Norfolk Then …
An aerial photograph of Norfolk provides a glimpse of the town blanketed by snow on a winter’s day. At left, the Catholic Church designed by Alfredo Taylor still has its tower with open belfry. Next door, children play in the yard behind Center School, set well back from the road. This imposing brick structure had […]
Norfolk Then…
After the catastrophic gasoline spill on Nov. 5, a longtime firefighter remarked that the disaster was in the top three to have hit Norfolk townwide, the others being the destruction of the Hardware Store on Station Place by fire in 1987 and the flood of 1955. The Hardware Store fire was discovered at 3 o’clock […]
Norfolk Then …
In the fall of 1953, Norfolk was grappling with school regionalization. Planning for a regional high school had begun in 1951, after the Gilbert School in Winsted announced that it could no longer educate high school students from neighboring towns. Voters from each of the six towns involved—Barkhamsted, Colebrook, Hartland, Harwinton, New Hartford, and Norfolk—had […]
Norfolk Then…
While the shrill whistle and belching smoke of locomotives arriving at the Norfolk station have been replaced by the downshifting and diesel fumes of trucks on Route 44, the landscape of Norfolk is still marked by the railroad.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 […]
Norfolk Then…
A Main Street landmark for many years, the Norfolk Inn stood near the corner of Shepard Road on the site of the present Norfolk Ambulance building. It provided housing for an influx of summer visitors and contained 57 rooms with accomodations for 75 guests. A carriage from the inn met all the trains. Rates were […]
Norfolk Then …
This four-story steel-framed brick building brought modern construction to Main Street in Norfolk and opened as the Wangum House in 1913, named after Wangum Lake on Canaan Mountain. Rooms were offered at 75 cents and $1, and a full-service restaurant was located on the main floor. Although there is a horse-drawn carriage parked in front, […]
Norfolk Then…
George T. Johnson purchased this drugstore on Main Street (Greenwoods Road) in 1876. It is said that when he came east from Texas, he had intended to go to Norfolk, Virginia, but when he arrived at Grand Central Station in New York City, he was mistakenly given a ticket to Norfolk, Connecticut. He stayed and […]
Norfolk Then…
The Connecticut Western Railroad line was completed in 1871, and on Dec. 21 of that year the first train arrived in Norfolk with 20 passengers on board. It had left Hartford at 8:40 a.m. and would reach Millerton at 3:30 that afternoon. Passengers disembarked in Norfolk at the station pictured here. By the time the […]
Norfolk Then…
With the bridge replacement project on Mountain Road underway, this early 20th century photograph of the bridge shows a rustic-style guard rail bordering the road and sidewalk crossing Norfolk Brook. Characterized by the use of twigs, branches, and bark, the rustic style had been used in formal English gardens in the 1700’s and in this […]
Norfolk Then…
When automobiles appeared on the streets of Norfolk, Augustus P. Curtiss converted the stable housing his horse and carriage livery business to a garage stocked with automotive supplies and gasoline. The garage was located on Shepard Road. Look carefully and you will notice Shell’s familiar scallop shell logo on top of the gasoline pump (the […]
