Norfolk Then…
Harry “Doc” Cook was in the drugstore business in Norfolk for almost 50 years. His store was located in the northwest corner of the Royal Arcanum building, where the Wood Creek Bar & Grill is now housed. The genial Doc Cook dispensed medicinal cures of all sorts, along with a variety of goods including lamps, […]
Norfolk Then…
Two Norfolk landmarks, currently under repair, are pictured here in the early 20th century. Battell Fountain was the gift of Mary Eldridge to the town in 1889. A Stanford White design with decorative bronze lamps and globe by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the fountain provides streams of water from several imaginative spouts. At the top of the […]
Norfolk Then…
It is time to harvest the hay on the Thomas Carroll farm. With a view toward Haystack Mountain, this photograph was taken on Crissey Hill above the Carroll hayfields about 1895. The house known as Crissey Place at the south end of the Village Green is clearly visible from the rear, and peeking up from […]
Norfolk Then…
With poplars and maple trees lining the sidewalk, Station Place presented a bucolic setting to the visitor arriving at the newly constructed railroad station (center) in the early 20th century. One could hardly guess that an impressive business boom was under way, heralded in the local paper as the biggest boom Norfolk had ever witnessed. […]
Norfolk Then …
One of Marie Kendall’s most beloved photographs shows a group of Norfolk men working out at the Eldridge Gymnasium (now Town Hall) in 1896. Some have been identified, such as John DePeu, bearded pastor of the Church of Christ, balancing on the parallel bars. Perhaps these men were inspired by the first modern Olympic Games, […]
Norfolk Then…
With so much underground sewer pipe installation interrupting traffic flow this summer, we can look back to the late 19th century when the Norfolk water system was built. Housed in this building that once stood on the site of the Berkshire Country Store, the Norfolk Water Company was formed in 1894. At that time Norfolk […]
Norfolk Then…
The Eldridge Gymnasium, now Town Hall, was built in 1892. This view of the rear of the building, then with an open veranda, features the vibrant multi-colored buff and beige Mission tiles of the roof, sadly removed. The Gymnasium quickly became a hub of activity. In addition to grass tennis courts in front, there were […]
Norfolk Then…
The sundial pictured in the foreground of this photograph was installed behind Battell Fountain on the village green in 1904. An antique bronze plate acquired in London reads, “Our days are as a shadow and there is none abiding.” The sundial was purchased by Mary Eldridge, who had given the Stanford White-designed fountain in 1889 […]
Norfolk Then…
The Dudley Tannery and bark shed, pictured here in an early 20th century photograph by Frank DeMars, stood at the corner of Ashpohtag Road and Route 44 in West Norfolk. Tanning was once a thriving industry in Norfolk, the second largest after the woolen industry in the mid-19th century. The State of Connecticut Report of […]
Norfolk Then…
Meet the Curtisses. Back in the days when there were ten district schools in Norfolk, the Curtiss children walked a mile each day to attend the North End School, located off Doolittle Drive near Wheeler Road and pictured behind them. In fact, they were the only children who attended this school, which was thus often […]
