Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Norwood

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Norwood

Norwood’s post office opened in 1882, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1930.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Norwood began

When was Norwood founded?

1882

The Norwood post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 349 in 19302020 census: 578144 years
Founding year: the first Norwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Norwood’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Norwood are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Norwood’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Norwood’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Norwood, census by census

010020030040050060070019401960198020002020398 in 1940Low: 263

Lost a third of its people between 1940 and 1960, then more than doubled.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Norwood’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Norwood came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Norwood.

Read it all →

Norwood was laid out in 1882. The community was named by lawyer W.S. Thompson, who was inspired by the novel Norwood: or, Village Life in New England, by Henry Ward Beecher. A post office called Norwood has been in operation since 1882.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Norwood, 1882 to 2010

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Norwood post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1914Born hereOva A. Kelley is born here
  5. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1988Born hereHannah Kelly is born here
  7. 21st century
  8. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 665
By decade

Norwood, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Norwood-water-tower-mo2021Norwood-water-tower-moNorwood-Ryan-Block-mo2021Norwood-Ryan-Block-moNorwood-RR-tracks-mo2021Norwood-RR-tracks-moNorwood-City-Hall-mo2021Norwood-City-Hall-mo
On the map

Norwood on the map, 1951 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Norwood. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Norwood on the 1951 USGS mapNorwood on the 1977 USGS mapNorwood on the 1985 USGS map1951Norwood sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Norwood.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Norwood

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
O
Ova A. KelleyUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1914
H
Hannah KellyPolitician in the Missouri House of Representat… · b. 1988

Questions about Norwood’s history

What year was Norwood founded?

The Norwood post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.