Christian Hill: An Architectural Study

When Norwood was established in 1872, the Christian Hill neighborhood had been a flourishing neighborhood for about twenty years. Early maps show a thickly settled area to the west of the “Hook” or South Norwood Village. It was South Dedham’s first thickly settled upscale residential area. Conveniently located near so many businesses that provided jobs for the working-class families in the neighborhood. In the Hook there were multiple shops and services. Plus there were two churches, Universalist and Baptist, a third, the First Congregationalist came to the neighborhood in the late 1800s, a primary school was located where today’s post office is, a new high school was built on the corner of Beacon and Day Streets, and before the century was over a fancy new library was added to the neighborhood. In 1860, Village Hall was built in the Hook. On the first floor it was home to several shops and small businesses, and on the second floor was a large hall, which over the years was host to many social gatherings and organizational meetings. It quickly became the heart of the community. Basically, everything was located a short walking distance from the Christian Hill neighborhood.

This neighborhood began to be developed in the early 1850s, when Joseph Day and George B. Talbot began selling small parcels of land. Day owned and operated a tannery in Boston and Talbot was a merchant, who operated a store in Boston, but somehow these business men saw a need for modest homes in South Dedham for a growing influx of workers and their families. Over the next twenty-five years, Day and Talbot were in some manor behind the development of the Christian Hill neighborhood – they sold empty parcels of land, or built spec homes, or provided the mortgage for many who lived here. It is interesting to note, that this thickly settled area were all small house lots. In larger populated areas, in town living was not new, but is was new to the village of South Dedham, and it illustrates how South Dedham was beginning to move away from subsistence farming. People who lived here might have a small kitchen garden, but the majority of their food came from shops that carried groceries, or from farmers who delivered food directly to their customers – such as a milkman who delivered dairy products.

The many of people who settled in this neighborhood were the people who could trace their ancestors directly to the original settlers of Dedham. Joel & Francis Baker; William S & Ebenezer F Gay, Ebenezer, Joseph & Lewis Day, Lyman, Charles & John Smith, Isaac & Francis Colburn, Otis & Oliver Morse, Elijah Wheelock (Jr & Sr); and Paul Ellis all descended from men who were listed as freeman in Dedham before 1647. Others who settled here could trace their ancestors back to original settlers of Watertown, Dorchester and Taunton, It should be noted, that many of those who have early genealogy in Massachusetts are the wealthy families who lived on Christian Hill and built the large fancy homes. With the exception of the few Irishman who settled here, these neighbors were Protestant, being members of the Universalist, Baptist and Congregational Churches.

It is through this shared history and religious background that makes Christian Hill one of Norwood’s Ethnic Neighborhoods – In fact, it is their first ethnic neighborhood. Today, just like when it was originally settled, it remains an upscale neighborhood.

Links to:

South Dedham Furniture Building

Development of Area

Builders & Developers

House Styles

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