This exhibit explores the history of Norwood’s printing industry and some of the changes that transpired because of these industries, but it becomes the story of people who made a difference in their community. The history of each of the companies and their owners is indeed interesting, and one worth studying, but it is in the changes where the story begins to unfold. The exhibit also considers the history of the town, especially some of the factors that led to the two large printing houses coming to Norwood and it examines some of the changes Norwood experienced due to its printing industry.
Because of the printing industries came to Norwood, Norwood was forever changed, culturally, socially, and economically, and it is these changes that have shaped the Norwood of today.
Click the links below to see the exhibit
A Timeline: Norwood and the Nation –>
Come to Norwood: The Presses Arrive –>
Changes in Norwood –>
End of an Era –>
Bibliography & Sources –>
This Day in Norwood History-June 10, 1893-Three Printing Firms Offer to Relocate to Norwood, Form the Norwood Press
Norwoods Opportunity More Business In Sight The Time To Act Is NOW! Norwood has been anxious for some time to increase its business enterprises and taxable property. It has good facilities for growth in this respect, and its public-spirited citizens…
Women on the Front Lines
There were women who worked in the printing presses in Norwood. A few had positions in management, but most worked on the floor. Clara Berwick, Jane Williams and Ligia Carlson all worked for thirty years at their jobs. Clara Berwick…
End of an Era
For over eighty years, Norwood’s printing industry was an important part of the fabric of the town. It not only made the town known as the printing center of the United States, but It provided jobs to thousands of people…
George H. Morrill Company (The Inkworks)
“The enterprise which Samuel Morrill started in a single kettle, producing a few pounds daily, was a pioneer in the manufacturing of printing ink in New England and became on of the first of the large ink makers in the…
Extra! Extra! The Norwood Messenger
The Village Hall. The Ambrose brothers ran their press from this building. (from the collection of the Norwood Historical Society) The Ambrose brothers, Alfred (1866-1924), Willard (1873-1936), and Edward (1876-1898) brought their local newspaper and printing business to Norwood from…