Eben Sumner Draper was born on June 17, 1858 in Milford, Massachusetts, United States. He was the youngest son of George and Hannah (Thwing) Draper. His father, and his uncle, Ebenezer D. Draper, had been among the leading members of the famous Hopedale Community and their withdrawal in 1856, while it brought an end to that experiment, opened the way for the rapid expansion in the manufacturing enterprises of Milford and a rapid rise in the fortunes of the Drapers.
Into this concern Eben was admitted as a junior partner after study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a short period of training in the machine-shops of Hopedale and the cotton-mills at Lowell and other textile centers.
Eben became a director in many companies manufacturing cotton machinery and cotton goods and in Milford and Boston banks. In 1907, upon the retirement of his brother, William Franklin, as senior partner, he assumed the management of the Draper mills.
For some twenty years Eben S. Draper divided his time between his business interests and a political career. He became in 1892 a member of the Republican state committee and soon after, its chairman; and as chairman of the Massachusetts delegation to the Republican convention at St. Louis in 1896 he wielded his influence in favor of the gold plank.
A presidential elector in 1900, he was elected lieutenant-governor for the three terms 1906-08, and governor for two terms, 1909 and 1910, but was defeated at the hands of Eugene M. Foss in the latter year in the nation-wide reaction against the conservative Taft administration. As governor, Draper gave the state an efficient and businesslike administration which included work for forest conservation and harbor improvement.
The town of Hopedale was separated from Milford largely through the efforts of the Drapers, and the family gave frequently to the community. Eben S. Draper and his brother built the Unitarian church, and he and his wife presented a hospital to the town.
Draper was also responsible for a model-cottage colony for his workers.
In spite of these benefits, the Draper mills were the scene, in April 1913, of an exceedingly bitter strike, in which the workmen, mostly immigrant, were led by I. W. W. leaders in demands for a fifty-hour week and higher pay.
Draper claimed that conditions in his mills were as good as any in the state, was uncompromising in his refusal to deal with the strike leaders, and eventually broke the strike.
In addition to his local charities, Draper was favorably known throughout the state for his work as president of the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association, which raised $400, 000 for soldiers’ relief during the Spanish-American War, and as head of the Massachusetts committee which raised $1, 000, 000 for San Francisco fire relief. He was at one time vice-president of the American Unitarian Association and a member of the corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
On November 21, 1883 Draper married Nannie Bristow, a daughter of General Benjamin H. Bristow of Kentucky, and by her had three children.
