Norfolk Then . . .
A hundred years ago, it was not unusual for a house to be moved lock, stock and barrel. Often it was a less costly and easier way to relocate one’s home. This house belonged to Winthrop Cone, manager of the Stoeckel Estate, where it is pictured here. Cone later moved the house to Terrace View, […]
Norfolk Then . . .
Time for spring cleaning? Don’t like the view? Move (your house, that is). Although it may seem hard to believe, moving houses was not uncommon a hundred years ago. Indeed, one Norfolk resident recalled the story of a young child arriving home from school to find her house on higher ground, as the soil was […]
Norfolk Then . . .
Monday, March 12, marks the 130th anniversary of the most famous snowstorm in recorded American history, the Blizzard of 1888. Although there have been heavier snowfalls and lower temperatures, the combination of snow, wind and cold of the “Great White Hurricane” has been unmatched in more than a century. The storm paralyzed the East Coast […]
Norfolk Then . . .
One of the earliest photographs of Norfolk was taken on Nov. 2, 1877. Folks coming from Winsted would have travelled by horse and carriage along this road to the center of town. There were no sidewalks to speak of, just dirt paths and occasional boardwalks, as seen on the right. The railroad had just been […]
Norfolk Then . . .
Buttonholes, eyelets, and featherstitching were never so finely wrought as in late 19th century Norfolk. One of the most popular schools in town at that time was Mrs. Kendall’s Sewing School. Although Marie Kendall is best remembered as a photographer, among her other interests was teaching Norfolk children to sew, girls and boys alike. Classes […]
Norfolk Then . . .
With plans for City Meadow moving forward, it’s time to look back to the 1890s when this photograph was taken. Battell Meadow, as it was then called, was a pastoral scene with stone walls, split-rail fencing and grazing cattle. The property belonged to Robbins Battell, who lived in Whitehouse, now part of the Stoeckel Estate. […]
Norfolk Then . . .
The original Norfolk Lions Club ambulance is parked in front of Town Hall in this photograph, probably taken soon after the Lions Club was organized in January of 1951. Unlike the modern ambulance, ambulances at this time were not outfitted as mobile hospitals and provided only transportation to local hospitals. That would soon change. On […]
Norfolk Then . . .
It is the summer of 1913, and newlyweds Hazel and Irving Whiting are setting out for an afternoon drive in their roadster. Hazel Gibbs grew up on Litchfield Road and joined the ranks of June brides earlier that summer. By virtue of the century in which she lived, Hazel had escaped the clutches of Norfolk’s […]
Norfolk Then . . .
If you think January sales are a phenomenon of our times, read this advertisement in the Norfolk Almanac, published annually from 1856 to 1860 in the tradition of the Farmer’s Almanac. Shepard & Dewell billed itself as a Cheap Cash Store, offering an assortment of household goods and popular medicines such as Merchant’s Gargling Oil […]
Norfolk Then . . .
Stopping to chat with a friend in a passing vehicle would be unthinkable these days at the busy curve on Route 44 near the entrance to North Street. Back then, there was an apartment house on Memorial Green where the War Monument now stands. It had been built in 1835 as a business block, and […]
