The Walker Family (Once a well-known Hopedale family, including Samuel Walker, Lucy Day, Rachel Day
    and Raymond Piper.

    Additions to hope1842 in the past two weeks include: Birdseye view of Hopedale in 1916 (Enlarged
    sections added)     Birdseye view of Hopedale in 1899 (enlarged sections added )     Sylvester Roper
    (Articles from Scientific American in 1863 about Roper's "steam carriage." Also, a photo of it and a list of
    Roper's patents.)     Deaths     

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    Twenty-five years ago - February 1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter
    Kuwait, thus starting the ground phase of the war.

    The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes bombs in the early morning, at both Paddington station and
    Victoria station in London.

    Part of an Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 29 and
    injuring 99 U.S. soldiers. It is the single-most devastating attack on U.S. forces during that war.

    On Baghdad radio, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
    Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreat.

    President Bush declares victory over Iraq and orders a cease-fire.

    Fifty years ago - February 1966 - Lyndon Johnson and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam convene with other
    officials in Honolulu to discuss the course of the Vietnam War.

    The National Hockey League announces it will expand to 12 teams for the 1967 season.

    The news above is from Wikipedia. Further down this page (below births, marriages and deaths in
    1916), you can see Hopedale news from 25, 50 and 100 years ago.

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                                                     Hopedale in 1916, Part 3

    One event that must have interested Hopedale people in 1916 actually took place in Washington, D.C. That
    was the marriage of Margaret Draper, daughter of General William F. and Susan Preston Draper to Prince
    Andrea Boncompagni. Here's the first paragraph of the Boston Herald article from that day, October 25

    Washington, D.C. – The great tapestried ballroom in the home of Mrs. William F. Draper of Hopedale,
    Mass, and Washington has been turned into a Catholic chapel for the wedding of Miss Margaret
    Preston Draper, her daughter, and Prince Andrea Boncompagni of Rome at noon tomorrow.
    American Beauty roses, white chrysanthemums, and quantities of the rarest ferns carry out the colors
    of Italy in the ballroom and drawing rooms, but the altar- which has been brought in from St. Patrick’s
    Church- before which the bride will stand, will show between a drapery or blanket of white roses 15
    feet long. (Click here for more on the wedding.)

    Back in Hopedale, officials and residents had more mundane matters to deal with, such as voting for repair
    of the Hope Street bridge, (an issue that continued for decades) and extending Hope Street a few feet east
    of the Dutcher Street intersection, to connect with Prospect Street. While war was raging in Europe, life
    appears to have been prosperous and peaceful in Hopedale. The fire station on Dutcher Street had just
    been completed, and the Draper Main Office and the Park Street School were just a few years old.

    On June 22, the ten members of the senior class at Hopedale High School, went to the town hall for their
    graduation. A little over two years later, one of the graduates, Edward Burnham, Jr., who had joined the
    Army, died in a rifle range accident in Georgia, five weeks after the end of the war.

    According to the librarian's report, "The total circulation has been 28,390, an average of 82 book each of the
    306 days the library was open." The South Hopedale library, open 52 Fridays in Mrs. Smith's home,
    circulated 3278 book.

    Also, from the library report, "The public auction sale of Adin Ballou's private library, held Jan. 12 and 13,
    1916, was mentioned in last year's report and the five very important items were bought with the 1915
    income of the Bancroft Fund. Fifty other items connected with Adin Ballou or Hopedale were purchased from
    the 1916 appropriation."

    The report of the school superintendent, Mr. F.G. Atwell, says that the town population was 2564, and that
    there were 467 children in the schools. Sixteen regular teachers, four special teachers, and two assistants
    were employed. (The special teachers were for music, drawing, cooking and sewing, and wood-working.)

    The Park Commission reported that, "The tennis courts were made over last spring at an outlay of $700.00
    and are giving general satisfaction.

    "A 50-foot roadway from Freedom Street to the height of land on Darling Hill has been started, which upon
    completion will open the most sightly part of the park territory to the public.

    "6842 bathers used the bath house this year.

    "A tract westerly of the 'Lookout' has been purchased. This gives the Park System the 'High Point' of land in
    town and one that has been considered by the State Fire Warden as a location for a site of a fire observation
    tower."

    The streets weren't paved, so to keep the dust down in the summer, a bit over $11,000 was spent on road
    watering. For repair of William Street (as it was spelled then - the final s was added years later), $1500 was
    spent. Trap rock for the job cost $602, and $300 was spent for "road oil."

    The Board of Health only spent seven dollars of its $300 appropriation. That was to Sam Kellogg for his
    labor in fumigating.  The tree warden, on the other hand, spent $4,046, leaving only $3.70 unexpended. The
    fire department, with many items needed to furnish the new station, spent $17,010.19.

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Hopedale in 1916. Click here for more views.