“One Pedestrian on the sidewalk on the right is the only person to be seen on the main street of Norwood in 1875. This was only three years after the Town was incorporated in 1872 after being a part of Dedham. The first building in the left foreground with the mansard roof was the Town Library. The next building with the covered porch and three dormer windows is the famous Village Hall Which served for Town Meetings, elections, school graduations, plays, dances and other entertainments. It was later removed to the corner of Nahatan st. and Broadway. It is only now in the process of being demolished as unsafe.
Not visible in this picture but located between these two buildings was the Town Post Office. Mrs. E. W. Gay was Postmaster. The third building on the left is the store of L. W. Bigelow who featured “dry and fancy goods.’’ Further down on the left the steeple of the old Baptist Church. This steeple was a casualty of the 1938 hurricane. Parke Snow’s Department Store is now located where the church is seen in this picture at the corner of Washington and Vernon sts.” – The Norwood Messenger