Hopedale Pond - Town Report, 1905 |
century textile book, (470 pages on a memory card), titled Textile Machinery - Part 3 - Wool, Cotton, Silk. |
Probably Carl Miner's most successful team as a coach was the Hopedale High boy's basketball team of 1956-57. Click here to read about it. |
in Paris, he was killed in action in the Pacific. Click here for more about him, and here to read about Eleanor's year in Paris. |
Click here for history of the fire department. |
Blue heron, Charles River, Medfield |
Where do the buffalo roam? At the Mendon Antique Center. |
Hopedale in July 2016 Hopedale history ezine for July 1 - July 4th speech, 1827 Ezine for July 15 - An Old-Fashioned Fourth Recent Pictures Menu HOME . |
The photo, taken by Edwin Darling in 1901, shows Lewis B. Gaskill and Mr. Wilcox. Darling and Gaskill were both Hopedale selectmen for many years. The picture was probably taken at Gaskill's farm in South Hopedale. Click here for more on the Gaskill family, and here for more on Darling. |
This little guy has been visiting our yard almost daily for weeks. I've let some parts of the lawn grow, and there's more than just grass, so he seems to be finding plenty to eat. Thanks for the picture, DJ. |
July 3 |
That's where the Draper service station used to be - next to the fire station. Click here to see a photo of it. |
Damage to trees by gypsy moth caterpillars has been rather spotty this year. Most of the trees in the Parklands haven't been noticeably affected, but this picture, taken on July 4 just west of the upper end of Hopedale Pond shows one area that was.
complete their feeding during late June to early July and then seek a place to pupate. They’ll then transform into a moth in about 10 to 14 days. Females will lay one egg mass and then die. Click here to go to the article. |
and why I’m looking to be in a smaller community.” Commenting on the stress and emotional challenges that students face, Crebase said students live very fast-paced lives, but are also involved in numerous extra-curricular activities to tout to prospective colleges. “I think you can think about traditional things – the way we can help our students the most is to take two minutes to listen to them,” Crebase said. “Let them be heard and make that connection with them.” According to Crebase, Hopedale is the only district she applied to, and during that process, nothing she read about the community “stuck out as not being a match.” “If I’m going to leave a school district where I have close connections to students and families, I want this to be for a special reason,” she said. Bridget Morisseau, the current assistant superintendent for the Smithfield, R.I. public school district, was interviewed first and spoke about being close with teachers, students and families and ended her interview by telling the committee and dozens in the audience that she has already started to look at homes in Hopedale. “I want to be a leader in the community,” she said. “I feel like I’m a perfect fit for this community.” After the interviews, committee Chairwoman Lisa Alberto said while Morisseau is “very energetic … and connects well” with teachers and students, she said Crebase is also very passionate about education. Alberto acknowledged concerns that a transition from a large district with a budget more than $100 million would clash with a much smaller district with a proposed $11.6 million fiscal 2017 budget, but she said Crebase would be a “great motivator.” “She’s going to teach the staff how to professionally advance in their careers as well as maintaining the high student achievement we already have,” Alberto said. Committee member Craig Adams, along with the rest of the committee, voted for Crebase. “One (candidate) would carry our district in much of the same way it has been, or someone could bring us forward,” he said. Committee member Lori Hampsch said when during a visit to Crebase’s district, her co-workers and even her superintendent “got emotional” when talking about her, as they “really didn’t want to lose her, but wanted to go to bat for her.” “They know this is what she wanted,” Hampsch said. , Feburary 10, 2016, |
There have been loads of moths in the air lately. Gypsy moths, evidently. Here are a few paragraphs from the Mass Audibon site, saying the situation isn't as bad as it looks. Click here to go to their gypsy moth page. Gypsy moths belong to the widespread family of tussock moths, some of which show cyclical population booms and crashes. During a boom, or outbreak, they can cause massive defoliation most likely in uniform stands of tree species, particularly oaks. While a disheartening sight, the long-term effect of the phenomenon is not as disastrous as some commonly assume and may in some ways be beneficial. Thinning of forests by gypsy moths may produce a healthier, more diverse, and perhaps a more gypsy-moth resistant stand of trees. Moderate defoliation benefits forest wildlife by stimulating understory growth of shrubs and berry-producing thickets. The larval droppings (frass) fertilize the soil, the larvae provide food for birds and mammals, and the skeletal remains of trees that succumb provide habitat for wildlife, thus promoting diversity in the forest ecosystem. |
New England FC (NEFC), a 501(c)3 non-for-profit organization with over 100 soccer teams and 2,000 soccer player members, has broken ground on its first turf field complex with the start of construction on an eight-acre, two-turf field, lighted complex in Mendon, Mass. To facilitate the project NEFC purchased 26 acres of zoned commercial land at 35 Cape Road in Mendon. In addition to the two 70x110 yard synthetic turf soccer fields, the project also includes a 175-space parking lot adjacent to the fields and parallel to Cape Road. NEFC intends to resell the remaining 16 acres of land not used by its field complex and has no plans for further field expansion on the property. |
This is your lawn. |
This is your lawn on drugs. |
He's getting bigger. Lots of good stuff to eat in the lawn. |
The picture above is of Mary Gale. Here is part of an email I received recently from a gentleman in Warsaw, Poland that will explain a bit about its source. Dear Sir, Being a collector of old photography, I have a little album of photos from 1860s, taken mainly in Milford (mostly by Ephraim Lewis Wires). Most of them are not signed, two however show Mary F. Gale (born 1864) and Mattie D. Gale and one was given by three sisters to a certain Grace Dutcher, so the album was owned probably either by Dutchers or by Gales.
anything about the Gale family. If so, you can let me using the email link on the homepage. |
Beaver dam at the Mellen Street bridge. |
Look at the second half of the second paragraph. Why would anyone drink anything else? |
DJ went to Myrtle Street in Medford to look for the house where a jar of the first gypsy moth caterpillars in the country fell from a windowsill and set them free. The address is given as 27 Myrtle Street. The house on the left is 29 and the next one is 25. No house, no historic marker. |
This picture, taken on the front stairs of the original Hopedale High School, is from the Bancroft Library. It has Lucy Day's name on the back. Lucy was later one of the teachers there, but in 1896 she was one of the six graduates. There are a few of us who have been around here long enough to remember her. The school committee report for that year doesn't give any men's names among the faculty, so the man in the back was probably the superintendent, Elmer. E. Sherman. Click here to see pictures of the high school, and also of it when it became Sacred Heart Church. |
On Friday, July 29 at 10:30 A.M., I'll be doing a PowerPoint slide show on the history of the Draper Corporation at Atria Draper Place. The program is open to the public. |
The new Mendon LIbrary on North Avenue is now open. Until St. Gabriel's opened, it had been St. Michael's Church. |
The Miscoe Spring Company on Northbridge Road, Mendon. Click here to read about the company and the soda (like orange crush) that you used to drink. Some of you, anyway. |
Article 2. Voted: That the town do accept and allow the laying out of the town way to be called Park Street, as reported by the Board of Road Commissioners, and that the sum of ($6,000) six thousand dollars be and hereby is raised and appropriated for the purpose of constructing said street, and that the Board of Road Commissioners be and hereby are authorized to contract in the name of the town for all or any portion of said construction as it may deem wise. Town Report, 1909 |
Painting the ceiling at Sacred Heart Church. |
In addition to the items above, and the usual state bird, state flower, etc., Massachusetts has an official state gem, dog, fish, insect, beverage, etc., etc. Here's a link to a complete list of them. DJ sent it to me, remembering that when I was teaching I said that someday I'd get my class on the six o'clock news by taking them to the state house to lobby for an official state fungus. It's one of the few categories not already taken. I never got around to it. Here's a link to Fungi of Massachusetts in case you'd like to pick one and take up the cause. Turkey tail might be a good choice. Or, considering all the sports fans around here, maybe the fungus that causes athlete's foot would be the best choice. |
Here's Joe Leoncini on his front porch at his home on Soward Street. He turned 99 today - July 20. Click here to read his memories. |
The Angel of Death and the Young Sculptor Daniel Chester French was commissioned in 1889 to create a funeral memorial for the Milmore Family, to be located in Forest Hill Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. The will of Martin Milmore's older brother, Joseph, called for creation of the monument, which was to commemorate the life of his older brother, Martin Milmore. As Martin Milmore had been a sculptor himself, French decided to depict the artist at work, with the Angel of Death interrupting his work. Martin Milmore was 39 years old when he died. http: //www.yeodoug.com/resources/dc_french/angel_of_death/dcfrench_angel_of_death.html
designed by architect C. Howard Walker." Walker was the architect who designed the Bancroft Memorial Library. Another local connection is the General Willam F. Draper statue in Milford, created by Daniel Chester French. |
If you'd like to know roughly what the value of the items above from the 1933 town report would be now, here's some help below from http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ |
For many years Dutcher Street ended at the intersection with Northrop Street. When it was built beyond that, for several years it was called Dutcher Street extension. I don't know if the building was ever erected. This is the only thing I've ever seen about it. |
We had some interesting lightning to watch on the night of July 22. Although it didn't look far away, I never heard any thunder. I first saw flashes in the clouds when we were in Milford near the library, looking in the direction of the town hall. The picture above was taken by DJ from the third floor of our house on Inman Street. |
The big old tree by Hopedale Pond, the site of many class pictures and other photo ops, came down on the evening of the 22nd. |
"Fill 'er up." |
Hopedale High's centennial class - the Class of 1986, on the now nearly gone tree. |
From Consumer Reports |
Looks different. |
Cutting brush on the former Draper property - July 27. |