“What's in a Name? Published May 30, 1929 by Mars. H H De Wick

Published in a series of articles about the history of our countryside Revealed in the names of the Villages.

                        HIPOLITE CORNERS

Corners between Gorham and Stanley take name from Hipolite Family. Son brought one of the first “Horseless Carriages”

And Established Popular Hipolite Garage in 1908. Tragic Shooting Took last of Family.- F. Wirsing Owns Homestead

Hipolite Corners is located exactly 1 1/4 miles ease of Gorham and 1 1/4 miles west of Stanley at the junction of six roads. It takes its name from the Hipolite family who brought the farm at the corners on the north side of the Gorham Stanley road in the spring of 1877 and who owned it for the following 29 years.

The Hipolite family had three members. Edward Wheeler Hipolite, his wife, Frances Fraley, and their only child, Harvey Clifford. The boy was 7 years of age when his parents came to the corners which lasted took their name, and when he was 16 his father died. Mrs. Hipolite and her son continued to make their home on the farm.

The first horseless carriage in the neighborhood of the corners was owned by Clifford Hipolite and was a article of considerable interest to everyone. It was a two cylinder Ford without top or windshield. This was perhaps the beginning of the idea which developed into o this decision to build a public garage. In 1908 he erected the building where for the next seven years he conducted a successful and popular garage. This garage definitely had the name of Hipolite Corners on the map of the counties for Hipolite Garage and the garage at Hipolite Corners came to be words seldom used. This little old wooden school house that stood for many years near the corners opposite the large evergreen trees on the John S Stokes farm to the south side of the main road no doubt also contributed a distinguishing mark to the locality. The pupils gradually left this school for the schools of Gorham and Stanley and the building was sold in 1917 to Jack Hibboard and Stanley who tore it down. Wild morning glory vines that once climbed over the window still mark the place where the old school house stood.

[Tragic end of Hipolite Family]

There is no one of the Hipolite name now living on the corner. Mrs. Hipolite died Dec. 15, 18914, and the son was left alone, as he had never married. The following spring March 8, 1915, as the son was hunting in his woods in some unknown manner his gun was discharged, killing him instantly. He was 46 years of age at the time of his death. It is probably that the tragic ending of the last Hipolite family may also have had something to do with the fixing the name securely on the corners.

The Hipolite farm is now [1929] owned by G P Wirsing, who purchased the property of the administrators of the Hipolite estate in 1916, and who with his son, Fred and the latter’s family reside on the place.

The building formerly so widely known, as Hipolite Corners Garage is now a private garage used by the Wirsing family.