Hopedale History January 1, 2018 No. 339 Hopedale in 1918, Part 1 Hopedale in December
During the past two weeks, additions have been made to the following pages on hope1842.com: The Boston Celtics Play at the Draper Gym (Thanks to Dave Boccasile, who last summer sent pictures from one of the games, sent six more. If you were there looking for autographs, maybe you're in one of them. They're at the bottom of the page.) Charles Roper (Drawings from patents for the Roper motorboat "speed controlling reversing propeller.") Deaths
Twenty-five years ago - January 1993 - Czechoslovakia ceases to exist as the Czech Republic and Slovakia separate in the so-called Velvet Divorce. IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992, the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history to date. U.S. forces fire approximately 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Baghdad factories linked to Iraq's illegal nuclear weapons program. Iraq then informs UNSCOM that it will be able to resume its flights. Fifty years ago - January 1968 - A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging 4 nuclear bombs. North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying. The Tet Offensive begins, as Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks across South Vietnam.
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during the first three months of 1918, and kept in scrapbooks at the Bancroft Library. January 4 - In the interest of coal conservation, the selectmen have offered the free use of library hall for the Red Cross work which is being conducted twice a week in each of the churches. ("Library hall" probably refers to the room in the Town Hall where the library had been before the Bancroft Library opened in 1899.) The Suffrage Club will meet this afternoon at the home of Mrs. H.L. Patrick for work on Red Cross surgical dressings. An interesting exhibit of views of Petrograd and vicinity, many of them in color, is now on exhibition at the Memorial Library. January 11 - Mrs. Albert Mason fractured her collar bone on Monday from a fall on the icy steps at her home on Hopedale Street. While on her way to work Monday morning, Mrs. William Salmon fell on the ice and was rendered unconscious for about three hours. January 18 - To conserve coal, the library will be closed on Sundays, except for the first Sunday of the month, when a Victrola concert will be given and the library will be kept open until seven o'clock. Avis and Gertrude Rockwell, Marion Fisher and Olive Hart, the last of Upton, entered the employ of the Draper Corporation at the shop office Monday. January 25 - Maynard Draper is ill with the measles. (Maynard was one of the "other Drapers.") The high school basketball five was defeated in Woonsocket Friday night, 90 to 10 A service flag with 30 stars was dedicated at the high school yesterday afternoon with appropriate exercises. (During World War I, schools, churches and organizations put up flags with a number of stars equal to their members who were in the armed services.) Each pupil in the local schools was recently presented with a thrift card with one stamp attached; the name of the donor being withheld. February 1 - John Harris and John B. Moses have enlisted in the British and Canadian armies. The Loyal Workers have taken up the Red Cross work of making comfort pillows for the soldiers. The local coal situation is acute, and the fuel committee has ordered deliveries to be made in not over quarter ton lots. Two boys and a girl were seriously injured in a coasting accident on Walker Hill, West Main Street, Sunday afternoon.(West Main Street was later renamed Mendon Street.) February 8 - The Old Fashioned Singing School filled Town Hall to overflowing Friday evening, and the program was much enjoyed by a large audience. The affair was under the auspices of the Alliance. February 15 - George Otis Draper of New York has just received a commission as Captain in the Aviation Department. To relieve the local coal situation, the residence, stable and greenhouse of Lt. Eben S. Draper has been closed, as has the residence of Mrs. William. F. Draper. February 22 - The local coal prices have been revised to the following: fig $10.25, stove, $10.50, chestnut $10.50, pea $9.00, soft coal in small lots $9.00. On half-ton lots there will be an extra charge of 15 cents for carriage, and on quarter ton lots, 12 cents. (In the 1940s, coal to our house on Oak Street was delivered by a truck that would back up in the side yard and run it down a chute into the coal bin in the cellar. That wasn't possible at some houses, and the delivery men would have to carry it in bag by bag. I presume that's what the extra cost for "carriage" refers to.) March 1 - Andrew Martin has enlisted in the United States Radio School at Harvard College. Mayhew Wood is recovering from a recent attack of pneumonia at Allentown, Pennsylvania. An illustrated lecture on India was given at the Christian Endeavor meeting at the Union Church Sunday evening. The high school seniors presented the three act farce, "Laddie," at Town Hall Friday evening before a large audience. Dancing followed the play. The proceeds will the used for the Washington trip fund. March 8 - Charles Nealley has secured a position at the Fore River shipyards. Private Harold Barrows, who has been critically ill with pneumonia at Camp Devens has suffered a relapse. He underwent a second operation on his lungs Monday night. (When I first came across this, I thought Barrows, and Mayhew Wood, a week earlier, may have had the flu, rather than pneumonia, but the first confirmed case of the flu that was part of the huge epidemic was that month at an Army base in Kansas. It was months later when it appeared at Devens. Here's a bit on that from an article on the epidemic in Popular Mechanics. "By the first week of September, an average of 100 people died every day at Camp Devens. 'We have lost an outrageous number of Nurses and Drs., and the little town of Ayer is a sight,' wrote one of the camp's doctors.") On a per capita basis, the town of Hopedale occupies first place in the state in the sale of thrift stamps, having disposed of nearly $14,000 worth, or $5.60 for every man, woman and child in the town. Plans are being rapidly completed to increase sales still further. March 15 - The local rifle club held an indoor shoot at the fire station Monday evening. The Wampanoag Camp Fire Girls met with Miss Eleanor Johnson for Red Cross work. Local temperance workers have the assurance of Rep. James R. Ferry that he will vote in support of the national prohibition amendment. The Boy Scouts are canvassing the town in the interest of the sale of thrift stamps. Each scout selling $100 will be awarded and honor palm, and each selling $200 will be designated an Ace Scout and will be presented a medal. March 22 - The high school seniors have given up their Washington trip, and visited Boston Friday, accompanied by Principal A.C. Johnson. Employees of the C.F. Roper Company are pleased with an increase in their weekly pay envelopes, which was given voluntarily by the company Tomorrow evening, Sgt. George Grayson of Camp Devens will give an address at Pythian Hall on gas, gas masks, and grenade throwing. The address is for the benefit of the war fund, George Draper Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and will be followed by a card party. March 29 - Mrs. F.J. Dutcher and Mrs. W.W Dutcher served tea in connection with the Alliance meeting Wednesday. Mr. and Mrs. Otis L. Lurvey entertained a number of young people Saturday afternoon in honor of Willard and Harold Taft of Mendon. The county commissioners will hold a hearing in Town Hall May 3 on the petition for a section of state road, a third of a mile long, from the Milford town line, to the Upton town line, through that town. |
Hopedale News - January 2018 |
Hopedale News - January 1968 |
Hopedale News - 1918 |
