This photograph shows the buildings on the east side of Montgomery Road near Washington Avenue, probably in the second half of the 1920s. The building with the curved roof line is the First National Bank of Norwood. It sits at the northeast corner of the intersection. The building to the right, at the southeast corner, is the Sears & Roebuck Company's Norwood store. Next to it is a Ben's Jewelry store.

In July, 1902, The First National Bank of Norwood (not to be confused with the National Bank of Norwood, or The First National Bank of Cincinnati) opened in Norwood. In January, 1903, the bank purchased the corner lot at Washington Avenue and Montgomery Road; by 1907, a new building —the one in the photograph— was completed. In March, 1952, The First National Bank of Norwood merged with The First National Bank of Cincinnati, and became known as the Norwood Office of that bank.

Washington Avenue from Lafayette Avenue to this intersection at Montgomery Road was vacated when the Surrey Square shopping center was constructed. The location of the three buildings mentioned is now within the northwestern part of that shopping mall's property. That part of Washington Avenue was replaced with an eastern extension of Sherman Avenue to Smith Road.

Prior to 1925, the land from the southwestern corner of Washington Avenue and Montgomery Road (starting with Sears) to Lafayette Avenue was the farmland of Benjamin F. and Margaret M. Smith. She sold the property to developers in June 1925. The land was the last remaining real estate from the old Smith properties of the pioneer days in early 1800s.