Visit Norfolk Historical Society’s new exhibit this summer

Text By Andra Moss
Photo Courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society

Main Street is the quintessential American public space. It seems every small town has one—even, and this may come as a surprise to some, Norfolk. Sometime after the Greenwoods Turnpike and before Route 44, the “main drag” of Norfolk was indeed known as Main Street. Opening July 1—visitors are invited to stop in during Friday Night on the Green festivities—the exhibit “Main Street: A Look Back 100 Years” at the Norfolk Historical Society captures and celebrates the quotidian delights of a stretch that both looks familiar and belongs to another time altogether.  

Main Street was the literal crossroad of all activity in Norfolk, but “we tend to focus more on stories in the background of all that,” says Barry Webber, executive director of the society. In fact, he points out, Norfolk’s downtown “was bustling—even more so in the Victorian era.” A quick check of the 1859 map shows a jewelry store, a substantial inn, two doctors’ offices, a milliner and a drugstore, among other businesses. The 1872 map of Main Street after the arrival of the railroad has even more, including shops that once lined the west side of the street. 

Back then, traffic arriving into town from the north navigated a roundabout outside Dr. Welch’s office (today’s telephone building), often pausing at the attractive large fountain there. “Keep in mind that everything that passed was an animal,” reminds Webber. “The driver would stop so they could enjoy a drink before heading down the next stretch of road.” That fountain, now spouting flowers, is at the Norfolk Library.

A perusal of one of the exhibit’s many historic photographs reveals that the Norfolk Drug Store also survives. The building still sits proudly beside the ambulance building, albeit with an altered roofline. The sharp-eyed can still find the original peak. The house that was once beside the bank can today be found a few blocks away on Maple Avenue.  

Much more than an architectural tour (although with the Royal Arcanum building and Alfredo Taylor’s Norfolk Hardware Co., lost to fire in the 1980s, there’s plenty to admire on that front), the exhibit showcases Norfolk’s daily goings on and offers visitors a century of commerce at the once-and-always hub of village life.

“Main Street: A Look Back 100 Years” opens with a reception Friday, July 1, at 5:30 p.m. at the Norfolk Historical Society at 13 Norfolk Village Green. The museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.