Meet the Curtisses. Back in the days when there were ten district schools in Norfolk, the Curtiss children walked a mile each day to attend the North End School, located off Doolittle Drive near Wheeler Road and pictured behind them. In fact, they were the only children who attended this school, which was thus often referred to as the Curtiss Family School. In spite of the lack of a school bus and the difficulties posed by harsh Norfolk winters, the Curtiss children set the standard for near perfect attendance. Their exemplary record made the headlines in the local paper in 1902 which read:

The North-end School, situated not far from the Massachusetts line, is now comprised of twelve Curtisses, namely: Richard, aged 12; John, 10; Christina, 9; Willie, 6; Nora, 5; and Margaret, 4, children of Mr. and Mrs. John Curtiss; and Mamie, aged 11; Theresa, 8; Josie, 7; Richard 10; Edward, 5: and Elizabeth, 4, children of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Curtiss. The children walk more than a mile to school through deep snow or in temperatures below zero and are never absent unless ill. The School Board in Norfolk is sanguine that the record of the Curtisses for perfect attendance cannot be excelled by any school children in the state. The records show that in 1899 and 1900 they missed but one half day. Their percentage for the year 1901 was 99%.

—Text by Ann Havemeyer
—Photo courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society