Hopedale History
    May 15, 2019
    No. 370
    Chapel and Church   

    Hopedale in May   



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    Twenty-five years ago - May 1994 - The Channel Tunnel, which took 15,000 workers more than seven
    years to complete, opens between England and France, enabling passengers to travel between the two
    countries in 35 minutes.

    Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.

    Fifty years ago - May 1969 - The Battle of Dong Ap Bia, also known as Hamburger Hill, begins during the
    Vietnam War.

    An American teenager known as 'Robert R.' dies in St. Louis, Missouri, of a baffling medical condition. In
    1984 it will be identified as the earliest confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America.

    Apollo 10 returns to Earth, after a successful 8-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first
    manned Moon landing.

    For Hopedale news from 25, 50 and 100 years ago, see below this text box.

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                                                              Chapel and Church
                                                                              
                                                                                                    by Adin Ballou

    The original schoolhouse and chapel building, completed in 1844, was made by enlargement and
    improvement to serve the public need as a place of worship and general religious convocation until the
    year 1860 when it was supplanted by the neat and commodious structure which was erected on a
    commanding eminence at the rear of Community Square, so called, near the center of our growing village.
    The plot of land upon which it stood, consisting of about two acres of rough wild pasture to begin with, had
    been in process of improvement for several years, chiefly by the labors of our Industrial Union, and being
    made ready for the completed edifice by grading, terracing, the planting of trees, etc. The building was
    provided for by subscription, a paper circulated for the purpose of raising the requisite funds receiving
    signatures and pledges of money varying from $1,800 appended to the names of E.D. and Anna T. Draper,
    to $4.00 donated by one of our humbler members, the whole amounting to $$4,423.00. Its entire cost,
    including slips and furnishings, was somewhat over$6,000.00 -- the excess above the subscription
    pledges being generously supplied by the brothers, E.D. and George Draper. The structure was in
    rectangular form, according to the type of ecclesiastical architecture in vogue at that date, measuring 58 feet
    in length by 44 feet in width with 30 feet posts, the front being surmounted by an appropriate bell-tower. The
    Building Committee consisted of Wm. H. Humphrey, E.D. Draper, and Wm. S. Heywood. Mr. Lewis Fales of
    Milford was the architect, and Mr. Lowell Fales, the superintending carpenter until near completion; Bro.
    Wm. H. Humphrey succeeding him. The enterprise was brought to a fortunate conclusion in the autumn of
    the year named, and dedicatory services were held in the new sanctuary on the 15th of November. An
    account of what transpired on the occasion from the pen of the Rev. Samuel May of Leicester, who was
    present, was published in The Anti-Slavery Standard of New York, from which the following extracts are
    copied:

    Here below is the first paragraph of Rev. May's article, published in the Anti-Slavery Standard.

    To the Editor, etc.: It is not often in this slavery-ridden country that the dedication of a new church building
    can have any special interest for the true anti-slavery reformer, or for the lover of Christianity in its genuine
    and incorrupt form. Very rarely would one of these receive an invitation to attend such an occasion and
    participate in its exercises. But the dedication of the new church edifice at Hopedale (Milford, Mass) forms
    an exception to the rule on this subject; and as the Community there established is of a character to
    interest all true lovers of their kind, and all Abolitionists in an especial manner, a notice of the occasion
    becomes appropriate to your columns and may also prove interesting to your readers. Your correspondent
    was one of the numerous friends present and believes that all true Anti-slavery reformers may have a word
    of congratulations and God-speed for the Hopedale friends at this time. History of the Hopedale
    Community, Adin Ballou, pp. 326-327, 1897 edition.

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    The original chapel and school of the Hopedale Community. It was
    located on what is now Hopedale Street, between Freedom and
    Chapel streets. It was eventually divided into two apartments, and a
    small store was located in the basement, facing Hopedale Street.

    Interior of the 1860 church.

    .Hopedale Unitarian Parish church dedicated in 1898.

Hopedale News - May 1994

Hopedale News - May 1969

Hopedale News - May 1919

    The church of the Hopedale Parish. It was built in 1860 on the
    site of the present Unitarian Church which replaced it in 1898.

Here's a hit from 1969 - Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline.

Marion Harris - A Good Man Is Hard to Find 1919

Ace of Base - The Sign - 1994
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