Draper works, 1890 - 1891. Hopedale Street is in the foreground with Social and Union
    Streets at that time crossing it and running between shops and other Draper facilities.
    You can also see the lower pond, which was a bit downstream from Hopedale Pond. It
    was drained by the time the 1901 drawing, a bit further down this page, was drawn.

    Freedom Street goes across this view near the top. Hopedale Street runs from bottom to top
    on the right. Chapel Street isn't shown on the map, although it's almost certain that it was
    there by that time. The street that crosses Hopedale Street below the office and ends
    between the Dutcher Temple Co. and the pond (often known as the Lower Pond), was Social
    Street. It seems very likely that the Little Red Shop was just to the right of the lumber shed
    and had an enclosed walkway that crossed the river and connected to the machine shop.
    The first Northrop looms were sold in 1894, and over the next decade there was a great deal
    of expansion of the works as sales grew quickly. The street that goes between the
    woodworking shop and Hopedale Elastic Goods was Union Street. The Hopedale Elastic
    Goods Co., was managed by William Lapworth. Here's a paragraph about Lapworth from a
    1931 Milford News article.

    While in Hopedale, Mr. Lapworth was a stockholder and general manager for the company
    11 years but he was constantly in search for an opening to secure a more modern and larger
    plant, to which he could build from time to time as the occasion warranted. He finally decided
    upon Milford and bought up the old storage battery car barns, which he converted into an
    excellent mill that is part of the Lapworth & Sons plant today.


    By 1901, the Lower Pond was gone. Chapel Street is shown on this drawing. (To
    the right of the erecting shop.)The pattern safe was evidently moved a bit, or a new
    one built. In 1896 it was below where Social Street would have been if extended to
    the left, and below the office. In 1901, it's above an imaginary extension of Social
    Street and almost directly to the left of the office. Union Street no longer runs to the
    west of Hopedale Street. Houses on the west end of Union were moved to Freedom
    Street, where they became known as the Seven Sisters. There are also several
    other changes that you can see as you compare the two views.

Thanks to Peter Metzke for sending this clipping.

    The most noticeable change in the 1904 view is the enlargement of the
    foundry. Note that at that time the shop wasn't right up to the Hopedale
    Street sidewalk for as far as it is now. It ended between Chapel and
    Social streets, with the office being set back a bit, and the buildings to
    the south back from the street even more.

    It doesn't appear that much changed between 1904 and 1907, at least to
    the extent that can be seen in these drawings. Probably Draper's facilities
    had caught up with demand for their looms and their other products.

The new Main Office, shown on the left in this view, was built in 1910-11.

    This drawing shows the new Main Office. The passageway under Hopedale Street,
    between shop and office is shown. The building marked "original shop" (Little Red
    Shop) was moved about a decade earlier. This is the first of these drawings that
    shows it on the new location, between Progress Street and the pond.
Freedom Street