NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS

'Norwood' is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA. As of the 2000 census, the population was 28,587. The community was named after Norwood, England. Norwood is on the Neponset River[1] which runs all the way from Boston Harbor to Foxborough.

Contents

History

Geography

Demographics

Education

Business

Architecture

Art

Transportation

Notable residents

References

External links

History

The Town of Norwood, which was officially formed in 1872, was until that time part of Dedham, known as the "mother of towns," as fourteen of the present communities of eastern Massachusetts lay within its original borders. Long used as a hunting ground by Indians, Norwood was first settled by Ezra Morse in 1678. He set up a sawmill in what is now South Norwood, the part of town to which the first concentration of families, almost all of whom were farmers, migrated over the next half-century.

Geography

Norwood is located at (42.185974, -71.201661).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 27.3 km² (10.6 mi²). 27.1 km² (10.5 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.66%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 28,587 people, 11,623 households, and 7,380 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,053.2/km² (2,727.0/mi²). There were 11,945 housing units at an average density of 440.1/km² (1,139.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.51% White, 2.31% Black or African American, 0.09% Native American, 5.06% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.77% from other races, and 1.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.65% of the population.
There were 11,623 households out of which 27.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.9% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the town the population was spread out with 20.8% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 89.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $58,421, and the median income for a family was $70,164. Males had a median income of $50,597 versus $34,312 for females. The per capita income for the town was $27,720. About 2.7% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

As of 2005, the main public institutions of Norwood are Norwood Senior High School (NHS) and the Dr. Philip O. Coakley Middle School (formerly Norwood Junior High South). There are also five elementary schoolsin the town (Balch, Callahan, Cleveland, Oldham, Prescott). The mascot of the high school is The Mustangs; its colors are blue and gold. Sports include football, baseball, basketball, soccer, field hockey, track and field, tennis, ice hockey, volleyball, wrestling, lacrosse, and cross-country. NHS also offers various music programs which include a string orchestra, wind ensemble, marching band, jazz band, various choruses, and a madrigal choir. The music program has been considered to be one of the finest in the country for over forty years. In 2000, the NHS Jazz Ensemble won the national high school championship. The theater department is active and puts on several shows every year.
Built in 2005, Universal Technical Institute is the newest post-secondary education center in Norwood. It is an automotive technical school featuring the Mercedes Benz Elite MSAT and the Ford FACT specilized training programs. The campus is located at 1 Upland Road, less than a mile from the Boston Providence Pike.
ITT Technical Institute is a leading private school system offering technology-oriented programs at this Norwood school. ITT Tech offers career-focused degree programs available at this Boston area school location. [2]
The Fine Mortuary College in Norwood includes a one-room museum featuring antique embalming tables and centuries-old wooden coffins^[1]

Business

A large cluster of automobile dealerships on Route 1 is known as the Norwood "Automile". The concept of having competing dealerships join together to publicize the "Automile" as an automobile shopping center was largely the work of Ernie Boch, famous in the Boston area for his ads urging people to "Come on down!" The chain of Boch dealerships includes what is said to be, as of March, 2005, the world's largest Honda dealership.
Norwood is the home office of semiconductor company Analog Devices, Inc. (website)
Norwood is the world headquarters of Mystic Scenic Studios and Mystic Millwork (website)
Norwood is also home to Caritas Christi Healthcare System [3]

Architecture

Norwood's town square is dominated by its town hall, the Norwood Memorial Municipal Building. It includes a 51-bell carillon tower housing the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon, one of nine carillons in Massachusetts and the seventh-largest in the United States. Built in 1928, the neo-gothic edifice is made of Weymouth seamed-face granite. Visitors often mistake it for a church or believe it to have been a church, but it never was; its stained-glass windows depict not saints, but local patriot Aaron Guild.

"Guild," whose name appears in local street and building names, is pronounced with a long 'i,' like the second syllable of the word "beguiled."

Guild's significance is explained by an inscription on the Aaron Guild Memorial Stone, dedicated in 1903, which stands outside the Norwood public library. The inscription reads:
:NEAR THIS SPOT
:CAPT. AARON GUILD
:ON APRIL 19, 1775
:LEFT PLOW IN FURROW, OXEN STANDING
:AND DEPARTING FOR LEXINGTON
:ARRIVED IN TIME TO FIRE UPON
:THE RETREATING BRITISH.
Guild and his oxen are featured in the town seal.

Art

Norwood was the long-time home of photographer and publisher Fred Holland Day. As a photographer, Day at one point rivalled Stieglitz in influence. The publishing firm of Copeland and Day was the American publisher of Oscar Wilde's ''Salome'' with illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley. The Day House is now a museum and the headquarters of the Norwood Historical Society. F. Holland Day Historic House Museum located at 93 Day St.

Transportation

★ U.S. Route 1 is a major artery through Norwood.

★ Three MBTA Commuter Rail stations on the Forge Park-495 line or Franklin Line, with daily service.

★ Norwood Memorial Airport

★ Interstate 95

★ MBTA bus route 34E

Notable residents

★ Richie Hebner, former major league baseball
player, arguably Norwood's most famous son [4].^[2]

★ Keith Adams (VII), pro-football player for the Miami Dolphins.

★ Alfred Fincher, pro-football player for the New Orleans Saints[5]

★ Dicky Barrett, lead singer of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones[6]

★ Robbie Merrill, bassist for hard rock band Godsmack [7]

★ Peter Laviolette, Head Coach of the 2006 Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes. Coached Team USA in the 2006 Olympics in Italy.

★ Skip Lockwood, former major league baseball player[8]

★ Matt Hasselbeck, NFL quarterback with the Seattle Seahawks [9]

★ Mike Sherman, former Green Bay Packers Head Coach, current Asst. Head Coach for the Houston Texans [10]

★ Allen Doyle, golf Champions Tour Star, 11-time winner on tour [11]

★ David Allen Lambert, genealogist, author, historian

★ Joe Hulbig, former NHL player, Boston and Edmonton [12]

★ Marty Callahan, former major league baseball player [13]

★ Billy Travers, former major league baseball player [14]

★ Charlie Bowles, former major league baseball player[15]

★ Ray Martin, former major league baseball player [16]

★ Allen Ripley, former major league baseball player [17]

★ Mike Smith, former major league baseball player [18]

★ Tom Shillue, stand-up comedian who has appeared on Comedy Central

★ Anthony Constantino, professional boxer

★ Christian Saulnier, won $500,000 on Identity (game show)

★ Andrew Koller, MIT graduate who won the Bass Master's Championship Twice in a row.

★ Paul and Joe DeGeorge, members of Harry and the Potters, a pioneering Wizard Rock band

★ Peter Brown, member of the Boston University Athletic Hall of Fame [19]

★ The Norwood High School football team has won 3 Eastern Massachusetts Super Bowls including 1977, 1980 and 2000

References

1. DYING TO VISIT? FUNERAL INDUSTRY FASCINATION GROWS: Mortuary school in Norwood opens museum to the public Brad Kelly ; college website is http://www.fine-ne.com/
2. Falla, Brian (2006), "Norwood's Natural," ''The Norwood Bulletin,'' October 5, 2006, p. 2. "Hebner's ties to Norwood remain a backbone of the story," a description of the making of a two-hour documentary on Hebner

External links

★ Town of Norwood

★ Industrial History of Norwood, Norwood Historical Society: Historical photographs and documents

★ Norwood, MA - Index of Marriages and Deaths

★ UTI Campuses