The Good Shepherd window at the Unitarian Church. Click here to go to a page of all of the stained glass windows at the church. |
The Sacred Heart window, at Sacred Heart Church. Click here to go to a page of all of the stained glass windows at the church. |
Click here to see a page with a list of 148 military service veterans buried at Hopedale Village Cemetery. |
Hopedale in March 2021 Hopedale in February Demolition of the Draper Plant - Freedom Street G&U/Parklands Issue Ezine for February - Hopedale in 1921, Part 2 Ezine for March - Hopedale in 1921, Part 3 Recent deaths HOME |
New words in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1921. |
From the constitution of the Hopedale Community. I presume where it says, "any community," it was written with those words because the hope of Community members was to establish many more. |
Click here to go to the article. It's at the bottom of a long page on the matter. |
Another old Hopedale house gone. This shows the site where it stood until recently, between the Green Store/Community Bible Chapel (on right) and what some remember as the Hartford Avenue School. |
Here's a sight rarely seen on Dutcher Street. |
go to the trolley and railroad menu. You can see that this postcard view was taken before the Lake Street houses were built. |
March 13 |
Way down south in the land of spindles, the pond was free of ice by March 14. Maybe before that. I hadn't been by there in a while |
March 14 |
While walking along Hopedale Street on the afternoon of March 16, I noticed another section of the shop had been taken down. It was the part that had the Dutcher Temple Company sign on it. (Arrow points to it in photo above- close-up view below. Picture on the right shows that section is now gone.) I hope the sign has been saved. That would be a nice item to have on the ground in that area when the demolition work has been completed. |
This gentleman told me that the bell had been taken down this morning, (March 17) and is being saved. Below are Charles Merrill's thoughts about the bell. |
I dedicate this paragraph to The Shop Bell; that worthy instrument for telling off the divisions of Hopedale time, calling all good people to their daily labors, and closing that day with the ancient admonition to cover one's fires for the night. The daily rites of ringing the Shop Bell perpetuate a custom 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. 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 almost half a century, and its sound falls as pleasantly in my ear as it did when I first heard it. I have learned the moods of The Bell; sharp and metallic on a zero morning; soft and muffled in a snowstorm; clear and mellow in the rain; sometimes almost inaudible when a strong wind carries the sound away from me. When it was rung by pulling a rope, I could say that this man or that was counting off the strokes and the measure of rest between peals. The people of Hopedale, perhaps without ever thinking about it, have a unique and distinctive symbol of their community, with a voice proclaiming that here abideth industry, order and peace. May the tongue of The Shop Bell never be stilled! From Charles Merrell's memories, Hopedale As I Found It. |
Thanks to Don Howes for this picture of the Draper bell being trucked away and put into storage. Here's a 1962 article about the shop bell by Milford News reporter, Nellie Kent. Here's a page about the removal of the fire station bell in 1953, including pictures of where it is now. |
Click here to read the article. It's near the bottom of a long page of articles about the G&U/Parklands issue. |
The first day of spring and the first day this year that Hopedale Pond has been free of ice at the lower end. This was the fourth time since 2008 that the "iceout" occurred on March 20. Click here for more about when the ice was gone from the pond in the past. |
Click here for the article. It's near the bottom of the page of demolition of the Social to Freedom section. |
Click here to go to the article. |
When we moved to Inman Street in 1970, the street was lined with maple trees. Now there are only about three left. |
Site of recent house demolition on South Main Street. The photo on the left was taken in 2014. |
Thanks to David Lowell for a box of Bancroft and Draper photos, including this one of the Bancroft family tomb at Hopedale Village Cemetery. It's the only picture I've seen of it with the door open. It looks like they're set up for guests to drop in, maybe for a spot of tea. |
The ezine for March 2019, titled Brilliant Man, Tragic Life, was about George Draper Osgood. Linda Hixon recently found this clipping from The Springfield Daily News that tells more about his life. |