Norfolk Then . . .
For the Kendall family of Norfolk, Christmas meant gathering to decorate an evergreen tree in their home. If this sounds traditional, it wasn’t always so. Claude Kendall, the son of Norfolk’s skilled photographer Marie Hartig Kendall, recalled in a written reminiscence that his family was the first in Norfolk to have a Christmas tree. Each […]
Norfolk Then…
The names of candidates who lose elections often fade into obscurity, or perhaps become questions on “Jeopardy.” In 1940, however, dark-horse candidate Wendell Willkie’s effective criticism of Roosevelt’s New Deal administration spawned hundreds of grassroots “Willkie for President” clubs throughout the country which many people still remember. The banner in this photograph hangs from the […]
Norfolk Then…
John Jay, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1789-1795), dined at this house in Norfolk. The John Jay Papers are housed at Columbia University, and in Jay’s diary for October 12, 1790, he wrote “went to Norfolk – dined at the widow Wilcox’s […]
Norfolk Then…
While the sign Martini Hotel may have raised eyebrows during Prohibition, it was actually the name of the hotel’s proprietor, Albert Martini. Built in 1913, the four-story steel-framed brick structure brought modern construction to downtown Norfolk and opened as the Wangum Hotel, named after nearby Wangum Lake. When Martini bought the hotel and the property […]
Norfolk Then…
The unusual pattern of weather events that culminated in the disastrous flood of 1955 began with one of the hottest and driest summers Norfolk had ever seen. An observer at the Norfolk 2SW weather station wrote during the first week of August: All local streams have ceased to flow. Foliage is browning, wilting and falling […]
Norfolk Then . . .
Got milk? Heading home at the evening bell, these Curtiss farm cows meander along the road from Tobey Pond, now known as Golf Drive, in an early 20th-century photograph by Marie Kendall. The Curtiss homestead was built by Solomon Curtiss in 1786 on the corner of Mountain Road and Sunset Ridge and remained in the […]
Norfolk Then
A peddler is selling his wares on Greenwoods Road just past the entrance to Westside in this 1896 postcard photograph taken by Marie Kendall. He must have been well-known to townsfolk for on the back of the photograph he is referred to as ìLouie, the Grand Army man.î Look closely and you will see that […]
Norfolk Then…
Norfolk boy scouts stand with their leader Carroll Estes on the steps of the Church of Christ Congregational about 1960. Scouting came to Norfolk fifty years earlier in 1911 when architect Alfredo Taylor formed the first troop, named for Norfolk benefactor Frederick M. Shepard, and served as scoutmaster. After a hiatus during World War II, […]
Norfolk Then…
This photograph of the Norfolk Library with empty shelves was probably taken just before the Library opened its doors for the first time on March 6, 1889. Isabella Eldridge, one of the five daughters of the Rev. Joseph and Sarah Battell Eldridge, built the Library both as a memorial to her parents and as a […]
Norfolk Then . . .
It was February of 1933, and a large crowd gathered at Canaan Mountain to watch the Norfolk Winter Sports Association (NWSA) annual ski-jumping competition. The 150-foot natural slope had just been completed to designs by Scandinavian skier Birger Torrissen and built by John Mulville. Torrissen was among a group of Olympic competitors who had been […]
