After Living In Norwood For Eighty Years, John Gillooly Picks The Six Men Who Led In The Town’s Development—Each Named “George”
Eighty years ago, on July 2 and Sept. 9, 1855, two babies were born in a little cottage down a lane off Railroad Avenue. The house belonged to Richard Oldham the First. John Gillooly was the July 2 baby Dick Oldham was the Sept. 9 youngster. A week ago yesterday. Sept. 9, these two babies had their picture taken together on the doorstep of this same house. We reproduce it. Look ’em over—and smile! For if that isn’t local history with a kick in it. Your correspondent is Il Duce!
William Gillooly and Richard Oldham came to Norwood as truly pioneers as the early colonists who hacked their way into the cold, unfriendly forests of Dedham. They were “foreigners’ and “Irish immigrants”. They hacked their way into the notice and tolerance of a cold and hard Yankee community, dying in Norwood as respected, well-loved citizens and successful businessmen. Richard Oldham bought most of the land on the southwest corner of Railroad Avenue and Pleasant Street. Here he set up housekeeping in a small cottage. His friend. William Gillooly. with not many worldly goods, needed a home. So. in the stick-together, Irish manner of the times, the Gillooly’s and the Oldhams shared the house fifty-fifty Hence John and Dick were born almost simultaneously in the same home. They have been friends from babyhood. Both have risen to places of prominence and success in business. Both have been Selectmen of Norwood. Both, for a period of almost 60 years, have been powers for good in this community.
John’s Picture of Tyot
We asked John for a description of Norwood on the day he was born in that tiny cottage in Cork City (which was “Germantown” then) and he gave me the following picture carefully written in lead pencil:
“When J. Gillooly and R. E. Oldham were born there was one schoolhouse, four rooms were used, and one hall, which was called Union Hall. This was the upper room on the south wing of Everett School building There were two churches, Orthodox and Universalist; two fire companies; one foundry, two cabinet shops; two tanneries; one carpet shop; one ink mill; one paper mill; two railroad bridges (there are nine now); one doctor, D. S. Fogg; two railroad stations, South Dedham and Winslow’s. People used wood to heat their houses. Kerosene oil was just coming in for lighting purposes. And all drinking water came from wells.”
A Square Shooter
This description of John Gillooly’s first birthday leads perfectly into his answer to a question put to him on his 80th birthday, last July. It was this: “What men, in your opinion, Mr. Gillooly, have had the most beneficial influence on Norwood? Who have been its chief builders?” J. G. answered it promptly, for it happened to be a subject which he has thought about for a long time in the quiet of his cozy study. And it deserves your careful attention, whether you agree with him or not. Because John Gillooly is a “good sport” in its finest sense. He has a keen, analytical mind. It is broad and tolerant. Rather than repeat slander and gossip he would bite off his tongue. He shoots straight and has tricked or cheated no man (except, of course, in “hoss trading”, the spice of which is out-smarting the other fellow). Therefore, when such a man has watched a town grow for seventy consecutive years, has taken an active part in every year of this growth, and then sits down and picks the leaders, what he says has weight. So here is John Gillooly’s “All Norwood” line-up, just about as he outlined it to your reporter. Naturally, it is debatable, being only one man’s opinion. But certainly, it is historically important. John spoke as follows:
Georges with “Guts”
“A horse may lack almost every quality but one—and win. He has got to have ‘guts’—courage. A horse which lacks courage is no good in the race. I believe there are six men who have led the race in the history of Norwood And every one of them had courage —everlasting push and determination They had the guts to win. And winning their own battle—they pushed the town’s fortunes just that much higher And there’s a funny thing about these men. The name of each one was ‘George’:
GEORGE B. TALBOT
GEORGE S. WINSLOW
REV. GEORGE HILL
GEORGE H MORRILL
GEORGE EVERETT
GEORGE F. WILLETT
“Now I can’t give you the entire history of each of these six Georges. But I will call them as I see them as the six most important men in Norwood up-to-date.
George Bird Talbot
“George B. Talbot came to South Dedham in 1853 from Bedford, Mass He first built the house on Pleasant street, afterwards owned by L. Herman Beaver. Later he built the residence now owned by Francis J. Foley. He was engaged in the wholesale grocers business in Boston under the style of Winchester & Talbot Co. His Norwood business was real estate. George B. owned a great, deal of it. chiefly in the Railroad avenue and Carpet Shop Hill districts, and some in the Cottage and Vernon Street Hill section.
“He got here just about the time the railroad arrived and was smart enough to see that it was bound to bring to the village a great crowd of foreign-born people, chiefly German and Irish. Mr. Talbot was no land-hog. He was not holding for a rise. Rather, he wanted to sell it at once for a fair profit. So he made it a fixed policy to encourage young immigrants to own their homes, rather than to rent them. Any man with a job and who was willing to work could go to George B. Talbot and get a piece of land/ Talbot attended to the mortgage for the land and the house. He was exacting but far from hard-hearted. He was not one of the few mortgage-foreclosing sharks we have had in this town. In fact, in all the many homes he helped finance he foreclosed very few properties The result? He built a considerable part of the town, created home-life out of pasture land, and made Norwood an attractive town for laborers to come to. thus helping every manufacturer and storekeeper in town He did a great deal more in other ways, too. But I think I have made my point.
George S. Winslow
“Yes, George S. raced horses. Naturally, I’m biased towards him. I beat some of them. And some beat me. They had courage. And so did George S. Winslow. For years he was the bulwark in one of the town’s chief industries, the Winslow tannery. It had its troubles. Every business, which is a family affair, does. The Winslows’ business was split along political lines. They took their politics pretty seriously in those times. And George S. came into the business when the tanning business was emerging from a rough-and-ready. crude trade into a new science. He had to have the courage to make new and radical decisions which meant the continuance or loss of a weekly pay envelope to many Norwood people. He was the “shock troops” of the Winslow industry for many years. And he won out. Moreover, he carried his courage into town affairs and those of his church. He was a forward-looking builder at a period when this town needed builders desperately. You could usually find George S. on the side of the greatest good for the greatest number.
Rev. George Hill
“Rev. George Hill was born in Meredith, N. H., his wife coming from Wilmont. N. H. They moved to South Dedham in 1865, when he became minister of the Universalist Church. He served in this pulpit for 18 years, the longest pastorate of any of the Universalist ministers. He found the church just emerging from a bitter and long-standing feud with its sister society, the Congregationalists. During that 18 years, his courage and brilliancy of mind increased its membership and prestige until it was the leading Protestant society in Norwood. The Hills first lived in the old Stowe house, later the Worthington house, just north of the Atwood property on Washington Street. Later they settled in the house at the corner of Walkhill Road, where Mr. Hill died His later years were spent in lecturing and newspaper work.
“I think that George Hill’s great contribution to Norwood was his ability to lead. And to speak in public. He came just when The Hook was beginning to grow—when Talbot’s real estate interests were spreading—when Norwood was becoming a busy village instead of a dead hamlet. There were a number of prominent men who had the town’s interest at heart and more money than Hill. But they couldn’t put it in words at town meeting. They could not get up and speak effectively George Hill could. And he worked with them. George Hill got the message over to the voters. He was called dictatorial-overbearing Sometime he was. But he was a God-send to the groping, confusing town meetings of those days. Because he brought order out of chaos-progress out of apathy.
George Everett
“George Everett was a notable example of one of the leaders who could not talk in meeting. He stuttered. And there were a few words he just couldn’t get his tongue around and pronounce correctly. But, without talking much about it, he did a job for Norwood which should never be forgotten. First, he built up its largest industry, the cabinet shop which employed 280 men. Until it burned, it fed, housed and clothed a goodly percentage of our inhabitants. Among his quiet civic promotions was the bringing to Norwood of the car shops and all that it meant to the town’s progress and fame. He was also a prime-mover in (and I am not punning) moving the Old Cemetery from its unsanitary location hi the heart of the town, the present beautiful Highland Cemetery. The first man buried there, by the way, was a George —George Force.
George H. Morrill
“George H. Morrill, son of Deacon Samuel Morrill, was another stalwart-a courageous stone in the arch which Norwood was building under itself. He wasn’t spectacular. He and his father, and later his son. Ed Shattuck and others doggedly built up a big business from a shoestring He was a “rugged individualist.” If you don’t like rugged individualists, you probably wouldn’t have liked George H. But all his life his heart was solidly behind the future uf the town. He believed in Norwood not because he had made a fortune in it but because he felt it had the elements to make fortunes and happiness for many others. And in the end. he proved this by giving to Norwood the most complete and magnificently constructed public library building of any small town in the state at that period.
Yet there were even some two-by-four minds at that time who debated whether the town should accept the gift because Mr. Morrill did not also endow the Morrill Memorial Library so the town would never have to spend any more money on it! I feel that George Morrill’s gift, has done as much for Norwood as her school system.
George F. Willett
“When we mention George F. Willett we step from the past to the present and from there, to the future. For I feel George F. Willett’s contribution is not completed In fact, the future growth and development of his “West-over” model village may so overshadow all his other influences on the town that they will be more er less forgotten by our future historians. It seems to me that this idea of the outstanding model village of the United States, right on our western doorstep, is rapidly going to become the salvation and everlasting cornerstone of this town!
“George Willett came into the Norwood picture about 1900 when his genius for the organization had created for Winslow Brothers & Smith one of the largest and best, wool-scouring plants in the cast, and had junked all the antiquated tanning methods of their tannery, replacing them by the exact science of chemistry and the latest machinery. This, in cooperation with George Winslow, as I have told you.
Of course, I can t detail all the things George Willett has done for this town. I wish I could. But, boiled down, they are these:
He was the head of a committee appointed by the town to reduce the Norwood tax rate.
He is the father of all the tremendous and almost unbelievable changes for beauty and utility which have been made in the business section and the Municipal Square section. He took it when it was a frowzy, dilapidated and antiquated small-town business center. Washington Street was a narrow, muddy country road. Most of the buildings were those which had been erected in the ’50s and ’60s. It was his enthusiasm, push, and marvelous vision which shoved all this into the discard and eventually brought about what you see today.’ Many of his plans were not carried out. But if you will rake the trouble to read the record, you will be amazed to find how many were completed, not only in the center, but all over the town.
“Then he created, built, and practically supported the Civic Association Its chief purpose was to Americanize and educate, both physically and mentally, the vast horde of foreign-born people drawn to Norwood by the Winslow and Bird industries. And. in spite of all misunderstandings and financial troubles, I say the Civic did a grand job and probably lived to its full usefulness.
“In connection with the Civic, Mr. Willett was the dynamo which brought into being the Norwood Hospital. Probably we would have had a hospital without his help. We are too big a manufacturing lown to be without one. But George Willett is responsible for the splendid one we have.
“I won’t say anything about his work for better housing, better streets, a pond for bathing and other sports, better and more modern Civic conditions all along the line. They come under the general head of the town manager system of government and the new town charter—both of which he was largely responsible for. I know, because I happened to be a selectman at the time and know all that went on behind the scenes. And that goes for practically everything I have said about Mr. Willett.
“Now I am eighty years old. I know I will never see the completion and triumph of the Westover project which is today Mr. Willett’s day-and-night dream. But having watched Norwood grow from nothing to what it is today —and that is the most prosperous lown in Massachusetts according to present figures—I just want to add this:
“Mr. Willett does not own Westover. It is owned by a group of local trustees which he represents. But it doesn’t matter a particle who owns Westover. It is absolutely bound to develop and be covered with residences. Why? Because it is the last frontier of Norwood. I have seen the town grow as far as it can to the north, to the east and to the south. All its residential growth is now to the west—to the western frontier which is where all out-national growth has taken place. No one can tell me that anything can stop this wave of houses sweeping over the ridge where the Senior High School now stands and rushing down the great perfectly laid-out and natural amphitheater of land which is now called Westover. I know these thousand acres will look as different in fifty years as Norwood looks sixty years ago on the day I came of age.
“Maybe Mr. Willett will not be directing this development when the wave starts to roll But I sincerely hope so. Because he and those with him see it as a desperately needed civic movement to reduce taxes, to bring more business to present merchants and other businessmen. to build up our churches, improve our far-from-good transportation systems and to make Norwood a town which will be famous from Boston to San Francisco!
“How’s it going to be done? Just as Norwood has always done things—using plain ‘hoss sense’ and ‘boss courage’. By listening to the arguments of those who have Westover most at heart —without bitterness over past and dead events, and with a loyal enthusiasm for the future of their town and their own private, selfish interests. Norwood is going to be great—if Norwood will only write off its past misunderstandings— and step out!”