Bancroft Memorial Library
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Bancroft Memorial Library is the public library serving
Hopedale, Massachusetts Hopedale is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located 25 miles southwest of Boston, in eastern Massachusetts. With origins as a Christian utopian community, the town was later home to Draper Corporation, a large loom ...
. It is located at 50 Hopedale Street in the town center, in a fine Romanesque building built in 1898-99 and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.


Architecture and history

The library is located on the west side of Hopedale Street, a short way north of the town common. It is a single-story stone structure, designed by
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
architect C. Howard Walker of the firm Walker & Kimball. It is constructed of pink Milford granite, and was modeled after
Merton College Chapel Merton College Chapel is the church of Merton College, Oxford, England. Dedicated to St Mary and St John the Baptist, the chapel was largely completed in its present form by the end of the 13th century. The building retains a number of original ...
at Oxford. Its entrance is prominently located in a cross-gable projection, set in a round-arch opening flanked by smaller round-arch openings. The interior retains many fine original finishes, include oak ceiling trusses, an oaken circulation desk, and oak partitions in the reading areas that are typical of Gothic churches. The town of Hopedale's first proper library was established in 1840, and was located in a variety of places, including private residences, churches, and town hall, where it occupied the first floor in 1886. This building was built for the town by Joseph Bubier Bancroft, in memory of his wife Sylvia. Bancroft was an executive with the
Draper Company The Draper Corporation was once the largest maker of power looms for the textile industry in the United States. It operated in Hopedale, Massachusetts for more than 130 years. Beginnings In the early 19th century, Ira Draper was a prosperou ...
, the town's principal employer,Joseph B. Bancroft
/ref> and also represented the town as a selectman and in the state legislature. It was built adjacent to Bancroft's house (which still stands), and was donated to the town upon its completion in 1899.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Worcester County, Massachusetts __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) designated in Worcester County, Massachusetts. The locations of NRHP properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below, may be ...


References


External links


Bancroft Memorial Library - Town of Hopedale
{{Authority control Library buildings completed in 1898 Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Public libraries in Massachusetts Libraries in Worcester County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts