- 1870 (January 29)
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that "the old town of
Sharpsburg has been changed to Norwood since the Marietta Railroad
converted it into a station."
- 1870 (May 9)
The Sharpsburg P.O.'s name is officially changed to the Norwood P.O.
- 1870 (July) W. R. Phipps, a Cincinnati boot and shoe
merchant, sold his residence in Avondale for $35,000, and bought a
site in Norwood to build a permanent residence. This becomes the
only house to be built in the newly created Norwood Heights.
- 1870 (summer) Mound Avenue, in Norwood Heights, is
completed. It 60 feet wide and more than a mile in length, in the
form of a semi-circle at the base of the "Indian Mound."
It was built under the supervision of the well-known landscape
gardener Herman Haerlein. An earlier newspaper column stated that
the other avenues in Norwood Heights were built under the
supervision of Mr. Strauch, of Spring Grove Cemetery. It was
reported that from the summit of the Mound, seventeen villages and
towns could be seen.
- 1872 (June 1)
The Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad opens a connection to the
Cincinnati & Baltimore Railroad in the Mill Creek Valley. The M.
& C. R. R. is given control over the 5.8 miles line into
Cincinnati under a lease arrangement. Previously, the M. & C.
used the Hamilton & Dayton Railroad's Mill Creek tracks to
Cincinnati. It isn't clear how, or if, this influenced the train
travel through Norwood's section of the M. & C.
- 1873 (March)
For $2,000, Jackson Slane and wife Hettie sign a 10-year lease of 5
lots in Slane's subdivision to Mary A. McBride. Peter Fitzgerald
sells lot number 1 of his Norwood subdivision to Matthias Kopf for
$1,040.
- 1873 (April)
For $6,000, Jackson & Hettie Slane sell property to A. H. Smith
and W. S. Hedges. One lot, 700 ft. x 210 ft. was on the south side
of Maple Avenue (later renamed Slane Avenue), 200 feet east of
Montgomery Pike. The second lot, 100.9 ft. x 210.56 ft., was on the
north side of Locust Avenue (later renamed Williams Avenue), 371
feet east of Montgomery Pike. A few of the streets had to be renamed
after the incorporation of the village because the several
subdivisions had used the same names for some of the streets.
- 1873 (June 13)
The 1st auction sales of lots at Franklin and Allison Streets is
held. These streets were platted earlier in the year. Three other
subdivisions are created by Wood & Reilly and L. C. Hopkins this
year. (should this be corrected to "created at Wood &
Reilly by L. C. Hopkins"?)
- 1873
A 50 acre farm, south of the properties of T. T. Drake, an early
settler, and Charles F. Low, Secretary of the Marietta &
Cincinnati Railroad, is purchased by Robert Hedger, James Bradford,
George H. Hafer, and Maddox & Hobart. They plat the land into
fifty-feet front lots on Montgomery Road, and Maple and Elm Avenues.
It is known as "Hedger's Subdivision," "The Heart of
Norwood" and simply "Norwood." After East Norwood and
South Norwood are platted, residents of the area often refer to the
Hedger subdivision as "old Norwood," in order to
differentiate it from East and South Norwoods. (A nickname for the
area is "Swamp Poodle Town.") Together these three
Norwoods, with West Norwood often included, are commonly called
"The Norwoods."
- 1874 (March)
Even though developers were creating residential subdivisions in the
young Norwood, farms and country life still enjoyed success in the
village. Cavagna's farm advertised pasturing and feeding of horses
on his land in what would later become the Elsmere Subdivision of
south Norwood.
- 1874 (spring)
The Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad completed reducing the grade
through Norwood from 105.5 feet to the mile to 26.4 feet to the
mile. To allow for the Montgomery Pike to traverse this lowering of
the roadway, a wrought iron bridge was built over the tracks. (This
was apparently the first of many Montgomery Road bridges at this
location.) Also, at this time, a second track was laid for a
distance of three and one-third miles. This gave the railroad a nine
and one-third miles of continuous double track from Cincinnati. Soon
afterwards, construction of a new station at Norwood was started.
- 1874 (June 13)
Eighty-six lots in L. C. Hopkins' Subdivision at Norwood are offered
for auction. The subdivision fronted on Hopkins Avenue, Franklin and
Allison Streets. A. C. Horton, Hoeffes & Bauman, and Hemmelgarn
& Co, handled the sales. A special no-charge train brought
buyers from the Depot at Plum and Pearl Streets in Cincinnati to
Norwood.
Within a couple of weeks, 118 lots in Hopkins' two subdivisions were
sold. This and other sales encouraged a newspaper to proclaim that
"in time this village will prove one of our most thriving and
beautiful suburbs by reason of its ease of access and picturesque
surroundings."
- 1874 (July)
L. C. Hopkins and wife sell lots 30 and 31 in Hopkins' 2nd addition
to Norwood to E. D. Spooner for $800.
- 1874 (August)
L. C. Hopkins and wife sell lots 28 and 29 (50 ft. x 172.5 ft, each)
of Hopkins' subdivision to H. M. Lane for $475.
- 1874 (October 13)
Norwood resident and Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad worker Henry
Trollet is found this morning near the tracks in Oakley. He had been
run over and crushed by the Monday evening train.
- 1874 (November)
L. C. Hopkins and wife sell lot no. 14 (50 ft. x 183 ft.) in Hopkins
4th Norwood subdivision to C. A. Hitchcock for $700.
- 1875 (February)
L. C. Hopkins and wife sell lots 3 and 7 in Hopkins' 2nd Addition to
H. A. Smith for $787.50.
- 1875 (April)
L. C. Hopkins and wife sell lots 43, 56 and 57 (50 ft. x 172.5 ft.,
each) in Hopkins' Subdivision to Georgiana Davis for $912.50.
- 1875 (July 17 & 24)
During meetings (at L. C. Hopkins & Co.'s downtown office) of
property-holders along Montgomery Road from Walnut Hills to Norwood,
the main topics were the need for speedy transit between the suburbs
along the road and Cincinnati and the growing demand for more houses
and homes. The attendees agreed that the Marietta & Cincinnati
Rairoad was a great benefit, but a direct north-south transit was
needed. Mr. Hopkins, as Chairman of the group's Committee on
Railroad, reported that there were plans to meet with the Directors
of the Lebanon Narrow-gauge Railway Company to ask for a connection
from the tracks at Norwood to some point on either the Route 10 or
18 streetcar lines at Walnut Hills. Captain Foraker, who would later
become an Ohio governor and U. S. Senator, made a motion favoring
"the building of a narrow-gauge railroad, to be run with a
dummy engine, from Walnut Hills to Norwood, to connect with the
Pleasant Ridge and Lebanon Road, and that a Committe of three, of
which L. C. Hopkins shall be Chairman, be appointed to ascertain the
best route and to obtain the necessary right of way." The
selected appointees to the committee were L. C. Hopkins, Jackson
Slane and Wm. C. Baker.
Note: Six years later, in 1881, the Cincinnati,
Lebanon and Northern Railroad is built through Norwood, connecting
Dayton and Lebanon with Cincinnati. However, the route did not
follow Montgomery Road, but went diagonally through Norwood and
Avondale. The next year, 1882, another railroad, the Cincinnati
& Eastern (later, the Cincinnati, Poustmouth and Virginia R.R.
and, later, the Norfolk & Western R.R.), ran passenger trains
from Cincinnati, using the C., L.& N. tracks to the Cleneay
Station in Norwood. From there, using its own tracks along the
southern border of Norwood, it provided service to Mornington
Station at Wasson Avenue in what is now Hyde Park. (These tracks are
the current subject of a bicycle trail.) It isn't until July 1891,
after years of setbacks, that an electric street car line is finally
built and running on Montgomery Road, providing the long desired
north-south Montgomery Road commuter service.
- 1875 (August 17)
The "Indian" Mound land is deeded to the "Norwood
Village" (Interestingly, Norwood is not incorporated as a
Village until 1888 - and even then the Norwood Heights area doesn't
become part of the village until the first annexation in early 1889;
so, who actually takes ownership of the land? Since the only
subdivisions at the time with the name Norwood, is Norwood Heights
and Hedger's Subdivision, a.k.a Norwood, perhaps the deed is to the
latter.). One half of the property is owned in common by S.
H. Parvin, P. P. Lane and E. W.
VanDuzen, who had purchased L. Bolles share of the Norwood Heights
subdivision, and the other half by Lydia B. and William R. Phipps.
The pathway around the Mound is called "Lookout Avenue" in
the deed, which is recorded on March 9, 1876.
- 1875 (September 16)
A problem with a freight car on a west-bound train on the Marietta
& Cincinnati Railroad at Norwood caused a delay in trains
traveling from the east to Cincinnati.
- 1876 (February 1)
The Duckcreek Baptist Church moves to Mt. Lookout.
Note: John Paul Jones, in his article on Hyde
Park, "The Hermitage, The Pines, and Old Hyde Park," in
the Spring 1972 issue of The Cincinnati Historical Society
Bulletin, using John M. Lockhart's 1908 Memorial Volume of
the Hyde Park Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, (page 14) as his
reference source, says that the church site and its cemetery on Duck
Creek, near Edmondson Road, were abandoned in 1875, when the church
was moved to Grace Avenue at the northwest corner of Griest Avenue.
In 1904, the present building at Erie and Michigan Avenues was
dedicated.
- 1876 (February 14)
The Miami Valley Narrow-Gauge Railway proposed an ordinance be
approved by the Cincinnati Board of Improvement that would allow the
business to built a railroad from Broadway, by way of Deercreek
Valley, up Limekiln Hollow, through the west part of Walnut Hills to
Avondale, Norwood, Pleasant Ridge, Mason, Lebanon,
Waynesville and Xenia. It would connect with other
railroads—Dayton & Southeastern near Xenia and the
Springfield, Jackson and Pomeroy road.
- 1876 (February 24?)
The Miami Valley Narrow Gauge Railroad Company asked Cincinnati City
Council for the right of way for a railroad from Norwood to
the city. Also, it proposed to extend the tracks to Lebanon. In the
city, the line would start at Broadway, north of Court, go up
Deercreek Valley, cross Effluent Pipe Street and Park Entrance
street at grade, use bridges to cross Montgomery Road, Lafayette and
Marion Streets, under McMillen Street, and under Home Street by
tunnels. It would pass the corporation line near the intersection of
Woodburn and Beresford Avenues and from there to Norwood.
- 1876 (March 9)
S. H. Parvin and others gave the Mound, at Norwood Heights, for
public dedication in a deed recorded on this date.
- 1876 (July)
There were a couple of interesting real estate transfer in Norwood
this month. Jackson Slane and wife sold a lot on the southwest
(sic) corner of Maple Avenue (later renamed Slane Avenue) and
Montgomery pike to J. S. Glazier for $2000. The lot was 200 ft. by
281.89 ft. Lot 7, in Baker's addition to Norwood, was sold by Samuel
Amen and wife for $1500. The buyer was J. D. (sic) Foraker
(the middle initial was probably "B."mdash;not
"D." J. B. Foraker later became governor of Ohio and a U.
S. Senator.
- 1876 (July 18)
Colonel P. P. Lane and wife celebrated their silver wedding
anniversary this evening with an elaborate party at his Norwood
mansion. The three acres at the property was lit with Chinese
lanterns hung from trees and shrubs and the house was adorned with
flowers. A forty by forty feet dancing platform covered by a muslin
tent was built near the house. Supper was served on another platform
added to the rear portico. The Ballenberg Orchestra played for the
dancers late into the night.
Note: The Lane home is now a funeral home at the
northern boundary of Norwood, across from Cypress Way, on Montgomery
Road.
- 1876 (mid-July)
Work was to begin soon on the Miami Valley Narrow Gauge railroad.
The plan was for the road to go from Court Street, near Bowman's
slaughter-house, up Gilbert Avenue, past West Walnut Hills, through
Norwood and Lebanon, and eventually, maybe, to Xenia.
- 1876 (August 17)
The Western Star newspaper of Lebanon printed the terms of the
contract, for the construction of the Miami Valley Railroad from
Cincinnati (and through Norwood) to Waynesville. The contract, which
had been signed on the previous day, had been awarded to John B.
Benedict, of Cincinnati. The road was to be finished by July 1,
1877. The contract price for the section from Cincinnati to the
Marietta & Cincinnati tracks at Norwood was $300,00. The
remainder to Waynesville was $270,000. The newspaper questioned why
the price for the 5.05 miles Cincinnati section was more than the
36.17 miles of the three other sections combined.
- 1876 (August)
Merritt Price sold to L. C. Hopkins lot 6 in Hopkins' second
addition to Norwood for $614.20. To property was 65.33 ft. x 130.82
ft. Since Hopkins' was probably the previous owner, Mr. Price must
have changed his mind on building on the lot or had purchased it for
speculative investment purposes.
- 1876 (October 5)
A train due in Cincinnati at 6:40 this morning collided with a
freight train at Norwood. The damaged was mainly with the
lcomotives.
- 1876 (November)
The Home Literary Club of Norwood was oraganized in order to provide
activities during the winter months.
- 1876 (December 12)
Clara H. Bosworth,51, died. She was the sister of Sarah Bosworth
Bolles, who had suggested the name "Norwood" for the
subdivison overlooking Sharpsburg. Clara's funeral was at another
sister's home, that of her brother-in-law, Colonel P. P. Lane, one
of the developer's of the Norwood Heights Subdivision.
- 1877 (February 21)
William Phipps opened his Norwood Heights home to the E. T. O.
Dancing Club
- 1877 (April 13)
M. B. McCullough, wife of J. M. McCullough, died at her Norwood
residence.
- 1877 (July 2)
Warren M. Langdon, 23, son of William and Joanna Langdon died. The
funeral was at the parents' Norwood residence on the 4th.
- 1877 (October)
Colonel P. P. Lane was host at his Norwood home to the Rev. Mr.
Lisle, formerly Chaplain of the Colonel's Eleventh Ohio Volunteer
Regiment during the Civil War.
- 1877 (October 29)
Mrs. Anthony Ferguson, one of the oldest residents of Norwood, died
this afternoon.
- 1877 (November 6)
Several people, including Miami Valley Railroad President Seth S.
Haines, spoke at the stockholders' meeting, on providing means
(preferred stock had been issued to raise funds) for the immdiate
completion of the line from Cincinnati to the intersection with the
Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad (at Norwood?).
- 1878 (August 1)
Katie L. Junkins, 22, died at her residence and the home of her
uncle and long-time Norwood resident, Moses F. Buxton. She had
received injury to her brain in a railroad accident on the
Pan-handle Railroad during the Centennial celebration.
- 1878 (August)
Fred Behrens, a Columbia Township Trustee, reported five unsafe
bridges in the township. One of the bridges spanned the Duck Creek,
between Madisonville Pike (today's Madison Road) and Norwood, near
French's dairy.
- 1878 (October 13)
George E. S. Slane, 15, died. He was the eldest son of long-time
Norwood residents and land owners, Jackson and Hettie Cameron Slane.
- 1878 (mid-December)
The builder, John B. Benedict, of the Miami Valley Railroad from
Cincinnati, through Norwood, to Xenia, filed suit in the Court of
Common Pleas, claiming the railroad owned him $392,000. Later, it
was reported that Miami Valley President S. S. Haines had secretly
received $125,000 for giving the contract for building the road to
Mr. Benedict.
- 1878 (December 19)
At a stockholders meeting, L. C. Hopkins
is elected president of the newly formed Norwood Town Hall
Association. Also elected to office are Edwards Mills, treasurer,
and Joseph B. Foraker, secretary. The
elected board consists of L. C. Hopkins,
P. P. Lane, J.
B. Foraker, Edward Mills and Frank Wiehe. The organization is
created to follow up on the demand of local women to build a village
center. However, because of lack of funds, it is four years later
before they build the center.
On two evenings (Thursday and Friday, December 19-20), at Thomas T.
Drake residence, the ladies prepared a supper with
"fiddlers" providing dance music for the benefit of the
Town Hall. They also sold articles for Christmas presents.
- 1879 (March 5)
In an investigative report in the Cincinnati Enquirer, it was stated
that the Miami Valley Railroad officials told the contractor to stop
on the Cincinnati section and to complete the portion from the M
& C. R. R. at Norwood to Waynesville. It was reported that the
grading, bridges and ties were completed from Norwood to Waynesville
and all that were needed were the rails. The contractor proceeded to
work on the Cincinnati section and when told to finish the other
sections instead, he stopped work— and that was over a year ago.
When a Director of the railroad was asked if they intend to abandon
the line through Avondale and Walnut Hills into Cincinnati, he
replied "no." He mentioned that the Avondale people were
pushing for a street railroad, and he had asked them to wait since
he hoped to have the lower end of the line done soon, so a street
car line would not be necessary.
- 1879 (April 19)
The stockholders of the Miami Valley Narrow-Gauge Railroad held a
secret meeting in Lebanon, Ohio. It was reported that the purpose
was to appoint a Receiver for the railroad. It was said by an
unnamed officer of the company that the Receiver was Nathan Keever,
a well-known local farmer.
- 1879 (June 19)
Mr. S. S. Haines, the late President of the Miami Valley Railroad
(which ran through Norwood) was preparing to sue for slander The
Western Star newspaper publisher, William C. McClintlock.
- 1879 (December 3)
After spending nine weeks on the trial of John Benedict v. Miami
Valley Railroad Company, the jury was discharged by Judge Johnston.
They could not come to an agreement on the verdict.
- 1879 (December 4)
Sarah P. Mills, 73, died. She was the wife of the late Stephen
Mills, from one of the early residents of Norwood back when it was
called Sharpsburg. Her funeral was from the Norwood residence of her
son, Edward Mills.
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