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 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.
Demolition of the Draper Plant Hopedale Street Side – Social to Freedom
For a page of photos of demolition of the south end of the Hopedale Street side, click here.
For photos of the Freedom Street side of the Draper plant, December 2020 to May 2021, click here.
To see the Freedom Street side from June 2021 to August,click here.