In The History of the Hopedale Community, Adin Ballou on several occasions mentions the mechanic shop built by the Community.  When I was a kid in Hopedale in the 1950s, Drapers was always referred to as "the shop."  I don't recall it ever being called "the mill."  When the signs pictured above were put up someone wrote a letter to The Milford News stating, as I recall, that buildings carrying on the type of work done at Drapers weren't called mills; they were shops and therefore, Hopedale wasn't a mill village. At around the same time (February 1996), The Milford Daily News printed a picture of one of the signs, with the following caption. "Two new, historic signs in Hopedale incorrectly label Hopedale as 'A Mill Village.' Apparently the Blackstone Valley 'sign people' don't know their history. Draper Corporation was never a mill. It was the largest cotton loom manufacturing plant in the world. The signs are both in the downtown area."     Shortly after that, on March 4, 1996, the News printed another letter on the subject. It read:                                                                  Hopedale's Early Life                                                                  By Rev. Mark Allstrom                                                                         Unitarian Parish                                                                               Hopedale    The Milford Daily News is correct in pointing out that Hopedale's new signs (photograph, page 1, Feb. 27, 1996) are misleading because they inappropriately ascribe the "mill village" designation to Hopedale.    But the Daily News is also misleading in suggesting that the only business ever carried on in Hopedale was the loom manufacturing Draper Corporation.    The Draper factory was as central to the life of Hopedale for over 120 years as any business can be to a town. But it was a latecomer to the businesses and industries of Hopedale.    When Hopedale was founded in 1841 - 1842, it was a commune dedicated to the living out of religious ideals.    To support itself, it had mills and farms as well as many kinds of industrial manufacturing. To suggest Draper was the first and only business in "the Dale" is to deny the rich diversity of Hopedale's early life.                                                 *****************************************************    In recent years the term "mill" has come into common use for all old factories in the area, but in the past in Hopedale it was only used when speaking of the Spindleville (or Westcott) Mill.  DM                                                           Draper Menu                          HOME