Early version of the Rustic Bridge. The current one was
    built in 1928. Click here for bridges of Hopedale Pond.

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    Twenty-five years ago – September 1995 - NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serb forces continue, after
    repeated attempts at a solution to the Bosnian War fail.

    Sony enters the video game market with the release of the PlayStation.

    The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber's manifesto.

    Fifty years ago – September 1970 - The Chevrolet Vega is introduced. The Ford Pinto is introduced.

    Monday Night Football debuts on ABC; the Cleveland Browns defeat the New York Jets 31–21 in front of more
    than 85,000 fans at Cleveland Stadium.

    The first women's only tennis tournament begins in Houston, known as the Houston Women's Invitation.

    News items above are from Wikipedia. For Hopedale news from 25, 50 and 100 years ago, see below
    this text box.



      







    Landscape architect Warren Henry] Manning designed the Parklands which encompasses approximately 273
    acres, about thirty-six of which constitute the pond and islands. The park includes a bathing beach (1899) and
    bathhouse (1904), near Hopedale Street.  An intact trail system (1907) leads to scenic views and rock
    outcroppings and has outlets to Hopedale, Dutcher, Freedom and Hazel streets. Tree stands of maple, ash,
    birch, hickory, and pine are native to the park. The following species were introduced: hemlock, tulip, mountain
    ash, Carolina poplar, black alder, striped maple, willows, Japanese barberry, red-osier dogwood, bittersweet,
    and cedars. Within the mowed area immediately north of the bathing beach are two additions to the landscape:
    a one-story hip-roofed garage facing Dutcher Street to the east, and, in a clearing overlooking the pond, a
    1996 monument for the Hopedale Parklands Nature Trail, dedicated to Willard W. Taft. The monument is a
    granite boulder with an attached brass plaque.

    Smaller green spaces in the historic district are set within the confines of the street grid in the residential
    neighborhood northeast of the Draper plant. The playground or Town Park supports large-scale recreational
    activities on approximately six acres. The park features walls assembled from stones found on the property,
    baseball and tennis courts, and the Craftsman-style bandstand (1906) designed by Chapman and Frazer of
    Boston and built by Dillon Brothers of Milford. Adin Ballou Memorial Park (1900) is a half-acre park on the
    former site of Ballou’s house (now at 64 Dutcher Street). It’s plantings and footpaths impart a sense of formality
    to this open space, which is located directly across Hopedale Street from the Draper plant.

    Due in part to its late 19th century date of incorporation, Hopedale does not have a town common. However, the
    presence of spacious manicured lawns with shade trees at the town’s institutional core near the intersection of
    Hopedale Street and Adin Street creates a similar effect. Interestingly, the building pattern of large institutional
    buildings on large lots at this location was not completed until the 1920s. The lawns associated with the Draper
    Memorial Church/Hopedale Unitarian Church (1898), the Hopedale Community House (1923), and the General
    William F. Draper High School, now Hopedale Junior-Senior High School (1927), all contribute to the park-like
    atmosphere at the town’s core. The southeastern lawn at Bancroft Memorial Library (1898), though smaller in
    scale than the others, also contributes to the institutional green space at this location.

    Certain historically residential properties in the village make a park-like contribution to the area, due in part to
    the considerable setback of buildings on their lots. The best examples are seen on Adin Street, where most of
    the mill proprietor’s estates were located. Designs of the grounds of the Eben. S. Draper estate, 55 Adin Street
    (original house 1885, current house ca. 1925, now operated as a private school) has been attributed to
    landscape architect Warren H. Manning. The natural beauty and continued preservation of this property, which
    encompasses roughly twenty-two acres, make a major contribution to the historic character of Adin Street. It
    includes a man-made pond and a stone arch bridge. On the Mendon Street (south) side of the property, a
    fieldstone wall approximately four to five feet high extends roughly 1400 feet down the north side of the road.
    Other historic residential properties that maintain open space include the Chapman house 107 Hopedale Street
    (ca. 1868), though there is some screening at the street in the form of a fence and shrubbery.

    Aside from the monuments in the Hopedale Village Cemetery, there is little outdoor statuary within the
    boundaries of the Hopedale Village district.  The most elaborate sculpture in the village is the large drinking
    fountain surmounted by the Statue of Hope (1904), located on the southeast lawn of Bancroft Memorial Library.
    (1898) Sculpted by Waldo Story in Rome, Italy, the piece is made of Carrara marble and includes a marble
    plaza, two basins, and a curved excedra in addition to the statue. The piece was shipped to Hopedale and
    dedicated in 1905. Restoration of the monument is nearing completion in 2001. Partridge Roman Bronze Works
    of New York produced the Adin Ballou Memorial Statue (1900) at Ballou Memorial Park. The statue depicts the
    founder of the Hopedale utopian community.

    The village also includes a few small monuments or markers. Among them is a monument to the so-called Old
    House, the building on Jones Farm that housed the first meeting of the Hopedale Community. The undated Old
    House Monument, which incorporates the granite front step of the house, is located at Ballou Memorial Park, 43
    Hopedale Street (ca. 1900), near the statue of Adin Ballou (1900).

     Another monument appears on the property of Sacred Heart Church, 183 Hopedale Street (1963). This Old
    High School Marker recalls the town’s first public high school (1887), which occupied the site until 1987. The
    marker preserves a piece of the high school’s foundation. A comparatively unusual marker in the village is the
    Hopedale-Upton Mile Marker at the intersection of Dutcher and Adin streets. This automobile milestone, which
    consists of a cast iron marker on a granite base, shows the distance to Upton via Dutcher Street in Hopedale
    and West Street in Milford. Unique in the historic district is the small, granite Hopedale-Milford Boundary Marker
    (late 19th century), located on the sidewalk in front of the house at 118 Adin Street near Mendon Street

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Open Spaces

Hopedale Village Historic District
National Register Nomination

Kathleen Kelly Broomer

Hopedale History - Spring and Summer of 1970

    Since the library wasn't open for a few months, I wasn't able to include
    the news from 25 and 50 years ago since February. It's now open, and
    I'm including a few items from the previous several months of 1970, in
    addition to news from September 1920, 1970 and 1995.

Hopedale News - September 1995

Hopedale News - September 1970

Hopedale in September 1920

    Building the baseball diamond at the Town Park - c. 1905. The
    icehouse can be seen on the other side of the pond.

    Dutcher Street entrance to Town Park,
    looking toward Freedom Street.