Recent additions to existing pages on this site include: William Lapworth  (Article on the elastic fabric business, and a postcard
    view of the Lapworth plant in Milford.)     Carpenter Road (1886 assessors' report for Sylvester Madden.)     The Dutcher Temple
    Company    (Article on the Dutcher Company from Leading Business Men of Milford, Hopkinton and Vicinity)   Hopedale Coal & Ice
    (Also from Leading Business men.)     Hopedale Machine Company (Yes, Leading Business Men again. And yes, that's how they
    wrote it in the 1890s - Business Men.)     Draper 1885 - 1890 (Also from Leading Business Men.)       Recent deaths.   

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    Twenty-five years ago - August 1991 - Tim Berners-Lee announces the World Wide Web project and software on the alt.
    hypertext newsgroup. The first website, "info.cern.ch" is created.

    Eight soviet republics declare independence from the Soviet Union.

    Boris Yeltsin bans and dissolves the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

    Fifty years ago - August 1966 - Sniper Charles Whitman kills 14 people and wounds 32 from atop the University of Texas at
    Austin Main Building tower, after earlier killing his wife and mother.

    Ground breaking takes place for the World Trade Center.

    In the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong begins the Cultural Revolution to purge and reorganize China's Communist Party.

    The Beatles end their US tour with a concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. It is their last performance as a live touring
    band.

    The news items above are from Wikipedia. For Hopedale news from 25, 50 and 100 years ago, (from the Milford Daily News
    and Milford Gazette) see below the field day photos under this text box.

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                                                                        The Twenty Second Annual Field Day...

    Of Draper Corporation employees was held on August 12. The day was cloudy, with occasional showers, and before midday the
    remainder of the program was postponed until the following Saturday, when unfavorable weather again interfered, causing a
    further postponement of the ball game, which was finally decided, like the games of our regular Twilight league, by an evening
    contest.

    The crowd in attendance on both days was near the record, being about 3000. This larger attendance of the past two years as
    compared with the number present for several years previously was undoubtedly due to the efforts of the recent Field Day
    committees to vary the program and increase the number of active participants in the various events by adding contests open to
    those to whom the more strictly athletic events would be closed as participants, and by the increase in community features.

    The unfavorable weather on both days interfered with the work of our photographer, but the following pages show some of the
    better snapshots taken of the several events of the day.

                                          The Night Before Featured By Children's Parade, Community Sing and Movies

    The "night before" was a memorable occasion for the townspeople of Hopedale. The Children's Parade, illustrations of which are
    shown on pages 8 and 9, was the best of these held yet.

    The Community Sing followed with the people seated on the side hill in the rear of the company office building. Shortly after 8:30 it
    was dark enough for the open-air movie, and "The Ruling Passion" was presented by The Hopedale Community House, Inc.

                                                                                          Something for the Kiddies

    An event on the day's program that made a hit with the kiddies was the presentation to every child between five and ten years of
    age of a free ticket to the field day, these tickets entitling them to an ice cream cone, a box of cracker jacks and a toy balloon.
    The older people whose sole participation in the field day was that of spectator were not forgotten in the distribution of favors.
    Three Ten Dollar Gold Pieces were given away by drawings of names of employees. These drawings were held at 10:30 A.M., 1
    and 4 P.M., and if the one whose name was drawn for the prize was not present to claim it, the drawing was continued until the
    name of someone present came out of the box.

    Four similar drawings of Two Dollar and a Half Gold Pieces for school children of Hopedale were held at 9:30 and 11:30 A.M and
    1:30 P.M.

    During the day refreshments were served from several booths. Some of the prices were: ice cream cones 4 cents; ham
    sandwiches 4 cents; coffee 4 cents; hot frankfort with roll and mustard 4 cents; and soft drinks 4 cents.

                                                                                            Superintendent's Cup

    One year ago Mr. Frank Edmands, general superintendent of the company, presented to the Field Day committee and handsome
    Trophy Cup to be held each year by the department whose representatives scored the highest number of points in the several
    contests on the program. The cup was won both years by Dept. 5-8.

                                                                                                   Block Dancing

    The closing event on the program as laid out, but which was postponed twice on account of weather, was the out-door dance.
    Dutcher Street, for the entire length of the Town Park, was closed to traffic, treated with a mixture that made its hard surface a fair
    dancing floor and illuminated by 150 electric lights of different colors.

    The Hopedale band, whose music had been an enjoyable feature of the several sessions of this continued field day, gave a
    pleasant program of dance music, and both dancers and the large gathering of spectators pronounced it a fitting climax to the
    field day of 1922. Cotton Chats, No. 237, January 1923.

    Thanks to Lisa and Joe Calagione for the copy of Cotton Chats (and many more) used here. The text was followed by 20 photos
    which can be seen below.

                                               
                         Field Day, 1929                      More Field Day Photos          

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Hopedale News - August 1991

Hopedale News - August 1966

Hopedale News - August 1916