Hopedale History
September 2024
No. 431
The Naming of Hopedale
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Twenty-five years ago – September 1999 – Viacom and CBS merge.
The Sega Company introduces in American market the new game console with the name Dreamcast.
Larry Gene Ashbrook murders seven people and then commits suicide at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
Fifty years ago – September 1974 – U.S. President Gerald Ford made an unpopular decision that would ultimately cost him the 1976 U.S. presidential election, as he announced in a nationally televised speech that he had granted a “full, free and absolute pardon” to his predecessor, former President Richard Nixon, for any crimes that Nixon might have committed during the Nixon presidency.
The first modern triathlon took place in the U.S. at Mission Bay in San Diego, California. The event was organized by two members of the San Diego Track Club, Jack Johnstone and Don Shanahan.
Orthopedic surgeon Frank Jobe performed the first ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, with a tendon from one arm being used to reconstruct the elbow of the other arm. Jobe’s first patient was Dodgers pitcher Tommy John, who tore a ligament in his left elbow in his 12th season in baseball. After staying out during the 1975 season, John would continue as a pitcher for 14 additional seasons and would be the inspiration for other players to extend their careers by undergoing the “Tommy John surgery”
The first warnings were made to the general public of the danger of ozone depletion from the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
One-hundred years ago – September 1924 – · Died: Frank Chance, 48, American baseball player immortalized (along with Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers) in the phrase “Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance” in the Franklin Pierce Adams poem Baseball’s Sad Lexicon“, later an inductee in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The U.S. military occupation of the Dominican Republic came to an end after more than eight years.
Gutzon Borglum arrived in the U.S. state of South Dakota at the invitation of Doane Robinson to carry out plans to carve a statue of four American presidents in the state’s Black Hills.
News items above are from Wikipedia. For Hopedale news from 25, 50 and 100 years ago, see below this text box.
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The Naming of Hopedale – Part 1
By Peter Hackett
The birth and naming of Hopedale was a unique and historic circumstance. Both facts considered as one is the result of six meetings in connection with the formation and establishment of what later became known as the Hopedale Community.
First meeting. This meeting was held in 1839 in Mendon, at the home of Rev. Adin Ballou, minister of the Unitarian Church. It is here at this meeting where the decision was made to organize a “Community” and publish a paper to be known as the “Practical Christian.”
Second meeting. This meeting was held in 1840, also at the home of Rev. Adin Ballou in Mendon. Its chief business was the ratification of the Constitution upon which the rules and laws of the Community were based. The Constitution had been drafted by Mr. Ballou and was signed by 32 members, some of whom were women.
Third meeting. This meeting, held in 1841, also at the home of Mr. Ballou. A committee was chosen to find a place suitable for the Community to settle.
Fourth meeting. Interestingly enough this meeting was held in 1841 in Boyleston, in the home of a Rev. George W. Stacy. The committee chosen to find a place for the Community reported that it had viewed several but had not decided on one. At this meeting, Rev. Adin Ballou was elected president of the Community.
Fifth meeting. The most important of the six meetings, it was held August 24, 1841 in Millville. (Millville must have been a village of Blackstone at that time. It didn’t separate and become a town until 1916.) The two main points on which our story is based – the birth and naming of Hopedale, in a sense took place at the Millville meeting.
Mr. Ballou reported that he had bought for the Community, the old Jones farm in Milford (now Hopedale). Following his extensive report, the meeting resolved: “Our said location, formerly called the Dale, afterwards the Jones Farm and latterly the Hastings Daniels place, be hereafter called, known and distinguished by the name Hope Dale.” There you have it, although it should be noted that it was spelled as two words.
Sixth meeting. This meeting was held in 1842, and, like the first three, at Rev. Ballou’s house in Mendon. Its principal business was to make plans for settling on the old Jones Farm which by this time had come to be known as the Old House.
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Hopedale News – September 1999
Hopedale News – September 1974
Hopedale News – September 1924
