Hopedale History September 1, 2009 No. 139 The Water Department Hopedale in August   Here’s a YouTube video of the Worcester Tornado sent by Peter Metzke. If this gets you into a mood for disasters, you might like to also see a WPA movie on the 1938 hurricane. The Friends of Historic Hopedale could use more volunteers to help run Oktoberfest, our Little Red Shop Museum grand opening event, on October 3. If you can help, let me know (you can just do a reply to this message) and I’ll put you in touch with our volunteer coordinator. Click here to see the Oktoberfest flyer. Click here to go to the vendor form.                                                        <><><><><><><><><><> Those of you who live in or near Hopedale will easily figure why I picked the water department story to send this time. For others, Milford just went through a 13-day boil-the-water situation. Here’s one of the Milford News articles about when Hopedale separated from the Milford Water Company and formed its own water department. A Bancroft Library scrapbook had nine articles about it. There’s a link at the end to a page with several more of them.                                             Hopedale Water System Fully                                      Automatic; Only 2 Workers                                                  21 Driven Wells to Supply Town                                                            By Nick J. Tosches (First sentence missing) …and a new automatic system fed by 21 tubular driven wells in the Spindleville area will go into operation. The wells are two miles south of Hopedale center. The new town-owned Hopedale water system is small, but seems destined to be one of the most efficient in the state. The modern system will supply over 700 customers, with an operating cost of practically nothing. To set up the system the town had to raise $275,000 by a bond issue, notes of which were taken up by the First National Bank of Boston. Water is pumped from the wells, 38 to 44 feet deep, by electrically driven motors, which are automatic and activated by a signal system, with check points in the fire station, at the water plant maintenance station near town hall, and at the pumping station near the well field. This enables the department to get along with only one full-time worker, George K. Allen of 263 South Main Street, maintenance man and meter reader. He formerly worked for the Milford Water Co. The Milford Water Co. system operates by Diesel engines, and cannot be automatic. Madison H. Goff of 24 Mendon Street, Hopedale, is superintendent of the system, but his work is handled on a part-time basis, so his technical skill and services are also being utilized by the Hopedale Highway Department. Mr. Goff’s former job as superintendent of the Milford Water Co. has been taken over by Lloyd Nelson of Milford. The decision to locate Hopedale’s own water supply was made in the fall of 1948, when Milford began thinking about buying the Milford Water Co. Several areas were proposed, and a contour map of the town was drawn by Weston and Sampson of Boston, an engineering firm retained for the work by the town. After other tests, the site at the rear of the Howard farm off Mill Street was chosen as the best, and land 500 by 900 feet was bought by the town. Water trickles down these slopes, ranging in height from 220 to 450 feet, and collects in large deposits about 30 feet underground. The engineering concern reports that the supply of water here is more than enough to supply all needs of the 3000 residents, and that of the Draper Corporation, now employing about 4000 workers. This well water will be free from chlorine and will not need filtering at the pumping station. Chemists have found the water pure, and free from harmful bacteria. Two electric motors at the pumping station can draw 300 gallons of water a minute from the well field. The motors will be operating from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., sending 216,000 gallons into the system daily. During the evening and early morning hours, water will be fed into homes from a huge standpipe, erected at the Larches on Williams Street. It contains 846,000 gallons of water, enough to supply Hopedale for four days. This insures a supply for the town in case of motor trouble or a serious break in the mains. The top of the tank is 527 feet above sea level, and from this height the Atlantic Ocean is visible on clear days. It is set on a solid ledge foundation, which is topped by a concrete base that took 155 yards of cement to construct. The tank has more than 50 curved steel pieces, each erected and welded together by a crew of nine men. The base sections weigh about four tons each. The top of the Hopedale tank is level with that of the Milford Water Co. on Congress Street. This permits the two systems to be joined at any time without difficulty. The capacity of the Milford tank is 1,133,000 gallons. The two systems will be separated by four shut-off valves. The town of Hopedale and the Milford Water Co. have an agreement which requires them to help one another in case of necessity. The clause stipulates that the Milford Water Co. must provide Hopedale with water if the town should ever need it, and that Hopedale must aid Milford all it can during a water shortage. The Hopedale system, town-owned for the past 10 months, has been purchasing water from the Milford Water Co. When Hopedale begins using its own water, the Milford pumping station can operate with less strain, and water pressure in the Milford area will be increased. The Milford fire department also benefits from the change because of the added pressure in its fire hydrant mains. Hopedale’s biggest headache will be its water mains. Accustomed to a west to south flow of water for nearly 50 years, they now must become adjusted to the flow from south to north and east. Through the years water has worn a pattern in the linings of the pipes, which will now resist the flow in the opposite direction. This may mean the motors at the pumping station will be forced to operate under a strain for the first few years. Nearly 4500 feet of new pipe in the new system will not be affected by this water flow condition. Workers have laid 2280 feet of 10-inch pipe from the pumping station to the main on Mill Street, and 2000 feet of 8-inch pipe from Greene Street to Patrick’s Corner. Hopedale has been associated with the Milford Water Co. for the past 60 years. Milford gets its water from Echo Lake, and from 24 wells on its property on Dilla Street, where the pumping station is located. The Milford Water Co. first obtained its water from two large wells on this property, but in 1900 as demand for water increased, the company was given permission by the state to tap into Echo Lake, which is about the size of Cedar Swamp Pond, and situated in Hopkinton. Last fall Hopedale was given permission by the Department of Public Utilities to buy out its share of the Milford Water Co., and establish its own water system. Thus a 60-year link between the two towns has been broken, but there appears to be more good than harm done. The Milford residential area had been growing steadily the past several years, and with it has come more demand for water. With 700 customers erased from its books, the Milford Water Co. can now concentrate its efforts in the Milford area, and make plans for meeting further demands as the growth in the residential areas continues. Milford Daily News, May, June (?), 1949.   More on this story.                                                          <><><><><><><><><><> Recent deaths: Robert B. Taylor, Jr., 77, August 14, 2009 – Hopedale police chief, 1975 – 1985. Eva L. (Bresciani) Barsanti, 95, August 21, 2009. James A. Lavash, 68, August 22, 2009. Donald E. Hazard, 98, August 27, 2009.                              Hopedale History Email Stories Menu                       HOME