Norfolk Then
Dr. Richard Barstow practiced medicine for fifty years in Norfolk, opening his office overlooking the village green in 1936. Active in the educational, political, and cultural life of the town, Dr. Barstow served as chairman of the Norfolk committee for a regional high school at a time when Norfolk was grappling with regionalization. Planning for […]
Norfolk Then
With a new firehouse proposed for Norfolk, here’s a look back at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Shepard Road firehouse on June 6, 1970. By then the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department had outgrown its original quarters in the Royal Arcanum Building, built in 1904 on Station Place. Pictured in this photograph from left to right […]
Norfolk Then . . .
The railroad was a visible part of the Norfolk landscape a century ago. Constructed in 1870, it approached the village from the south along Litchfield Road, first passing through the hamlet of Grantville near Winchester Road. After skirting the Village Green to the east, the tracks crossed under Greenwoods Road (Route 44) at the entrance […]
Norfolk Then . . .
Meet John o’the Woods, perhaps the most well-known homeless man in 19th century Connecticut. In the course of his migrations, which spanned forty years, he regularly tramped through Norfolk in late spring and early fall, taking meals at farms along his route. The Town of Norfolk was expected to care for its destitute, and […]
Norfolk Then
While the shrill whistle and smoke of locomotives arriving at the Norfolk station have been replaced by the downshifting and diesel fumes of trucks on Route 44, the landscape of Norfolk is still marked by the railroad. There are track beds hidden in the woods, now used as nature trails, and bridge abutments can be […]
Norfolk Then…
Roller skating fever struck Norfolk in 1885, as it did many towns across the country. The Norfolk Roller Skating Association had 30 members that year, and the rink was in the newly-constructed Village Hall (pictured here at that time). The first roller skating rink had been opened at the Atlantic House resort hotel in Newport, […]
Norfolk Then
Royal Arcanum Tenants Dedicated to Insuring Lives Once there was a tower in Norfolk from which Rapunzel could have let down her hair. Rising from the east end of the Royal Arcanum building (built in 1904), it served as a hose tower for the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD). The Royal Arcanum was a joint […]
Norfolk Then…
Chickens on roller skates? Marie Kendall was a very creative photographer, and she must have had some pretty cooperative chickens, merry or not as they “roll along” in this Christmas greeting. Many of Kendall’s surprising and delightful images of Norfolk can be found in Picturing Norfolk: 1758-1958, available for holiday purchase at the Norfolk Library […]
Norfolk Then…
Meet the Bishop family outside their home near the Norfolk-North Goshen town line. There’s Ernest and Sadie to the left of their father, George; Jennie in the center behind Elsie; Martha and Mabel in front of their mother, Rose, who holds the baby. Although the children aren’t particularly bundled up, it must be cold: a […]
Norfolk Then…
The year is 1945, and young Augustus Curtiss, known as Gus, is getting a haircut. It is close quarters in Harold Colwell’s barber shop tucked away in a small room in the Royal Arcanum building (now the Norfolk Pub). Next to Harold’s fedora, a bottle of 7up sits on a bench in the lower right […]
