A little bit of undocumented history. I glanced at some of the literature at Church today and thought I saw something about how the Catholics of Hopedale decided about building a Catholic Church in town in 1935. The date is okay, but I'm not sure that's just how it happened.
I think it was pretty much Father Jeremiah Riordan's idea, then pastor of St. Mary's in Milford, whose parish also included Hopedale and Mendon. When Sacred Heart first opened in 1935 it consisted of both Hopedale and Mendon. At that time Father Riordan had two curates, Father John Donohue and Father Frances McCollough, who became the first and second pastors of Sacred Heart. Of course this was all accomplished with the consent and support of the Bishop of Springfield, Bishop O'Leary. There was no Worcester Diocese in 1935.
But to really get back to all of this history, you have to get back to a Mr. Roper, who lived on Freedom Street in that house about mid-way down the hill, with the fieldstone bottom story and also with a barn. He owned Roper's shop on Northrop Street, a four story brick building adjoining Hopedale Town Park. Mr. Roper died in 1916; I think his wife had already passed away. St. Mary's owned that Roper residence as long as I can remember.
Father David McGrath was pastor in Milford from about 1900 to 1920. (His funeral took place the day before Christmas, 1920.) After he died, Father Grace was Pastor of St. Mary's for three or four years until he died about 1923. Father Riordan came along about 1924. Father. Grace dedicated that brick St. Mary's Academy while he was pastor, I think. So just which pastor bought that Roper property is a little unclear but it could have been Father McGrath. I suppose the Bishop of Springfield was the real owner.
Sometimes the Roper house was unoccupied and sometimes it was rented, but it was supposed to have been acquired as a possible site for a Catholic church or chapel for Hopedale. The new General Draper High School, on Adin Street, opened in 1928, and that left the old wooden Hopedale High School unused, until 1935, when some kind of a trade was made; the Roper house for the old high school, and that served as Sacred Heart Church until they built the present church around 1964. The old church served as the parish center, CCD classes, etc., until it was declared to need too extensive repairs and they built the new center. The old building was torn down. Somehow the Roper property on Freedom Street came under Draper Corporation ownership, until they sold their rental properties in 1955. I realize this is all rather irrelevant today, but it's as I remember it. Don McGrath, (born March 17, 1918), March 12, 2006.
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Excavation for the cellar of the new Catholic church here is now in progress. Milford Daily News, June 14, 1918 That line in the paper's Hopedale column is a bit of a mystery. I suppose it could be that something was started on the Roper property and then, for some reason, stopped before they got far. There's nothing on that site now, though, except the house and the carriage house. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has an explanation for that bit of news. Email link on homepage.
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