1664 - Benjamin Albee builds a mill in what is now the south end of Hopedale.
1667 - A 64 square mile area in the Blackstone Valley is incorporated as the town of Mendon.
c. 1703 - John Jones house built along the Mill River in the area later built over by the Draper shops. This eventually becomes known as the Old House and is purchased in 1841 by the Hopedale Community.
1780 - Milford separates from Mendon.
c.1790 - Schoolhouse built on what later became part of South Hopedale Cemetery.
1803, April 23 - Adin Ballou born in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Parents, Ariel and Edilda (Tower) Ballou.
1812 - Anna Thwing Draper born in Uxbridge.
1813 - Ebenezer Draper born in Wayland, Mass.
New South Hopedale school built ten rods south of 1790 school.
1816 - Ira Draper is granted a patent on an improved fly-shuttle hand loom. A very significant feature of the loom is that it includes the first self-acting loom temple. This device, which keeps the cloth stretched as it is woven in the loom, becomes the basis for the Draper business in Hopedale.
1817 - George Draper born in Weston, Mass.
Hannah Thwing Draper born in Uxbridge, Mass.
1821, October 3 - Joseph Bancroft born in Uxbridge, Mass.
1824, June 26 - Sylvia Willard Thwing Bancroft born in Uxbridge, Mass.
1830 - The first advertisement for Draper products is printed in the first issue of the Boston Evening Transcript. The business is owned by James Draper.
1837 - Ebenezer Draper buys the Draper business, including the patent rights to the temple, and soon after, moves it from Wayland to Uxbridge.
1839 - 1841 - Meetings and discussions take place, generally in Mendon, leading to the formation of Fraternal Community, No. 1, eventually known as the Hopedale Community.
1840, April 1 - First issue of Ballou's twice-monthly newspaper, the Practical Christian, published in Mendon.
1841, August 26 - Hopedale named. "Resolved, (1) That our said location, formerly called 'the Dale,' afterwards 'the Jones' farm,' and latterly 'the Hastings Daniels' place,' be hereafter called, known, and distinguished by the name of Hope Dale," Adin Ballou, The History of the Hopedale Community, pp. 54 - 55.
1841, June - September - The Community announced in September that it had contracted to buy the Jones Farm along the Mill River in Milford. The contract had been signed on June 30.
1841, October - First family moves into the Old House in Hopedale. The Henry Lillie family become the first of the Community members to move to the settlement. On the 28th of the month Mrs. Lillie gives birth to the first baby born in the Community. She was named Lucy Ballou Lillie in honor of Mrs. Ballou.
1842, January to April - More families move to the Old House in Hopedale, totaling 28 persons by April 1. Work begins on a mechanic shop and a dam. Many businesses are carried on, including, most successfully, the production of the Draper temple.
1843 - "Near [Freedom Street] sat the two factory buildings, one of which was already outfitted with a waterwheel to operate a trip-hammer and lathe. It was this building, completed in 1843, that was known as the 'mechanic shop' [later, the Little Red Shop] and that first housed the Drapers' enterprise as well as other small businesses and also served for a time as a school." Model Company Town, John S. Garner, pp. 129 - 130.
1844 - A building is constructed on what later becomes Hopedale Street, between Chapel and Freedom streets, to serve as a chapel and school for the Community.
1845 - Hopedale Village Cemetery established.
1846 - Population of Hopedale Community is 70.
1852 - Community population reaches 200.
1854 - The Home School, a boarding and day school operated by the Hopedale Community, established. The school was first operated by Mr. and Mrs. Morgan Bloom, and later by Adin Ballou's daughter and son-in-law.
1855 - School built on north side of South Hopedale Cemetery.
1856, March 8 - George and Ebenezer Draper withdraw their investment in the stock of the Hopedale Community. Since they own three-quarters of the stock, this essentially brings about the end of the Community.
1856 - Warren W. Dutcher, inventor of an improved temple, moves to Hopedale from Vermont, and in partnership with George Draper, establishes the Dutcher Temple Company.
1860, April 14 - Last issue of the Practical Christian printed.
1860 - The first Unitarian Church built.
1861 - The Home School closed.
1865 - 1875 - Draper Company erects double family houses along Social, Union and Cemetery streets.
1868 - Ebenezer Draper retires and sells his share of the E.D. & G. Draper Company. William F. Draper joins his father in the firm, and the name is changed to George Draper & Son. Some years later, when Eben and George Albert join, the company name becomes George Draper & Sons. "The small mechanic shop [the Little Red Shop] was renamed the Hopedale Machine Company in 1868 and transferred to the west side of the river [still south of Freedom Street] to make room for additional construction." Model Company Town, John S. Garner, p. 132.
1869 - Henry Patrick's Store established.
1870s - 1880s - Adin Street completed and large estates built. (General Draper's home on the present site of the junior/senior high school was the first.)
1873, December 15 - The end of the Hopedale Community essentially occurred in 1856, but it still owned a few properties. "The final act of transfer was executed on the 15th of December, 1873, when the Trustees of the Community conveyed to the Trustees of the Hopedale Parish, a religious body formed a few years before, 'all right, title, interest and control in, unto and over Community Square, the Meeting-house standing thereon and the Hopedale Cemetery.'" History of the Hopedale Community, Adin Ballou, p. 307.
1874 - The Old House, the home of the original members of the Hopedale Community, is razed.
First gas and water lines installed.
1886 - Hopedale separates from Milford.
Fire department formed, equipped with 900 feet of hose, 36 fire pails, four ladders and a hose carriage.
1887 - Ebenezer and George Draper die.
Town Hall, a gift to the town by George Draper, constructed.
The Draper Company embarks on a program to develop an automatic loom.
First high school built; in 1935 it is converted to the first Sacred Heart Church.
1889 - The track of the Grafton & Upton Railroad is extended from West Upton to Milford. The work is done by 300 men and 75 teams of horses.
1890 - Adin Ballou dies.
Passenger service on the Grafton & Upton Railroad begins. Fares are three cents per mile.
1892 - General William F. Draper elected to the first of two terms as representative in Congress.
1894 - First shipment of Northrop looms delivered. Between 1894 and 1903, 78,599 looms are sold to 210 mills.
1896 - 1903 - Bancroft Park houses built.
1897, April - President William McKinley appoints General William F. Draper Ambassador to Italy.
1898 - The Bancroft Memorial Library, the Dutcher Street School and the present Unitarian Church built.
1899 - Park Commission formed.
1900 - Town Park and Parklands established.
1900, October 27 - Adin Ballou statue dedicated.
1901 - Hope Street Bridge built.
1902 - Electric streetcar passenger service between Milford and North Grafton replaces the steam train service started in 1890.
1903 - The Little Red Shop is moved to its third location, the north side of Freedom Street, on the west bank of Hopedale Pond.
1904 - Bathhouse constructed. Town beach opened. Males only.
Statue of Hope presented to town by Susan Preston Draper.
1905 - Young ladies and women granted permission to swim at town beach.
1906 - First Union Evangelical Church constructed.
The Draper Company produces 20,000 Northrop looms during this year. They are sold for approximately $140 each. More looms are made overseas under license.
The Draper Company builds a warehouse with offices for sales and service in Atlanta, Georgia. Other southern locations soon follow at Spartanburg, South Carolina and Greensboro and Biltmore, North Carolina.
1909 - Eben Sumner Draper elected Governor of Massachusetts. He serves for one two year term.
Joseph Bancroft dies.
1910, January 28 - General William F. Draper dies.
1910 - Chapel Association buys Green Store and converts it to a church.
President William Howard Taft stops in Hopedale and visits with Gov. Eben Draper during a trip to Massachusetts.
1910 - 1912 - Construction of Lake Point (Progress, Lake and Soward streets) begins
1912 - General Draper statue dedicated in Milford.
Fire department completely motorized; use of horses discontinued.
1913, April 1- A violent strike at Drapers begins, ending unsuccessfully three months later.
1914 - Park Street School built.
Eben S. Draper dies.
1915 - 1916 - Dutcher Street fire station constructed.
1923 - The Community House, a gift of George Albert Draper, constructed. Draper dies before its completion.
1927 - General Draper High School constructed on the site formerly occupied by the general's home.
1928 - Grafton & Upton Railroad passenger service discontinued.
1935 - Sacred Heart Church established. Hopedale's original high school used as church.
1942 - Draper plant expanded for wartime work. Loom production essentially suspended. Plant produces internal grinders, 75 mm pack howitzers and magnetos.
1948 - Draper Field built and opened.
1949 - Hopedale Pond drained and dredged.
195? - Original school/chapel razed.
1950 - Draper Corporation builds and opens Hopedale Airport.
1951 - The Little Red Shop is moved to the corner of Hopedale and Freedom streets.
1954 - Draper Corporation begins the sale of its houses.
Memorial Elementary School constructed.
1955, November 22 - The George Albert Draper Memorial Gymnasium, financed by an anonymous donor, dedicated.
1963 - Sacred Heart Church built.
Union Evangelical Church built, replacing church destroyed by fire in 1962.
1964 - Post Office built.
1967 - Rockwell-Standard (later North American Rockwell and in 1973 renamed Rockwell International) acquires Draper Corporation.
1968 - Highest attendance at Hopedale Pond for a season - 18,387.
1970, November 13 - Aerosmith plays first of several concerts at Hopedale Town Hall.
1974 - Hope Street Bridge closed. (Dismantled, 1979.)
1978 - Rockwell International sells Grafton & Upton Railroad to Torco, Inc., of Worcester.
1980 - August - Rockwell ends the operation of its Draper Division in Hopedale and closes the plant.
1987 - Original high school (which became the Sacred Heart Church in 1935) razed.
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