HOPE VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HISTORY
Hope Valley School used to be a junior high school. Our gym was a basketball court, and the scoreboard is still up. The basketball team's name was the "Hope Valley Hawks." The classrooms on the top floor used to be a stage! Our school is a GREAT place to learn.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF HOPKINTON, RHODE ISLAND
In 1661, 333 years ago, land was bought from the Indians and divided up. In 1770, the first house was built in Hope Valley. George Washington rode through town in 1781. In 1864 there was a post office and a railroad. By 1875 there were shops, a newspaper, and a bank. A trolley line was established between Westerly and Ashaway. The first trip was made on December 17, 1908 at noon, with 45 passengers aboard.
The Boy and Girl Scouts started here in 1920. Miss Mary (May) Nichols was the daughter of one of the owners of the Nichols and Langworthy Machine Company. Mary Nichols provided the land on Spring Street in 1933 for the site of the new library in Hope Valley. She also left a memorial fund to the First Baptist Church. Hope Valley is still part of Hopkinton. We have many more shops, people, paved roads, and homes now. There isn't a railroad here anymore. In fact, now there is a fire station where the old railroad station was. The old Hope Valley Elementary School is gone. It was across the street from Woodmansee's Oil. Our present elementary school was the Hope Valley Junior High in those days.
Our town's population has grown from 1,808 in 1774, to 2,276 in 1800, to 2,602 in 1900, and to a population of about 8,000 people at present.