The year 1997 marks the 125th anniversary of the town of

Norwood, which was historically composed of the villages

of Tiot, South Dedham, The Hook, Swedeville, The Ward,

Cork City, Dublin, South Norwood, Morse Hill, Christian Hill,

Westover, and Ellis. The Norwood Historical Society–founded

at the very beginning of the twentieth century–has served as a

repository of images from all these communities, and it is with

great pride that the society offers the enclosed selections from its

photographic archives in this timely publication.

Many of the images in this collection, which chronicles

the community’s development from a rural village through

the industrial and technological eras, have never before been

published. The glass-plate negatives on which they were

preserved were only recently discovered in the society’s attic.

Some images are attributed to the famous Norwood photographer

Fred Holland Day, whose interest in the history of his hometown

and passion for the art of photography provided the inspiration

for this book. All of the images work together to illustrate a way

of life now long forgotten, and to document the existence of

historical sites, some of which remain standing today and others

of which have succumbed to the ravages of time.