Spring cleaning.

    1950 and no women jurors! The first year that women showed up on the Hopedale
    lists was 1951; thirty-one years after getting the right to vote. Maybe it was because
    many, probably most, women didn't drive until around that time. I'm assuming the
    nearest jury trial would be in Worcester, but that's just a guess. Another possible
    explanation is that it was probably felt by many that women shouldn't be hearing
    the sort of testimony that would come up in some cases. They might "swoon."

    More choices in those days. Even though Hopedale was
    a dry town, the Prohibition party didn't do very well

Looks like election season in Milford.

Hopedale in March 2017
and a few items from Marches of the past


Hopedale history ezine for March 1 - Mannings in Hopedale, Part 1   

Ezine for March 15 -
Manning in Hopedale, Part 2   

March 2016            February 2017

HOME  

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    For a few weeks, when recycling began in Hopedale in
    1990, paper, glass, metal, and several types of plastic
    were collected at the town hall parking lot. Eventually
    permission was obtained to move to the former Draper
    parking lot, across the tracks from the highway barn. I
    notice that Debbie Dalton's name was forgotten in the
    article. She and Sarah Shonbrun were the two who
    formed the committee.

The Milford bottle plant.

    From the Park Commission Facebook page:

    The bathroom building at Town Park will soon be under construction. We, the Town and the HPC,
    have been given the gift of an addition to the building. The addition will house a single handicap
    accessible bathroom stall, and a utility room for the addition of hot water at the sinks. The buildings
    electrical service will also be upgraded.

    Please use caution in the area of the construction. A little more attention to your kids as well will
    keep everyone safe during this project.

    We anticipate having the existing toilets functioning by March 20, the start of Spring sports at the
    High School.

    Below - Also from the Park Commission Facebook page, comments on donations to the project.

    Ongoing work at Phillips Brothers Field,
    including playground equipment and an
    increase in parking space for about 35 to
    40 more vehicles.

Hopedale Pond - March 5.

    The lower end of Hopedale Pond (and practically all of the upper end) was clear
    of ice on February 26. On March 6 it was covered with a skim that you can see in
    the picture above. Click here for more on when the ice has gone in the past.

    There is no charge for this event. To reserve your spot please stop by the
    Bancroft Memorial Library upstairs registration desk or call 508-634-2209.
    Click here to go to the library page for more on this program.
Presented by the Friends of the Hopedale Library

A sign of spring.

    The photo above, of John Mayo, Jr., was taken by Tracy Griffin Johnson. Tracy also wrote the paragraph
    below, and posted both on her Facebook page. At the time that I added them to this page, I noticed that on
    Tracy's Facebook page it had 318 likes, 62 shares, and a great number of comments saying what a
    wonderful man John was.

    The world lost a great man yesterday...the town of Hopedale lost a great man yesterday. Maybe you saw
    John walking the town picking up sticks, maybe you saw him at the local sport games, or maybe you saw
    him riding his bike to McDonald's...or saw him working there. You may have seen him at Union Church
    where, until recently, never missed an event or a Sunday. No matter where you may have seen John he
    always had a smile on his face, a positive thing to say and a stat of a local or national sports team! I took
    this picture only about 6 weeks ago, days before he was diagnosed with cancer. He was telling me about
    going to lunch with his sister for his birthday. He was a simple man. We should all aspire to be a little like
    John...Heaven just got lucky and I know John is happy to be there, he loved God!


    March 10 - So much for signs of spring. This didn't
    amount to much, though. The streets and sidewalks
    were too warm for it to accumulate on them. The
    prediction for Tuesday-Wednesday is for a much
    larger storm.

Hmmm...thanks, DJ.

    March 12 - For a second time, after being clear of ice, ice has returned
    to Hopedale Pond. See the iceout page for more on this.

    I thought it felt a bit chilly when I put the trash out this morning,
    and yes, looks like it is. A bit of snow is predicted for tomorrow.
    Quite a bit, for the middle of March. A foot or more.

    Well, that didn't turn out to be too bad. Not here, anyway. After lots of warnings (we're
    on the edge of the predicted 12 to 18, but near the 8 to 12 zone) we got about a foot,  
    which cleaned up fairly quickly on the afternoon of the 14th. Picture taken looking
    down Inman Street from in front of Hope1842.com World Headquarters.

Happy Pi Day

St. Patrick's Day on Hopedale Street.

From Adin Ballou's History of Milford.

Adin Ballou, History of Milford.

    March 22 - During a few warm days, much of the ice on Hopedale
    Pond melted. Much colder temps are predicted for the next few days.

    Thanks to Tom Bair and the Upton HIstorical Society
    for giving 42 photos of the 1955 flood in Hopedale to
    the Bancroft Library. They were taken by the Draper
    photography department and most are of in and
    around the Draper plant. Click here to see photos of
    the Freedom Street end on the shop, and more of cars
    flooded in the Draper parking lot.

    The Friends of the Hopedale Library presented another excellent program on
    March 22. The title was Discovering New England Stone Walls. The speaker,
    Kevin Gardner, shown above, gave a history and many fascinating facts about
    stone walls, while building the miniature wall shown. The next program will
    be about the Sacco and Vanzetti case. The speaker will be Chris Daley. It will
    be at the library starting at 6:30 on April 24.

    More photos of the 1955 flood at the Draper plant,
    also from the Upton HIstorical Society. Click here
    to see a page of them taken inside the shop.

Mia - 2002 - 2017