October 15, 2008 Hopedale History No. 118 Separation Hopedale in October Hopedale Pond in October Friends of Elders Shop Billie Manning’s photos of Day in the Park – on Flikr. Dance card – Hopedale High Junior Prom, 1944 – See who was dancing back when a ticket to the prom cost $1.20. Donors of labor, materials and artifacts to the Little Red Shop over the past few months include Walter Swift, Milford Ceramic Tile, the Cowen family (Classic Tile), Gerry Swift (Gerry’s Paintland), the Hopedale High School Class of 1958, Bill Gannett, Paul Bufalo, Dave Lowell, Irene Cascella-Hakins, Charles Mullen, D&E Painting Company, Benjamin Moore Company, Kimball Sand & Gravel, Bob Goss, Gordon Keegan, Dawn Carbary, Carol Pellegrino, Marshall’s Jewelers, Jim Shimkus, Mike Ciaramicoli, Joey Evalino, and members of the Friends of Historic Hopedale and the Hopedale Historical Commission. <><><><><><><><><><> “We don’t need no stinkin’ sewage system.” Well, it wasn’t worded quite that way, but that was one of the reasons given in the campaign for the separation of Hopedale from Milford. The split was proposed in 1885 and accomplished in 1886. The Little Red Shop Museum recently received a long-term loan of some very interesting Draper and Hopedale items from Gordon Keegan of Uxbridge. Mr. Keegan was the advertising manager at Drapers during the Rockwell years. One item from the collection that he rescued from the wastebasket back then was a carefully done scrapbook of articles, editorials, letters to the editor, ads, and petitions concerning the separation. Here’s one of the articles. Reasons why the Village of Hopedale desires to be Incorporated as a new Town First – The business interests of the two sections are entirely dissimilar, those of Milford being the manufacture of Boots and Shoes, and those of Hopedale, the manufacture of various kinds of Machinery. There is a natural water-shed between the two valleys, the drainage of Milford passing by the Charles River to Boston, and that of Hopedale by the Mill River to the Blackstone and thence to Narragansett Bay, Second – The amount of taxes paid by Hopedale, per inhabitant, is about as two to one when compared with the rest of the town. Third – Hopedale being a comparatively small village, has only village requirements; while Milford has the wants of a city, which are being rapidly, urged year by year. There is a present demand, voiced in nearly every town-meeting, for sewerage, paid police, fire alarm, and other necessities of a large place. Hopedale has no need of these, and would derive no benefit from them, yet for these things its citizens would be compelled to pay twice the amount of taxes per head that those citizens would for whose benefit they are asked. Fourth – There is a prejudice on the part of a large portion of the inhabitants of the center of town against Hopedale, which is given expression each week by a local organ (the Times). It has often required contests involving time, expense, and personal feeling, to secure even comparatively small amount of needed appropriations from the town that the village of Hopedale has actually had. Fifth- Hopedale possesses enough inhabitants for a township, large enough area and valuation, and a sufficient number of experienced men competent to manage town affairs. Its citizens are substantially unanimous in desiring the change. I ask your favorable consideration of these statements, and shall be glad to send you further information should you desire it. The name of the paper and the date are not included, but it probably appeared in the Milford Journal, and must have been sometime within several months before the separation occurred in April 1886. More on the separation. <><><><><><><><><><> Recent deaths: Terry J. McCarthy, 50, Upton, October 10, 2008, HHS 1976. Antoinette Menfi, 89, October 12, 2008. Rev. Richard Drinan, 75, (Hopedale Unitarian Parish), October 12, 2008. Hopedale History Email Menu HOME . |
