Hopedale History
No. 104
Ice Cutting on Hopedale Pond
Hopedale in March The Stolen Bust Milford Day in Florida
Judging by the responses I've had, many of you enjoyed Roy Rehbein's story of a nighttime dip in Hopedale Pond back in the 1940s. Here's another page of memories he sent a couple of weeks ago. Much of this covers the final years of Drapers......and more - Growing up in Hopedale.
Aerosmith fans might be interested in this site. Especially anyone who is also into Guitar Hero. Thanks to Dick Grady for the link.
Ann Fisher of Molly's Apothecary in Holliston will be demonstrating soap making at the Bancroft Library on March 19 at 7:00 p.m.
I'll be speaking about abolitionism in Hopedale at the Bancroft Library at 7:00 p.m. on March 31.
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Years ago there were three icehouses on Hopedale Pond; one near the present location of Lake Street, another, near where the bathhouse now stands, operated by Henry Patrick who owned the grocery store in the center of town, and a third on the west side of the pond. That one was by far the largest, and it was still in use long after the others were gone. Gordon Hopper wrote about it in the article below. This is a shortened version. Click here for the complete article and links to more pictures.
Ice Cutting on Hopedale Pond
By GORDON E. HOPPER
There was a commercial interest once operating on the shore and on the surface of Hopedale Pond. An item in the Milford News for Sept. 14, 1890, stated that the Hopedale Ice Company was in the process of constructing three new icehouses. Each one was to be 120 feet long and 30 feet wide.
Shortly after the construction of the buildings had been completed, the Grafton and Upton Railroad installed a track between their main line and the icehouses. Commencing then and continuing until sometime after 1920, railroad cars carried ice from these buildings to markets and customers in Boston.
An example of the amount of ice harvested by this operation is that 12,000 tons of ice was recorded as having been cut and stored during the season of 1920.
There were several times during the years in which the Hopedale Ice Company cut ice on the pond when the structures caught on fire. They were always repaired or replaced and business continued until sometime in 1942.
Once instance took place during 1904. In that year, plans were made to build a bathhouse. It was decided to take down the old icehouse and to use its lumber for the frame and sheathing of the new bathhouse. While the building was being dismantled it caught on fire. The fire spread to the woods and made its way to Darling Hill. (The ridge along the Hopedale-Mendon town line.) It consumed several hundred acres of woodland and burned for a week. The Grafton and Upton Railroad carried containers of water to the area, where it was used in combating the flames.
Russell Dennett of the Hopedale Coal and Ice Company can recall the times during the 1940s when he and other local high school students were employed to cut or store the cakes of ice after school hours and on Saturdays.
Normally, the ice was cut by a man operating a gasoline powered machine which drove a large circular saw blade through and along the ice as he moved along the surface. Previous to the days of powered operations, it was necessary to scrape the snow away from the area to be cut. A special line marker tool was used to mark the ice where cuts were to be made. Using the marks made by this tool as a guide, a man would then cut through the ice using a handsaw.
The pieces of ice would be pushed by men using special tools, along an open channel leading to the run where there was a conveyor on the outside of the building. The device would carry the ice up to where it would be pushed into a storage spot inside the icehouse.
Without fail someone would slip and fall into the icy water. This meant a trip home, a change into dry clothing, return to the job, and then to absorb some kidding and ridicule from other workers.
Before the end of the ice cutting operations on Hopedale Pond had arrived, the original three buildings had been changed to become a very large seven section single building.
Cutting ice came to a conclusion during 1942. In December of 1944, the entire property was purchased by Thomas and Pricilla West. (He was the president of Draper Corporation.) The icehouses were removed and today a beautiful home stands on the site.
It is interesting to note that between the time when cutting operations ceased and 1955, the Hopedale Coal and Ice Company manufactured 20 tons of ice each day at the Hope Street facility. This was done by machine and was in the form of 300 pound blocks.
The pump house associated with the icehouse was sold in 1948 and moved away. A team of large horses owned by William Taylor hauled the building to a new location behind the Durgin home at 120 Dutcher Street in Hopedale.
The small structure was named "The Little Red Schoolhouse" and was operated as a nursery school by Mrs.Ethel Durgin from 1948 until 1959. A bell once used on a very old American LaFrance Hopedale Fire Department ladder truck reposes today on one end of this very substantial building.
Even if the old pump house from the Hopedale Ice Company's operation is gone and the Little Red Schoolhouse may also be gone, something still remains. The building continues to exist, now serving as a workshop for its owner, Hopedale's Fire Chief, Herbert S. Durgin.. Milford Daily News, January 27, 1975.
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Recent deaths:
Helen L. Brown, 83, February 23, 2008, HHS 1942.
Anita (Buroni) Volpe, 78, February 25, 2008, HHS 1947.
Dr. Henry N. Iacovelli, 93, March 6, 2008.
Andrew Nealley, 84, March 7, 2009, Springfield, Missouri.
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