in this view. As you can see, the photo was taken when demolition of some of the Draper shops was underway. Below are a couple of pictures taken in 2011. |
and Freedom Street, which in now Howes Welding. The red arrow points to the fire station near Hopedale Street, across from Peace Street and Adin Ballou Park. The white arrow points to the pattern safe. Its purpose was to protect the patterns used for casting parts in the foundry. It was important to store the patterns in a fireproof building. Had they been in a building that burned, Drapers might never recover from the disaster. This photo was taken in 1950. . |
Bancroft Park. To the left of the houses, the Draper era garages can be seen. Draper Field, not quite finished, (although the sprinklers were working) is at the upper left. |
the building that was once one of the Draper fire stations. . |
Don Howes is owner of the building at 2 Bancroft Park, that was once one of the two Draper Corporation fire stations. It was probably built between 1900 and 1910. "Howsie" thinks that at that time they probably didn't have motorized fire trucks there. He thinks it's more likely that they had carts or wagons that would be pulled to the location of a fire by the firemen. Because there was a water system in place, trucks with pumps were not necessary. Plenty of men were nearby, and the station wasn't far from any fire they'd be called to. Men could pull the wagons filled with hoses, axes and other fire fighting equipment and be at the site of the fire before horses could be hitched and ready to go. |