A history of Norwalk,
since 1817
Postcards, papers and photographs of Norwalk from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗On July 11, 1779, Norwalk, Connecticut, was burned by British Loyalists under Lieutenant-general William Tryon. In 1800, the U.S. federal government gave an area in the Connecticut Western Reserve as compensation; and in 1806, 13 men arrived to make the first survey of what would be called the Firelands.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Norwalk’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewWest Main Street, 1906: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Norwalk
See all 29 →
Norwalk, decade by decade
LOCHigh School1905
LOCCounty Court House1905
CommonsWest Main Street1906 · postcard
CommonsWest Main Street1906 · postcard
CommonsMain Street looking west1907 · postcard
CommonsMain Street looking west1907 · postcard
CommonsTown hall1907 · postcard
CommonsTown hall1907 · postcard
CommonsWest Main Street1908 · postcard
CommonsWest Main Street1908 · postcard
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as High School (1905) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (10) and the Library of Congress (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.