Norfolk County, Massachusetts - Chapter 26: The Town of Norwood, 1918

Chapter 26: The Town of Norwood

The beautiful and enterprising Town of Norwood is centrally located, being bounded on the north by Westwood ; on the east by the Neponset River, which separates it from the Town of Canton; on the south by Sharon and Walpole; and on the west by Walpole and Westwood. The surface is more or less hilly and is drained by the Babbling (or Hawes) Brook in the southwest, and by the Purgatory Brook in the northern part. Both these streams flow in a southeasterly direction to the Neponset River.

First Settlement

Originally, the territory now forming the town was included in Dedham. As the grant to the Dedham proprietors in 1636 was so extensive, it offered great inducements to persons of an adventurous disposition to begin new settlements within its limits. It is impossible to say just who was the first white man to locate within the present bounds of Norwood, though in 1658 Eleazer Lusher and Joshua Fisher received a grant of land and the privilege of building a saw mill on the Neponset River, near the Cedar Swamp. Mr. Lusher did not remove to the mill site, but Mr. Fisher did, and he was one of the early settlers.

In 1664 Daniel Pond and Ezra Morse built a corn mill on the artificial stream known as "Mother Brook," near Dedham Village, but when their dam was completed it was found to interfere with a mill privilege previously granted to Nathaniel Whiting and they were compelled to remove their dam. Ezra Morse was then granted, as a compensation for his loss, forty acres on the Neponset River, "near the old saw mill or at Everett's Plain." He selected the former and became one of Norwood's pioneers. Other early settlers were the Everetts, Guilds, Bullards, Smiths, and some of the Fales family.

The South Precinct

the day before this petition came before the General Court. Notice was served upon that town and Dedham, and a remonstrance came in which was strong enough to defeat the object of the petitioners. It was not long, however, until another petition, headed by Joseph Ellis, was presented. This petition stated in more explicit terms the difficulties under which the inhabitants labored in attending church, especially in bad weather, and asked for the establishment of a precinct, or that the meeting house be moved nearer to the center of the Town of Dedham. A committee was appointed to repair to Dedham, investigate the conditions, and report to the General Court "on Tuesday, the 5th day of December next." Following is the report of the committee :

"The committee appointed by the Great and General Court to take into consideration the circumstances of the Town of Dedham, and the petition of the southerly part of said town, having attended the said service, report as follows: That viewing the situation and considering the circumstances, are of the opinion that it will be inconvenient to grant the prayer of the petition at present; but for as much as it appears to the committee that the major part of the petitioners labor under great difficulties in the winter season, in attending the Public Worship of God, by reason of their distance from the Meeting House, the committee propose that the Public Worship of God be performed by a Minister, to be provided by the petitioners in some private house, as near the center as may be, for five months in the year, viz., November, December, January, February and March, and that there be allowed thirty shillings per Sabbath for the said service, the charge to be borne by the whole town, and to continue until the further order of the Court, all of which is humbly submitted by order of the committee."

This report was accepted by the Council and concurred in by the House, after which it was presented to the governor, who consented to such an arrangement. But it was not satisfactory to the inhabitants of the southern part of Dedham. They wanted a precinct and parish of their own. Consequently, Joseph Smith, Samuel Everett, John Guild, James Fales and others kept up the fight, and during the next two years several petitions were presented to the General Court. Under the pressure of these sundry petitions, another committee was appointed by the General Court to look into the situation and recommend a course for the Court to pursue. Of this committee William Dudley was chairman, and on November 19, 1729, he reported as follows:

"The committee appointed by this Court to take under consideration the several petitions, and having been at ye Town of Dedham and Stoughton, and heard what ye several parties had to say, as well as to view ye circumstances of ye Inhabitants, humbly report on ye whole their Opinion as follows, viz. : That all that part of Stoughton lying on ye westward of the Neponset River, and to the Northward of Traphole Brook to ye Walpole line, be added to and incorporated into the Town of Dedham, with all ye Inhabitants, which with the Southern part of Dedham, we humbly are of Opinion be made into a distinct Township, the boundaries of ye whole to be as follows : Beginning at a place called Purgatory on Neponset River, where it may most conveniently take ye house and home lot of Josiah Fisher, Jr. ; from thence to a place called the Cross Wayes ; taking in ye house and home lot of John Hause (Hawes) ; from thence so as to take in ye house and home lot of Lusher Gay; from thence so as to take in ye house and home lot of John Baker; from thence to the line for the Precinct at Springfield

Morrill Memorial Library, Norwood Norwood Press Club, Norwood

(now Dover) so as to take in ye house and home lot of Amos Fisher; thence by ye said line to Bubbling Brook ; from thence to Walpole line and by ye said line to Traphole Brook ; and by ye said Brook to Neponset River ; and by ye same to ye first mentioned station, and that ye petitioners have leave to bring in a bill accordingly.

"And whereas there has been and still remains an unhappy difference of opinion among ye Inhabitants about placing a Meeting House for the Public Worship of God, it is therefore humbly proposed that the said Meeting House may be ordered in such place and time as a Committee of this Court shall appoint, so as to accommodate the inhabitants of Dedham, or of all the Inhabitants of this proposed Town, and the committee propose that the Western part of Dedham be set off by that town for a Precinct, to be confirmed accordingly, and that the Inhabitants thereof be allowed to congregate, as they do now, till the further order of this Court : Provided they do their proportion of the charge of supporting a minister where they leave."

No action was taken upon this report for nearly a year, but on October 3, 1730, the Council voted to accept the report and ordered "That the Prayer of this Petition be granted, so far as that the Southwesterly part of ye Town of Dedham, together with the westerly part of ye Town of Stoughton, accourding to the bounds expressed in the Report of a Committee of this Court in December (November) last, be erected into a Township, and that the Petitioners bring in a bill."

Five days later the House concurred in this action, except striking out the word "township," and inserting in its place the word "precinct." The same day the Council accepted the amendment and the governor gave his official sanction to the act, so that the territory now comprising the Town of Norwood became the South Precinct of Dedham on October 8, 1730.

First Precinct Meeting

Under a separate act of the General Court, John Everett, "a principal inhabitant," was authorized to call a meeting of "ye Inhabitants of ye Precinct." He served his warrant upon each qualified voter "to assemble in his Majesty's name at the house of John Ellis on October 22, 1730, to choose Precinct officers." When the meeting assembled John Everett was chosen moderator and James Fales, Jr., was elected clerk. The only officers elected were three assessors, viz. : John Everett, Ebenezer Healy and James Fales, Jr., who were authorized to call other meetings of the precinct.

At a second meeting, held on November 9, 1730, Ebenezer Dean was elected treasurer and Samuel Holmes, tax collector. It was voted at this meeting to raise and appropriate the sum of fifty pounds, "to pay a minister for six months1' - three months to be at the house of John Ellis and three months at the house of Nathaniel Guild, if it can be obtained ; if not the entire six months at the house of John Ellis." Joseph Ellis and John Dean were chosen a committee to procure an orthodox minister, and it was also voted "to build a Meeting House for the Public worship of God in ye Precinct, said house to be forty feet in length and thirty-six feet in width, to be erected at ye centre of the precinct," and William Everett, Nathaniel Guild, Ebenezer Healy, Joseph Ellis and Ebenezer Dean were

Locating The Meeting House

On January 30, 1731, Joseph Ellis and Samuel Bullard were chosen a committee to procure a surveyor to find the center of the precinct, but it seems the exact center was an undesirable spot for the meeting house. "A loving and friendly conference" was therefore held on June 7, 1731, at which it was decided to ask the General Court to appoint a committee "to place ye Meeting House for this Precinct," and John Everett and William Bullard were selected to present the matter to the Court. In response to the petition the General Court appointed Joseph Wads worth of the Council and John Jacob and Benjamin Bird of the House. They reported in favor of "the south end of the common land lying between John Cobb's and Doctor Richards' as the best place to set it on," which report was accepted by the Court and the precinct was ordered to pay four pounds four shillings to pay the expenses of the committee. The site was not acceptable to a majority of the precinct, and at a meeting on July 14. 1731, it was voted not to appropriate money to build a meeting house on the spot selected by the committee, nor to pay the expenses of the committee.

In the meantime a meeting house had been commenced near the center of the precinct, as voted by the meeting of November 9, 1730, but owing to dissensions over the location had not been finished. During the year 1731 no fewer than twelve meetings were called to consider the question of locating the meeting house, but the lack of harmony prevented a decision. The year 1732 brought no better results, and on February 26, 1733, William Bullard, James Fales, Jr., Ebenezer Dean, William Everett and Ebenezer Healy were selected as a committee to carry the matter once more before the General Court and ask for a reversal of the order to build a meeting house on the common land near the house of John Cobb, but to establish the place according to a vote of the precinct, and to order the three hundred pounds already granted to be expended on the said center meeting house. This called forth a counter petition on the part of Joseph Ellis and others living in the northerly part of the precinct. The result was that the Court ordered "Joseph Ellis and others, with the two Fishers and Aaron Ellis with their estates, to be laid back to the Old Precinct; the others to remain in the South Precinct."

A committee from the General Court then reported that, having considered the petition of William Bullard and others, "the place for a Precinct Meeting House be between the houses of Ebenezer Dean and Nathaniel Guild on the Northwest side of the way to Walpole, about nine rods from said Guild's fence, in the quarter of an acre of land given and granted to the said Precinct by the said Dean," etc. On January 4, 1735, the voters of the precinct accepted the site recommended by the committee, appropriated the balance of the one hundred pounds voted by the meeting of November 9, 1730, and John Everett. William Bacon, Daniel Draper and John Dean were appointed a building committee to carry into effect the order of the meeting. On February 6, 1735, an additional appropriation of £150 was made toward the erection of the meeting house and John Farrington and Nathaniel Lewis were added to the building com- mittee. One would suppose that the vexed question of a meeting house was now settled. But when on February 9, 1736, the people selected Rev. Thomas Balch as their pastor, Daniel Draper and seven others, being dissatisfied with the choice, petitioned the General Court to be released from the precinct. The petition was granted, except in the cases of John Cobb, William Bullard, Nathaniel Lewis and Samuel Farrington, who were ordered to remain in the South Precinct. Thus after about five years of dissension, which resulted in a division of the precinct as originally established on October 8, 1730, the question of the meeting house location was set at rest. The church, with Rev. Thomas Balch as pastor, was formally organized on June 23, 1736.

Changing The Boundary

By an act of the General Court, approved on January 9, 1738, "Capt. Ezra Morse and his sons, Ezra, Jr., and Joseph, with their estates, are set off from Walpole and annexed to Dedham and to the South Precinct. Also that part of Stoughton which was within the limits of the South Precinct is annexed to Dedham and the Neponset River is made the dividing line between the towns of Dedham and Stoughton, the original line being about one mile west of that river."

A few years later a large part of the estate of Nathaniel Sumner was set off from Sharon and annexed to the South Precinct of Dedham. In 1763 the line between the two parishes was defined by a committee composed of Ebenezer Everett and Eliphalet Fales on the part of the South Precinct; Isaac Whiting and Ichabod Gay, on behalf of the Clapboard Tree Parish. They reported: "The line beginning from ye center betweene ye meeting houses, then runs North 50 degrees East to ye place where the house of Ebenezer Ellis stood, from thence North one degree west to the Cross Wayes. The distance betweene ye Meeting Houses is one and a half mile and 33 rods."

In 1767 the First Precinct selected Jonathan Metcalf, John Eaton and W'illiam Avery to act with Nathaniel Sumner, David Fisher and Benjamin Fisher of the Second Precinct in fixing the boundary line between the two. The committee reported as follows : "We began at Purgatory Hole so called, thence run Northwesterly to a White Oak tree with stones around it on the land of Joseph Wight ; thence to a heap of Stones at the Northeasterly corner of land now belonging to Deacon William Avery, thence more northerly to the eastwardly corner of land now belonging to Capt. Daniel Gay, thence westerly to the Cross Ways near the house of Jeremiah Dean ; and we are of the opinion that said line ought to be the dividing line between said Precincts, and for the future to be esteemed as such, excepting such lands as have since the setting off of the South Precinct been by the General Court laid to the First Parish in Dedham, which is humbly submitted."

Town Of Norwood Incorporated

On December 22, 1871, a meeting was held in the village hall to consider the advisability of presenting a petition to the General Court asking that the South Precinct of Dedham be erected into a town. George B. Talbot and a few of his friends had previously circulated a petition to that effect and obtained 252 signatures. At the meeting a committee was appointed to appear before the legislative committee on towns and support Mr. Talbot's petition, which asked for the establishment of a new town to embrace the old South Precinct and a small portion of Walpole, the inhabitants of which were closely connected with the proposed new town through their business interests and social relations. Neither Dedham nor Walpole offered any objections to the movement, and on February 23, 1872, Governor Washburn approved an act, Section 1 of which was as follows :

"All the territory now within the towns of Dedham and Walpole in the County of Norfolk, comprised within the following limits, that is to say : Beginning at the point where the southerly side of Canton Street crosses the dividing line between the towns of Canton and Dedham ; thence running northwesterly on the westerly side of said Canton Street about three thousand feet, to a point dividing the lands of John and Luther Eaton ; thence running from said point, on a line in the direction of the old parish boundary now standing at the junction of Centre Street and East Street, until said line strikes and crosses Downey Street at a point about thirteen hundred and two feet from a monument at the corner of Downey Street and Everett Street ; thence running westerly on the northerly side of Everett Street, and crossing Centre Street, to the street boundary post on the southerly side of Clapboard-tree Street, near the southwesterly abutment of the Boston, Hartford & Erie Railroad bridge near Ellis Station ; thence running westerly by the southerly side of Clapboard-tree Street to the angle in said street, which is about forty-five rods west of Jeremiah Gay's house ; thence in a straight line toward the corner of land of Samuel Cheney on Winter Street, twenty-one rods north of the house of said Samuel Cheney, until said line strikes Nahatan Street about three hundred and nine feet southerly from the north corner of Ebenezer Gay's land ; thence in a straight line passing through the easterly line of the junction of Oak Street and Brook Street, to the dividing line between the towns of Dedham and Walpole; then following the said dividing line southeasterly to a monument where Brook Street crosses Babbling Brook, at a point south of and near the house of James R. Fisher; thence in a straight line to a monument on the east side of the old Post Road, on land now or late of the heirs of Isaac Fisher ; thence by the lines dividing the Town of Dedham from the towns of Walpole, Sharon and Canton respectively to the point of beginning - is hereby incorporated into a town by the name of Norwood."

Thus it was that Norwood, after having been a precinct of Dedham for 142 years, took her place among the towns of Norfolk County. On March 6, 1872, the citizens celebrated the birth of their town. Among the distinguished guests present were Governor Washburn, Senator Thomas L. Wakefield of Dedham, A. B. Endicott and Benjamin Weatherbee, two of Dedham's selectmen, and several others. Governor Washburn made a short speech in which he congratulated the people of the new town upon the auspicious beginning of its career.

First Town Officers

In accordance with a provision in the act of incorporation. Willard Gay issued a warrant for a town meeting to be held on Monday, March 11, 1872. George Lovis was chosen moderator, after which the following town officers were elected : Samuel E. Pond, Willard Gay and Edward Everett, selectmen ; Francis Tinker, clerk ; L. W. Bigelow, treasurer ; Caleb Ellis, George H. Morse and Tyler Thayer, assessors ; J. C. Park, Rev. E. A. Wyman and Francis O. Winslow, school committee ; James Engles and C. W. Strout, constables.

After the election of these officers, the first official act of the Town of Norwood was to extend a vote of thanks to the committee who had served so faithfully in presenting the petition for a new town to the Legislature, etc. This committee was composed of John C. Park, Caleb Ellis and J. W. Talbot. The next thing was to adopt the following : "Resolved, That the citizens of Norwood, in town meeting assembled, recognize with grateful pleasure the readiness and courtesy with which the citizens of Dedham and Walpole have assisted us in the inauguration of our new town ; and that the clerk be instructed to present a copy of this resolution to the selectmen of Dedham and Walpole."

Town Seal

The corporate seal of the Town of Norwood is typical of its early history, while it was still* the Dedham South Precinct. In the background of a circular field is a team of oxen hitched to a plow, and to the right is a clump of trees. In the foreground is the figure of a man in the costume of colonial days, with musket on his shoulder and powder-horn hanging at his side, while underneath are the words: "Aaron Guild, April 19, 1775." Aaron Guild was one of the residents of the precinct at the time the Lexington Alarm was sounded through the colonies. The deserted ox team and plow tell the story of his loyalty to the cause of the colonists. He was a member of Capt. Joseph Guild's company in the northern campaign of 1775-76, and was afterward captain of a company, a large number of the members of which came from the South Precinct. (See chapter on the Revolution.) In the margin of the seal are the words: "Town of Norwood, Mass., Incorporated Feb. 23, 1872."

Present Day Conditions

Norwood is the fifth town in the county in point of population, and also the fifth in wealth. In 1910 the population was 8,014 and the state census of 1915 reported 10,977, a Sam °f 2-963 m five years. The assessed valuation of property for 1916 was $17,074,710. This was about thirty thousand dollars lower than the valuation of the preceding year, owing to a readjustment of assessments. On December 31, 1916, the bonded indebtedness of the town was $527,900, and the value of municipal property was $1,427,801, or nearly three dollars of assets for each dollar of debt, not including cash on hand and other personal property.

The town has a system of waterworks that cost $361,000. with the principal pumping station at Ellis Station and another at Westwood. The supply is taken from deep wells, with the Buckmaster Pond as an auxiliary supply in case of emergency. During the year 1916 the amount of water pumped was 347,000,000 gallons, and the income of the works was $39,933-35- Norwood also has a municipal lighting plant, the value of which was estimated at the close of the year 1916 as $125,000. The income for that year was $66,817.80 and the operating expenses, including the town fire alarm system, were $52,549.22. The fire

Norwood has two banks, a weekly newspaper (the Messenger), a number of prosperous manufacturing establishments, well stocked mercantile houses, a fine public library, good public schools, Baptist, Catholic, Congregational, Methodist Episcopal and Universalist churches, a fine,, new Masonic temple, well paved streets, and many handsome residences. The division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford that runs from Boston to Providence via Wrentham passes through the town, with stations at Ellis, Norwood, Norwood Central and Morrills, and the town is connected with Boston and the adjacent towns by electric railway lines, hence the transportation facilities are excellent.

Following is a list of the principal town officers at the beginning of the year 1917: Frank G. Allen, Oliver J. Barr, George K. Bird, Patrick J. Lydon and John E. Folan, selectmen; James E. Pendergast, clerk and accountant; Harold W. Gay, treasurer and collector; Clarence A. Bingham, general manager; Mahlon R. Perry, John P. Crowley and Aaron L. Goodwin, assessors ; Cornelius M. Callahan, Alfred N. Ambrose, Ralph E. Bullard, Sarah N. Bigelow, Henry I. Everett and Harriet W. Lane, school board ; Francis J. Foley, Herbert H. Miller and Frank A. Fales, finance commission ; James A. Halloran, town counsel ; J. F. Boyden, Frank W. Talbot and Clarence A. Bingham, board of fire engineers ; Joseph E. Conley, superintendent of public works.