Court decision on West Street land case – Dec. 14, 2021
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Twenty-five years ago – December 1996 – Hong Kong reverts to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997 at the end a 99-year lease to the United Kingdom.
Six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado.
Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Air Base, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul.
Fifty years ago – December 1921 – Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.
The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history.
Juliane Koepcke survives a fall of 10,000 feet following disintegration of LANSA Flight 508. (Click her name for survival story.)
One-hundred years ago – December 1921 – The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State, an independent nation incorporating 26 of Ireland’s 32 counties, is signed in London.
In the Four-Power Treaty on Insular Possessions, the Empire of Japan, United States, United Kingdom, and French Third Republic agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific.
News items above are from Wickpeida. See below this text box for Hopedale news clippings from 25, 50 and 100 years ago.
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Centennial Kick-off
“If ever you wanted to get a special gift for a special occasion but didn’t know exactly what you wanted of where to find it, then that is the situation the 100th Birthday Committee was in about six months ago.”
These were the opening remarks made at the Hopedale Centennial kick-off yesterday by Marilyn Barrows, chairman of the town’s 100th Birthday Committee, in dedicating the committee’s gift to the town.
Mrs. Barrows added, “Through the Hopedale Arts Council we met local artist Lisa Ferrucci of Hill Street. We talked to her, we checked out her portfolio, and unanimously decided immediately that ’this is it.’”
Mrs. Barrows was referring to the creation by Ferrucci of an etched window which has been installed in a door in Town Hall leading to the selectmen’s office
She then introduced Lisa Ferrucci to the gathering and concluded saying, “We give this centennial window to the Town of Hopedale, the people of Hopedale and, to the future of Hopedale.” According to Mrs. Barrows and her husband, Selectman Robert Barrows, the centennial’s opening program was everything it was hoped to be and more.
At about 11:15 yesterday as the public address system was being tested on the portico of the Community House and the podium was being set out, hail and rain began falling.
In a scurry of activity, everything was dismantled and last-minute arrangements were made to move the party to cover at Dennett Auditorium at Hopedale Junior-Senior High School.
Because of the last-minute change in location of the party, festivities were about 15 minutes late in starting. The 1886 signal was sounded on the fire-alarm system shortly after 12:15 p.m. to signal the start of the program and the Town’s birthday.
The gathering had the opportunity to hear the high school band offer a specially arranged medley of Happy Birthday and America, which was extremely moving and which will be played by each event at which it participates in from now to the end of the year.
Former selectmen who attended yesterday’s event included William B. Gannett, Carl Bresciani, John A. Hayes, State Rep. Richard T. Moore, William Krauss, and Leo Lovely, who joined the present selectmen, Barrows, Edward Scott and Annette Lawson for the birthday celebration.
The month of April will be filled with birthday activities including a puppet show for children later this week at the Community House, the presentation of a cantata next Sunday at the Union Evangelical Church, and a concert of patriotic music later this month by the Hopedale Community House chorus.
The birthday cake, which was to have been served to guests yesterday during the Toast to the Town, did not arrive in time for the program. It will be served tonight at 6:30 at the Unitarian Church prior to the ceremonies being held there at 7 in conjunction with the Town’s 100th Annual Town Meeting.
Everyone is invited to stop in and enjoy the cake and attend the annual Town Meeting which will begin with special ceremonies at the Unitarian Church and then move over to the Dennett Auditorium for a 7:30 p.m. beginning.
The Centennial Cook Book, compiled by the Town’s 100th birthday committee, was available to anyone wishing to purchase a copy.
Click here for more on the town seal on glass.
Hopedale News – December 1996
Hopedale News – December 1971
Hopedale News – December 1921
