Hopedale Company Housing

Draper Working Housing

Quick Facts

Location:

Hopedale, MA

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

Along Dutcher Street, you will find rows of duplex company houses, which were constructed between 1902 and 1907. These houses were much larger and more spacious than a typical mill house in other mill villages. By 1910, Hopedale had won international recognition for its model housing for workers, with an English housing expert declaring it, "America's Best."

The Drapers provided free maintenance to keep the houses in good condition. But there were restrictions; fences were prohibited and no one could "tie or fasten any horse to any shade or ornamental tree."

In addition to providing inexpensive housing, the Drapers implemented an efficient system of garbage collection and constructed a sewerage system that, by the late 1890s, was connected to every house in town. All houses had water, gas, electricity, and indoor plumbing by 1910.