - ‎Hopedale MA Facebook Bulletin Board

    Good Evening Hopedale Residents.  

    As many of you might have learned, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to
    post a message on the passing of John "Jack" Farrar Jr. this past
    weekend.  Jack has been serving as a Road Commissioner in the Town
    of Hopedale for over 30 years.  He has been a long time resident of
    Hopedale and deeply loved and respected.  I offer, along with the entire
    Town and Board of Selectmen, our deepest condolences to his wife
    Paula, the entire family and all his friends.  I have asked all of our
    departments, along with the schools, parks and organizations in town to
    lower our flags to half mast tomorrow in honor of Jack.

    Jack,  we know how much you loved this Town and we love you back.  
    Thank you for your service to this country, the lengthy service to the
    interests of our Town of Hopedale, but most importantly being a great guy
    and a very special member to your family over the course of your great
    and long life.  Rest in Peace.

    From Worcester Telegram & Gazette - April 7

    One death was reported Monday in Worcester County, a man in his 70s with
    preexisting health conditions. Three deaths were reported in Worcester County
    over the weekend, two people in their 90s and one in his 80s, all three with
    preexisting conditions.

    Other Central Massachusetts communities with a high number of cases are
    Fitchburg with 66 cases; Marlboro, 60; Shrewsbury, 52; Northboro, 31;
    Leominster, 29; Westboro, 25; Clinton, 23; Northbridge, 24; Grafton, 22; Holden,
    20; Webster, 19; Auburn, 18; and Milford 18.

    Towns reporting 10 or more cases include Hudson, 16; Douglas, 16;
    Southboro, 14; Sturbridge, 12; Southbridge, 12; Dudley, 12; Millbury, 11; and
    Uxbridge, 10.

    Other area municipalities reporting confirmed cases, with their latest reported
    numbers, include West Boylston, 9; Athol, 9; Blackstone, 9; Charlton, 9; Sutton,
    9; Leicester, 6; Winchendon, 6; Boylston, 5; Lunenburg, 5; Spencer, 5;
    Ashburnham, 4; Oxford, 4; Sterling, 4; Hopedale, 3; Ashby, 2; Barre, 1; Berlin, 1;
    Bolton, 1; East Brookfield, 1; Lancaster, 1; Millville, 1; Phillipston, 1; and Upton, 1.

    Towns with positive COVID-19 test results that chose not to report exact number
    include Hubbardston, Mendon, Rutland and Templeton.

    Towns not confirming or denying they have had confirmed COVID-19 cases
    include Hardwick, Harvard, North Brookfield, Oakham, Paxton, West Brookfield
    and Westminster.

    New Curbside pickup news.

    E.L Harvey has decided to suspend all bulk pickups through the
    month of April due to Covid-19. We will revisit at the end of the month .
    We are taking these steps to protect our employees . This does
    included white goods.

    Please do not put your broken couch, chair, etc. out on the curb
    expecting it to go away.Items left on the streetside could be cause for
    a littering violation.

    Posted by Board of Health member, Don Howes, on the Hopedale
    Bulletin Board page on Facebook.

    And here's another familiar face to many.
    It's also from ebay, and originally in the
    Milford News. This one is from 1989.

    And another Hopedale story on WCVB. This
    was a parade of about 80 vehicles for a
    birthday greeting to the boy in the picture
    above, and also a thank you to his parents.
    His mother is a doctor in the ICU at Milford
    Hospital, and his father is a pharmacist. I
    didn't catch the family name before the story
    disappeared from where I had first seen it.

    Drive-by distribution of school materials in Northbridge. We
    walked by two schools there where this was happening. Across
    the street from the view above, in front of the junior high school,
    a masked man was dispensing Chromebooks to people as
    they drove up to him.
Milford Daily News

    At least four towns in the MetroWest and Milford regions are not
    publicly reporting the number of confirmed positive coronavirus
    cases in their communities.

    On March 28, the state Department of Public Health
    recommended that individual communities stop publishing the
    number of COVID-19 cases to protect the privacy of patients.
    However, reporting those numbers remains entirely up to each
    individual community. From Wicked Local

I'd probably say "apaht," but anyway, you get the idea.

    Thanks, Bruce. This one came with the caption -
    How fast was the little @%$!!&* going?

    If you're in Hopedale or vicinity, and want to do some walking, but are finding the
    walking trails and their parking lots in the area too crowded, try the centers of
    towns. In the last couple of weeks, I've walked in the center of Hopedale and five
    other towns, and have passed by far fewer people than I did when I was still
    walking the trails. I've only walked where there are sidewalks. There's plenty of
    interesting architecture to see, and other sights you're not apt to notice when
    passing by in a car. I presume you recognized Hopkinton in these pictures.

Thanks, Ted.

From The Boston Globe  April 15.
Totals are for Massachusetts patients in hospitals.

    The Hoyts in 2013, the year of the bombing.
    DJ took this picture in Natick.

    Half of us are going to come out of this quarantine as amazing cooks. The other half will come out with a
    drinking problem.

     I used to spin that toilet paper like I was on Wheel of Fortune. Now I turn it like I'm cracking a safe.

    I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.

    Still haven't decided where to go for Easter ----- The Living Room or The Bedroom

    PSA: every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pajamas will have you believe all is well in
    the kingdom.

    Homeschooling is going well. 2 students suspended for fighting and 1 teacher fired for drinking on the job.

    I don't think anyone expected that when we changed the clocks we'd go from Standard Time to the Twilight
    Zone This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her cat. It was obvious she thought her cat understood her. I
    came into my house, told my dog..... we laughed a lot.

    So, after this quarantine.....will the producers of My 600 Pound Life just find me or do I find them?

    Quarantine Day 5: Went to this restaurant called THE KITCHEN. You have to gather all the ingredients and
    make your own meal. I have no clue how this place is still in business.

    My body has absorbed so much soap and disinfectant lately that when I pee it cleans the toilet.

    Day 5 of Homeschooling: One of these little monsters called in a bomb threat.

    I'm so excited --- it's time to take out the garbage. What should I wear?

     I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to Puerto Backyarda. I'm getting tired of Los Livingroom.

    Classified Ad: Single man with toilet paper seeks woman with hand sanitizer for good clean fun.

    Day 6 of Homeschooling: My child just said "I hope I don't have the same teacher next year".... I'm offended.

    Better 6 feet apart than 6 feet under.

     Thanks to Mendon history video guy, John Trainor for these.

From Wicked Local, April 16.

    Above- flowers on one of my pear trees - April 15

    Right - April 18

    Both of my pear trees and my Asian pear tree are loaded
    with blossoms. Now I'm hoping to see some bees doing
    their job. In a couple of weeks I'll do some thinning. If they
    survive the snow, that is.

Another contribution from John T.

    A case of a scary disease turned up in Hopedale in 1902 - smallpox. To get the victim
    away from contact with too many people, the town bought a house off of what is now Route
    140, near the Upton line. It became known as the Pest House - pest  being short for
    pestilence. The picture above is from a walking tour of  Hopedale brochure done by the
    Historic Commission in 1992. Here's the story of Heman Hersey and the Pest House.
The Pest House - West Street

    From North Avenue, Mendon, looking
    toward Hopedale, Milford and Boston.

    Obesity may be one of the most important predictors of
    severe coronavirus illness, new studies say. It’s an
    alarming finding for the U.S., which has one of the
    highest obesity rates in the world.

April 17

Snow on April 18. Very wet. Won't last long.

Catching up on reading these days?

Dutcher Street on the afternoon of April 18.

    New Hopedale town administrator, Diana Schindler.
    Milford News photo. Click here for Milford News article.

    Some people really hang on to old stuff. This letter, by Ebin Draper Bancroft,
    now for sale on ebay, was mailed from Hopedale 130 years ago this month.

    Continuing to walk in and around the centers of towns,
    where we encounter far fewer people than are on the
    walking trails, lately, our latest was in Holliston. In
    addition to loads of beautiful old houses, we ran across
    some unexpected things. One was the Holliston
    connection to Casey at the Bat. About two minutes after
    finding Casey and reading a plaque about the poem's
    possible Holliston setting, we came across the sad
    story of Emilee Gagnon. (Above - Emilee's Little Library)
    There were also some interesting historic markers. For
    the story of Casey, and to see lots of houses, click here.
    There's a link on that page to three articles and three
    photos of Emilee.

    A picture for Earth Day - Cedar Swamp Pond in Milford,1968.
    Here's an article from Zero Waste Melrose about the current
    problems and solutions in recycling.

    Because the matter of the McLay proposal for 1200 condo
    units at the Draper property comes up with time to time, I've
    put a page together with Milford News articles and some of
    the material on it that was sent out by McLay. They were
    saved by John Butcher. Here it is.
Boston Globe, April 22

New York Times, April 29.

    Coronavirus cases by town - April 29.

    Blackstone - 23

    Douglas - 26

    Framingham - 816

    Grafton - 52

    Holliston - 34

    Hopedale - 17

    Hopkinton - 108

    Marlboro - 429

    Mendon - 14

    Milford-  316

    Millville - 10

    Northbridge - 117

    Shrewsbury - 183

    Sutton - 25

    Upton - 13

    Uxbridge - 51

    Westboro - 209

    Worcester - 2284