The Welch Memorial Fountain once stood on Greenwoods Road at the entrance to West Side Road, forming a roundabout of sorts, slowing equestrian traffic. Made of local granite, it was erected in 1895 in honor of Dr. William Wickham Welch, Norfolk’s town doctor for 53 years. He was described as “a great night traveler and it was not unusual to find him on his regular rounds [by horse] as late as 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.” An 1839 graduate of Yale Medical School, Dr. Welch served in both the Connecticut House of Representatives and State Senate, and from 1855 to 1857 he represented the 4th District in Congress. His son was the distinguished William Henry Welch, first dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The Welch Memorial Fountain was given to the town by Dr. Welch’s widow, Emily Sedgwick Welch, on the condition that it be connected to the water main and cared for at the town’s expense. It is now a planter on library grounds near the corner of Maple Avenue.

—Ann Havemeyer

Photo courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society.