Stopping to chat with a friend in a passing vehicle would be unthinkable these days at the busy curve on Route 44 near the entrance to North Street. Back then, there was an apartment house on Memorial Green where the War Monument and evergreens now stand. It had been built in 1835 as a business block, and the Ryan family ran a store there before moving across the street to the building pictured in the foreground of this photograph (now no longer standing). The Ryans were founding members of the Catholic Church in Norfolk, and Mass was held upstairs in their store before the church was built on the lot adjacent to the store. Further up on North Street, the former meeting place of the Methodist Church is visible on the left through the trees. It is now a private residence.

–Ann Havemeyer

Photo courtesy of The Norfolk Historical Society