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.