The seat of town government found a magnificent now home when the Memorial Municipal Building was dedicated on Sunday, November 11, 1928.
The bells of the Tilton Carillon pealed forth in concert, beginning a joyous and continuing custom.
In the following year came the Crash, followed by the Great Depression. The people of Norwood did not escape the blow, but there was hope in the town for a brighter future. A Norwood man, Frank G. Allen, rose to political prominence and was elected Governor of Massachusetts from 1929-1931.
During his term of office, the Norwood Municipal Airport was opened.
In the ’30s, Norwood maintained its character as a trade and transportation center, with three New Haven Railroad stations as well as three electric railways whose twin tracks neatly bisected the Washington Street business district.
Recovery came slowly to Norwood as to the rest of the country. During this period, W. W. (“Win”) Everett began publishing his “Tiot Tates” under the auspices of the Norwood Historical Society. Later historians are Indebted to his painstaking research, his skill as a photographer and collector.
The Norwood Historical Society acquired Day House as its permanent home in 1934, and art classes were held in this his unique Victorian mansion.
The Civic Association flourished.
Then came Pearl Harbor, and it was mobilization with a vengence. Bendix Aviation built a plant in Norwood, providing equipment for the war effort and giving the town’s economy a healthy thrust.
Men from Norwood served throughout the world. For those at home, food was rationed; housewives went shopping with ration books; and automobiles and gasoline were scarce because of the national emergency.
When the war ended, all the bells in town rang out in celebration, but the town did not forget the men and women who had served so well. The length of Norwood’s Honor Roll can be seen today in the Town Square (Editors Note: it has now been moved across the street from the Common to Memorial Hall), and the new Civic Recreation Center has been dedicated as a living memorial to the veterans of World War II.
By Marguerite Krupp, Originally published in the 1972 Centennial Magazine
It was called TIOT, “the place to cross the water.”
By Marguerite Krupp, Originally published in the 1972 Norwood Centennial Magazine The Indians who lived near the Great Blue Hill…
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