Above - The Draper plant on Hopedale Street in 1935, from a
    negative in the Bancroft Library collection. Thanks to Charlie
    Dennett who let me know that I had it flipped the wrong way.

    Below - The Draper plant in 2017.

    The Crossways, the house at 105 Adin Street, was originally
    the home of Bristow and Queena Draper. By the time of
    Helene's wedding, their son, B.H. Bristow Draper, Jr. and
    family, including daughter Helene, were living there.

Town Hall   

    The home at 25 Northrop Street is on the site where the Roper factory
    once stood. Although the ad below gives the address as 5 Northrop
    Street, it's the same location. It appears that Northop Street was still a
    dirt road then, with Hopedale's unique fieldstone curbs.

Hopedale in October


Hopedale history ezine for October 1 - The Old House   

Ezine for mid-October - On the Road with Otis   

Hopedale in September 2017

Hopedale in October 2016   

Hopedale in 2017                  HOME   

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    Although the paragraph above refers to The Larches as the George O. Draper house, it was actually the home of his
    aunt, Hannah Thwing Osgood. The original house on the site was his, but he sold it to Hannah in 1909. It burned down
    about a month after the sale. The house that's there now is the one she had built to replace it. More   

Kwik-E-Mart, Springfield

    The Phantom of the Pear Tree. I was looking out a living room
    window a few evenings ago and noticed this guy looking in at me.

Quick Mart, Milford

    Cumberland Farms now open. Click here to see pictures from
    the grand opening in 1983, through the demolition of the original
    store and three houses and the construction of the new facility.

    This month marks the 150th year since Rev. Adin Ballou's
    Practical Christian church formed the Hopedale Parish, and
    a short time later became a Unitarian church. Click here to
    see how the parish celebrated the centennial in 1967.

    Two of a small flock of turkeys near
    Hopedale Street, Mendon. October 7.

Rustic Bridge, Parklands,

1967, I think.

    The Millville lock on the Blackstone Canal. This and the Goat Hill lock in
    Uxbridge are the only ones that remain. Click here for directions to it.

    Site of Chapel Street School. Click here
    for then and now pictures of the block.

    His love of truth, as he understood it, was with him a supreme feeling, and the
    only person that he had to convince of the truth of anything in order to have him
    live absolutely in that line, was himself. He was considerate of the opinions of
    others, but when they did not agree with his own well considered conclusions, he
    had no doubt or hesitation in following his own path. His personality was
    delightful, a most interesting conversationalist and a charming and sincere
    manner. It was always a pleasure to meet him, and his presence was always an
    influence for good.

    I am glad that the statue which has been unveiled today has been erected, and in
    the future, as it calls to mind the person whom it represents, it will help all who
    hear of his life to be better and nobler themselves. Eben S. Draper, President of
    the Day, Dedication of Ballou Park and Statue, October 27, 1900

Photo of statue from 1900 town report.

Above and below - The corner of Dutcher and Northrop streets.

    Draper House, London. Sent by my son, DJ. Glad
    my Draper house wasn't built in the Brutalist style..
Hopedale Farm in Swanzey, New Hampshire.
That's an item I've never run across before.

    I noticed these paintings on a wall at the Grafton
    Inn when we were there for lunch this week.

    Click here for a Milford News article on the latest dam problem.
    Hopedale Pond has never been known for crystal-clear water,
    but wow! I don't know what was going on when I took this
    picture, but I've never seen it that color before.

    Above - Looking down Monument Avenue in Charlestown
    toward the Bunker Hill Monument.

    Below - the Everett casino. Photos by my son, DJ.


    When the Arrows of death flew thick around me, I was preserv'd while others were suffer'd to fall a prey to our
    Cruel enemies... -Peter Brown to his Mother, 25 June, 1775


    On June 17, 1775, New England soldiers faced the British army for the first time in a pitched battle. Popularly known as
    "The Battle of Bunker Hill," bloody fighting took place throughout a hilly landscape of fenced pastures that were situated
    across the Charles River from Boston. Though the British forces claimed the field, the casualties inflicted by the
    Provincial solders from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire were staggering. Of the some 2,400 British
    Soldiers and Marines engaged, some 1,000 were wounded or killed.

    Fifty years after the battle, the Marquis De Lafayette set the cornerstone of what would become a lasting monument and
    tribute to the memory of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The project was ambitious: construct a 221-foot tall obelisk built
    entirely from quarried granite. It took over seventeen years to complete, but it still stands to this day atop a prominence
    of the battlefield now known as Breed's Hill. Marking the site where Provincial forces constructed an earthen fort, or
    "Redoubt," prior to the battle, this site remains the focal point of the battle's memory. National Park Service

    Another picture from DJ. This shuttle is in the Hunnewell Visitors’ Center at
    the Arnold Arboretum. It appears to be a Draper shuttle. To work in their
    automatic looms, their shuttles had to be a bit different from the ones used in
    what they derisively called "common looms." They owned thousands of
    acres of dogwood forest in the South for the purpose of producing those
    shuttles. Click here to see more on Draper shuttles.


FRIENDS OF ADIN BALLOU
present
THE ANNUAL FALL LECTURE

Vital Statistics:
The Funeral Records of Adin Ballou






















FREE EVENT ~ OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ~ REFRESHMENTS
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 2017
TIME: 3 pm
PLACE: Hopedale Unitarian Church, 65 Hopedale St., Hopedale

    When Rev. Ballou presided at funerals in the Dale of Hope, he
    laid his parishioners to rest with care and eloquence. During this
    lecture, Dr. Allison Horrocks of the National Park Service in the
    Blackstone River Valley, will explore what Ballou’s funeral ledgers
    and other records on death reveal about life in Hopedale.

    The Milford turkey, aka the Shaw's turkey, Pat, ST, Henrietta, and
    Lurkey, died recently. You can read more and see lots of pictures
    on her Facebook page, and also read more about her on a Milford
    News article from the October 24 paper.

    This is for those of you celebrating the centennial of the October Revolution. Click
    here to go to a story of a Hopedale connection to U.S. aid to the Soviet Union.

    Here's the first sentence from the article. Somewhere along the great Russian
    fighting front there flies today a cannon-carrying Airacobra proudly carrying the
    name of "The Hopedale Avenger," as it deals out death and destruction to the
    retreating Nazi hordes.

    DJ and I went out for a paddle on Lake
    Quinsigamond on the 28th. There were only four
    or five other boats on the whole lake, including  
    the one with the water skier you see here.

     Below - Looking up at the Lake Quinsigamond
    Route 9 bridge.