The new high school on Adin Street opened in 1927. The old school became Sacred Heart Church , shown above, in 1935.
After the fire at Stone Furniture – (former Patrick’s Corner Store) – 1979
Tree planting committee – early 1980s.
The Brae Burn Inn
The first Unitarian Church in Hopedale, shown above, was razed and replaced by the one shown below in 1898.
Above – The Legion home on Hopedale Street at the corner of Depot. The Gibson grocery store, several other businesses, and the post office were in there over the years. The Gibson ad is from 1869.
A glimpse of the Harrison Block shows on the left, and a little of the George and Hannah Draper home can be seen on the right. The home was eventually razed, and in 1923 other buildings on the block were removed and the Community House was built there.
Left to right – Town Hall, future Legion home, which evidently was originally the Home School of the Hopedale Community, (and at the time of the picture would have housed a business or two and maybe the post office), Harrison block, and Henry Patrick’s Store.
The Harrison Block, with the Hopedale Pharmacy on the ground floor. The picture is from a Yankee magazine article about Hopedale.
This is to certify that a license to operate a Bowling Alley has been granted to A. Melvin Smith (of Milford) rear Harrison Block, Hopedale, Mass., by the Selectmen of said Town. Town Report, 1918
The Hope Street bridge ran from Hopedale Street to Cemetery Street.
The Day house, across from the library. It was the home of Charles and Lura (Bancroft) Day. In the Hopedale Community years, the home of Lura’s uncle and aunt, Almon and Sarah (Darling) Thwing stood on the property. The Thwing house was moved to Union Street early in the twentieth century.
This house was originally the home of the Humphreys, a very significant couple in the Hopedale Community. Later it was known as the Dr. Fish house. It was razed at some point long ago; perhaps in 1904 when the Statue of Hope was erected next to the library.
The Bancroft Memorial Library
Hopedale center a little before 1898. Click here if you’d like to see more on the buildings. Click here to go to a page with a few more views of this area.
The hose house, Hopedale’s first fire station is on the left. The next structure was a Draper building known as the tin shop. Sheet metal work was done there, I think. A person who lived near there told me that it was very noisy. Draper shops didn’t always extend all the way out to Hopedale Street, and you can see some houses north of the tin shop that were eventually razed or moved.
The roof of the early main office shows in the foreground of this picture. There were still houses on the west side of Hopedale Street at that time. The Water Cure house is in the middle, on the other side of Hopedale Street. It was at the corner of Hopedale and Union streets.
Before 1911, the buildings in the front in this picture were the Draper main offices. Compared to the picture above this one, you can see that houses were removed and a second office had been built.
Looking over Hopedale Street from a Draper shop roof or window. Chapel Street can be seen in the middle, and the Chapel Street School faces Hopedale Street. The houses on the right foreground were moved to build the Draper Main Office there. Click here for more on this area.
Brick siding replaced the wooden siding seen here in the 1930s.
The chapel and school of the Hopedale Community. In later years it was divided into two apartments and had a store in the basement. Razed in the 1950s.
Intersection of Hopedale and Freedom streets.
Moving the Red Shop from the west side of the pond to the Hopedale Street side. 1951
The trolley bridge over Hopedale Pond as seen from Hopedale Street. Click here for more on trolleys in this area and the G&U Railroad. Click here for more on the bridges of Hopedale Pond.
Boat houses along the Hopedale Street side of Hopedale Pond. Photo taken during a field day.
The crowd along the Hopedale Street side of the pond during an early field day.
Most of the pictures above are links to the subjects that they show.
Hopedale Street
The business listings and ads on this page are from Milford-Hopedale directories and the Milford Daily News, from 1869 through 1967. It’s certainly not a complete list of all the business that operated along Hopedale Street during those years: just a few I was able to find.
There are a couple of references to Main Street. In the Hopedale Community years, what became Hopedale Street was called Main Street. That had changed before the time anything on this page came into existence. While Hopedale was a section of Milford, and for some years after the separation, what is now called Mendon Street was then named Main Street, or more often seen as West Main Street.
