Ballou’s Mission
One of the most meaningful inscriptions on the monument comes from Ballou’s own writings.
“If Providence has entrusted me with any distinctive mission in the world, it is to aid in showing my fellowmen the way into that Christlike order of life which illustrates the great ideas of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man.”
These words summarize everything Ballou hoped to accomplish. He did not see himself as the founder of a movement or the leader of a social experiment. Instead, he believed he had been called to demonstrate that people could live together with compassion, justice, and mutual respect.
More than 180 years after Hopedale was founded, that aspiration continues to give the town a character unlike any other in Massachusetts.
Read More From Nancy
Adin Ballou Park
Some parks are created to provide green space. Others exist to preserve the memory of the person who made the town possible. Adin Ballou Park occupies the very heart of Hopedale. It was here that Reverend Adin Ballou established the center of the Hopedale Community in 1842, one of America’s longest lasting and most influential […]
Hopedale Fountain
Some communities preserve their history in books or museums. Hopedale preserves its history in stone. Standing in front of the Bancroft Memorial Library is the Statue of Hope Fountain, one of the town’s most treasured landmarks. More than a beautiful work of art, it is a symbol of the ideals upon which Hopedale was founded. […]
Edison Stock Ticker
Among the historical objects preserved at the Bancroft Memorial Library is an Edison stock ticker, a reminder of the period when electricity and telegraphy began transforming the speed at which information traveled. Before machines like this became available, brokerage firms depended upon messengers to carry the latest prices from the trading floor. By the time […]
