When the main thoroughfares of Norwood were laid out a century or more ago for a convenient approach to fields and pastures and to connect knots of houses or villages with one another, less continuity was secured in the east-west routes than the north-south. As the north-south streets served to connect Boston with Providence and with other large towns lying toward the south and southwest, the traffic of those days forced these radial highways and their diagonals into a semblance of directness. The east-west thoroughfares, however, were only stressed by the much smaller and lighter traffic streams leading from Wellesley and Needham to Sharon and Canton. As a consequence the existing east-west thoroughfares are crooked and they jog or end at Washington Street, as shown on the accompanying diagram. Moreover, less interest was shown in choosing lines of good gradient for these highways. Their present alignment is also evidence of the comparatively slow development of high ground of the Town to the east and the low ground to the west. These tracts originally served as woodlot and back pasture areas, or were abandoned as “wasteland.” Today they have become the most available land for residential purposes, but they are handicapped for lack of through lines of street, and for want of direct connections across Washington Street, and especially across t lie railroad tracks. The owners of land in the districts between these widely spaced streets are, of course, wholly unable to cope with this situation. If the matter is not remedied now while the construction of new streets by private owners is in progress, and while the direction and the width of these privately planned streets is capable of adjustment without cost, the Town will he put to exceedingly heavy expense later lo remedy defects after they have been fixed. The Town, as well as the owners of the land immediately effected by these routes, can depend for help only upon the Planning Board as the responsible agency to secure in such cases cooperation which is both needed and desired. As a whole the cast-west thoroughfares, with all their faults, arc well distributed over the largo areas of vacant land of I he Town. The needs which can lie supplied at. little or no cost if taken in hand promptly are: a greater number of through routes in the wide interspaces, greater straightness in the present route, greater width, and elimination of dead ends and jogs.
1923 Norwood Planning Board Report
This Day In Norwood History-May 19, 1923-Planning Board Has Done Excellent Work
NORWOOD TOWN NOW BEAUTIFUL NORWOOD, May 19—The marked improvement in the physical appearance of the town of Norwood, since the establishment of a Planning Board, here, as well as the pride and interest which its townspeople have in the civic…
REPORT OF THE PLANNING BOARD TO THE CITIZENS OF THE TOWN 1923
Published and Presented With the Compliments of George F. WillettChairman Town Planning Board1912 – 1923 Report of ARTHUR A. SHURTLEFF, Town Planner SUPPLEMENTARY REPORTS :Zoning, by JOHN P. FOX, ConsultantCivic Center, by HARRY J. CARLSON, ArchitectandLegal Aspects, by FLAVEL SHURTLEFF,…
1923 Planning Board Report-Plan for the Vicinity of Center of the Town
The plan on pages 20 and 21 for the center of Norwood is an integral part of the general plan proposed for the Town as a whole. The development of the center cannot be considered separately from the development of…
1923 Planning Board Report-Vicinity of High Bridge
The complicated and dangerous arrangement of roadways, railway tracks for electric and steam cars, in combination with a narrow underpass in the High Bridge district illustrates forcibly the costly results of allowing important road junctions to “happen by chance.” It…
1923 Planning Board Report-Streets Near Norwood Railroad Station
In the course of the general program of the state for the abolishment of railway grade crossings, the present dangerous crossing at Railroad Avenue will be abolished. This work should be undertaken, however, not only with an eye to the…
1923 Planning Board Report-Proposed Additional East-West Through Streets and Diagonals
In the wide interspaces between the existing east-west thoroughfares there are many local streets already built, and many more contemplated or actually under construction. Gradually, in a long term of years, all these wild lands will be traversed by roads…
1923 Planning Board Report-Existing North-South Through Streets
The existing through streets of Norwood, as shown above, were laid out in times before the construction of the steam railroads, before the large industries were established, and, of course, long before the development of modern housing and the beginnings…
1923 Planning Board Report-Proposed Additional North-South Through Streets and Diagonals
In the outlying districts of the Town where new houses and new streets are springing up, the individual land owners have used and are still using customary skill and foresight in the planning of individual lots to meet the desires…
1923 Planning Board Report-Development of Clark Swamp District
The built-up area of Norwood is gradually approaching the margins of the Clark Swamp district. Under good or bad planning this entire neighborhood is destined to be crossed by streets and built up with dwellings. The cost of this work…
This Day in Norwood History-January 22, 1948-Norwood 25 Years Ahead Of Dedham In Master Planning
But Many Phases Of Shurcliff Report Never Carried Out Here The neighboring town of Dedham has received the spotlight of publicity since the appearance, four weeks ago, of an Attractive 100-page booklet, profusely illustrated with diagrams, maps, statistical charts, and…
1923 Planning Board Report-Schools, Parks and Playgrounds
On the accompanying map are shown the public schools of Norwood. They are grouped most closely near the center of the Town with scattered buildings on the outskirts. Evidently school locations will follow the centers of new growth, but the…