| Questions About Hopedale History
questions on the subject, and that it might be interesting to write them down. The list below was started in August 2005. It’s certainly not all the questions that I’ve been asked. Just the ones I got around to recording. The wording isn’t the exact wording of the people asking. When I wrote them, I tried to recall the gist of the question. I didn’t come up with answers to all of them. If you wonder about the answers to any, you can find most on this website. If you can’t, email me (email link on homepage) and I’ll answer if I can. What can you tell me about Gilbert Thompson? He came from your town and he was quite famous here in the Mt. Shasta area. I’m writing a fictional account of the railroad accident that killed Butler Wilmarth. What can you tell me about him? My hobby is researching the history of bandstands. Can you tell me about the one in the Hopedale town park? I’d like to know about Bristow Draper and his house near the corner of Adin and Mendon streets. I’m a descendant of General Draper, but I know very little about him and the Draper family. What can you tell me about them? When were the houses at Prospect Heights built? (According to a Wikipedia article, "The district was founded n 1903.") Can you tell me the age of the house at 15-17 Dutcher Street? (Questions about houses are fairly common. Others included houses at Greene Street, Prospect Street, Soward Street, and another at Dutcher Street.) Your web site says that Jack Haringa died. He was my favorite teacher. Can you send me the obit? (Yes.) I’m looking for information on Gov. Eben Draper for a historical novel I’m writing. I need information about the Hopedale work done by landscape architect, Warren Henry Manning, for a book that is being written about him. (See also Pond and Parklands Menu.) Where can I obtain a copy of General Draper’s autobiography? (It can be seen at the Bancroft Library in Hopedale.) Is the Harel House still there? (Yes, but it can't be seen from the street.) When was the Hopedale Housing Authority established? What can you tell me about the stone foundation or wall on Adin Street near Steel Road? (Just a guess - Warren Henry Manning, one of the most famous landscape architects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who designed the Hopedale town park and Parklands, was hired by several of the Drapers to design their estates. Stone walls were often part of his designs.) Can houses in the National Register District be altered or razed? Do you have a list of the original members of the Hopedale Community? Can you find information (births, deaths, marriages, place of residence, etc) of my Wentworth ancestors? (This is the most common type of question. I’ve had similar ones on a number of other families. Sometimes I can help. Sometimes I can't.) What can you tell me about the South Hopedale Cemetery? Did Aerosmith really play at the Hopedale town hall? (Yes - four concerts.) How did the Pest House get that name? What happened to the honor roll that used to be in front of the Legion Home? (Some who have asked this question seem to think that it was made of stone. It was wood and eventually deteriorated. I don't remember if it was removed when the Legion Home was moved or before that. Click here to see a picture.) I’m from the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. I need information on the 1913 Draper strike for our radio program. (There have also been requests from others for information and pictures of the strike.) I need information on the Little Red Shop for a paper I’m doing for school. Can you tell me when the Rustic Bridge, the Harrison Block and the bandstand were built? What was the basis or origin of paternalism in Hopedale and Whitinsville? For a college project, I need to know about individualism in the socialist community of Hopedale. (Hopedale: Commune to Company Town by Edward Spann should be helpful for both this and the previous question.) How is Lilla Draper Scharnberg’s name spelled? (Yes, that's it.) I’m writing a book on American women who married European princes and dukes. Do you have pictures of Princess Boncompagni? Do you have site maps of Draper Corporation? We need information on Hopedale abolitionists for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day program. Could the Milford News have been wrong when they printed that the Larches was the home of Gov. Draper? (Yes, they were. The general's house was where the high school is now.) I’m writing a book on Colombian immigrant who work in mills that use Draper looms. Where can I get permission to use some Draper pictures from Cotton Chats? Can you send me a picture of Adin Ballou’s grave? (I did.) Could you send information on the Midgley family to the author of a book about the USS Gudgeon, on which Donald Midgley died ? I need some information and pictures of the Bancroft Library for a project at the Memorial School library. When did Princess Boncompagni die? (1974) What can you tell us about early schools in Hopedale? (Article coming soon.) Why isn’t Douglas D’Orsay’s name on the Vietnam Wall? (It is.) What was the Home School? Was Earl Sumner Draper related to the Hopedale Drapers? (I haven't checked, but the answer can probably be found in The Drapers in America, which can be seen at the Bancroft Library. I'd say that since his middle name was Sumner, that increases the possibility that there is a not-too-distant relationship.) I'm in Florida. Can you copy some pages on the history of Milford for me from a book in the Milford Library? (I did.) How did Saltbox Road get its name? I have a strange looking device manufactured by the Dutcher Temple Company in Hopedale. Can you tell me what it is and something about the company? Where is the howitzer that used to be on the lawn in front of the Legion Home? Do you have information on the plane crash at Hopedale airport in which the pilot and two children died? For a newspaper article, I need information about the Independent Messenger, the death of Adin Ballou’s first wife and sons, and the number of members of the Hopedale Community. (The answers can be found in The Autobiography of Adin Ballou.) A boy named Roy Morisseau (team picture) was killed in a bicycle accident in the fifties. Do you have any information on that? (I remember it happening, but I haven't found a newspaper article or obituary yet.) I’d like to know about the boarding house that once stood on the corner of Hopedale and Freedom streets where the Chambers family lives now. (I have a page on three other boarding houses, but I haven't heard much about that one - just that there was one there, but evidently not as large as the others.) Some of the old street listing books from the twenties give H.S. as a place of residence for some people. What does that mean? (Here's a wild guess. While the Home School had been closed for well over a half century by then, the name could have remained. The Water Cure House, in and out of business in just a few years in the Hopedale Community days, continued to be known by that name up until the time of its demolition in the late twentieth century, so it would be no big surprise if the name of the Home School lingered on also. If so, where was it? Evidently the school was in what became the American Legion Home, but I think that by the twenties it was owned and being used by the Legion, so probably wouldn't be called the Home School by then. However, I think the school probably owned at least one other building, which would have been used as a dormatory. I don't think what became the Legion Home was large enough to be a dorm for the number of pupils that the records show were enrolled there. Old maps show that the Home School owned a good sized lot on the corner of Adin and Dutcher streets. The Dutcher home would have been there long before the twenties, but possibly the Home School dorm was still there in the back. As I said, a wild guess.) I’m writing an article and a book about Waldo Story, the sculptor who created the Statue of Hope. What can you tell me about it? Can you send us a timeline showing the history of the Little Red Shop? Can you suggest an “unsung hero” from Hopedale’s history for a project I’m doing? Did Drapers make knives and give them to their employees who went into the service during World War II? You have pictures of the Milford-Hopedale reunions in Florida on your website. Can you give me any names? We recently bought two Draper looms. Can you give us information that will help us in getting parts, restoring and setting them up?
Can you help me find out if I am? (This question came in a phone call from Italy. As I write this - July 2011 - I've looked into it but haven't come up with anything definite yet. I'll keep at it. As I looked, though, I did fine out a lot more about Bacchiocchi and the strike than I had known before.)
the Civil War? (George Draper supported it. His son, William, wrote of him, "During the war he was an ardent Union man, and worked earnestly for the cause. He organized several companies of volunteers, paying their preliminary expenses and making personal gifts to each man. He was active in recruiting and a member of Governor Andrew's private Advisory Board." William entered the Army, was in many battles, and became a general. Gilbert Thompson went into the Army, but was in a non-combat role. Was that because of pacifist views? I haven't seen anything on that. J. Lowell Heywood was drafted, and after much discussion, the Community decided to pay $300 so that he could stay out of the military. Ballou regretted the decision, later writing in History of the Hopedale Community, "Upon more deliberate and dispassionate examination of this whole matter, i had serious misgivings as to the righfulness of the of the course that was pursued."
upcoming annual meeting, which is focused on the historic Blackstone Valley Baseball League. I found the article “Hardball Paternalism, Hardball Politics” through a Google search. Are you the author? Also, was this published in a town history or anywhere else? I’d just like to find out a little more about this source.
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