Susan Thwing Whitney. As a young girl, she helped her father, Almon Thwing, handle the mail in the Hopedale Community.
This photo shows the post office when it was in the town hall. Post office workers and Draper employees shown are: (l to r) Donald Arey, Elbert Marso, Ralph Holt, Chick Rubeo, Red ?, William Larson, John Connolly and Thomas Eckles.
In Februrary 2014, I received the following from Bob Marso’s daughter.(Elbert Marso, in the photo, was Bob’s father.)
Hi Dan
My Dad was reflecting on a photo c. 1941. He believes that some of the printed capture is not quite accurate. He offers the comments below for whatever it’s worth
Concerning the people in the photograph
Donald Arey – mail carrier, eastern part of town
Elbert Marso – Assistant Postmaster (not clerk)
Ralph Holt – Parcel Post Deliverer and part time mail man
Chick Rubeo – Draper Corp courier
(Unknown next man)
William Larson – Clerk
John Connolly – Postmaster (not Draper employee – see note below)
Thomas Eckles – mail carrier western part of town
A few comments on the PO — Due to sheer volume of mail, Chick Rubeo picked up the mail several times a day. The Postmaster job at that time was a political appointee. It always went to a man from the same political party that held power at the time. Connolly was an operator of a grocery store that was failing. His brother in law was Senator David I Walsh, Democrat of Mass. It was he who arranged his appointment. For the size of the town at the time Hopedale would have been a fourth class post office. With the Draper Corp. mail it was a first class PO which meant the pay was higher for all involved.
According to this article, the post office was located in the town hall from the time that it was built in 1887, but according to the 1912 Milford Gazette article further up this page, it evidently didn’t move into the town hall until then. When it was there, it wasn’t in the middle of the building where the Spa was, as stated, but on the left as you face it.
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