NORWOOD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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Historical Dates for Norwood, Ohio.
1940s

  • 1940 (April)
    After a bitter and long strike, Remington-Rand's Norwood Plant (formerly Dalton Adding Machine Company) is sold to LeBlond Machine Tool Company. Thus ended the company's twenty-six years in Norwood.

  • 1940
    Carl H. Lindner, Sr. and children create United Dairy Farmers, with headquarters on Montgomery Road in Norwood.

  • 1941
    The Norwood plant of Globe-Wernicke is increased by 200,000 sq. ft. to 1,500,000 sq. ft.

  • 1942-1945
    The Globe-Wernicke Company produces war materials as 90% of the Norwood facility is used for the manufacture of wing flaps, nacelle doors, tail cones, troop seats and furniture for ships.

  • 1942 (May 10)
    Former Norwood Mayor Amos L. Eyler, 77, dies.

  • 1942 (July 8)
    Thirty-four year-old Norwood police Sergeant Anthony H. Overberg is shot and killed while staking out a drug store on Franklin Avenue. While struggling with the criminal, Sgt. Overberg was shot. The criminal was later arrested, sentenced and executed on November 8, 1945. For a detailed accounts of the events, see Jeffrey Gladish's article on the Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society Museum website and Part I:Clue of the Killer’s CALLING CARD blog. Part II:Clue of the Killer’s CALLING CARD on Citizens For A Better Norwood blog.

  • 1942
    The J. H. Day Company (founded in 1887) moves from Cincinnati to the old Remington-Rand facility at 4932 Beech Avenue. The property was purchased in 1940 by LeBlond Machine Tool Company and was originally the Norwood home of the Dalton Adding Machine Company from 1914 to 1927, when Remington-Rand acquired the business. The Day Company, manufacturers of industrial mixing machines for the food service and pharmaceutical industry, moves its Norwood operations to Florence, Kentucky, in June, 1992.

  • 1944 (August 13-14)
    The Norwood Fire Department puts its new pumper to use as a fire causes extensive damage to Freedman-Adams junk yard and Ihlendorf Funeral Home at Monroe Avenue and Montgomery Road. Aluminum, magnesium and other alloys make it very hard to put out the blaze, since water causes them to burn more. The body of the mother-in-law of Deer Park Mayor Young has to be moved from Ihlendorf to the Tredway funeral home.

  • 1945
    After owning the Norwood Sash & Door Company since 1912, Sears, Roebuck & Company sells it to a group of employees headed by plant manager, Charles Klekamp, and chief engineer, William Schmale.

  • 1945 (November 5)
    Globe-Wernicke workers went on strike after the company announced the end of war time "daily allowance" bonuses. The union said that would mean a 25-50% reduction in wages. During the war, approximately 90% of the company's manufacturing was defense-related.

  • 1946
    Dr. Alfred Springer dies. This early Norwood resident is, at his death, the sole owner of Alex Fries and Brothers (a chemical company). He has one of the most imposing residences in Norwood at the time, at Mound Avenue and Montgomery Road.

  • 1947
    The Norwood Water Commission purchases 225 acres of land north of the Beechmont Levee in Linwood as a waterworks site.

    The purchase price is $192,000. There are doubts whether the acquisition is legal, since it is made without specific approval from Norwood City Council. While the city determines if it will proceed with a water system, most of the land (192 acres) is leased as farm land at $8 an acre in 1947, and $20 per acre in 1948.

  • 1948 (March 4)
    The Norwood Junior Chamber of Commerce (aka Norwood "Jaycees") holds its preliminary organizational meeting.

  • 1948 (November 10)
    Norwood creates a municipal parking lot on Washington Avenue near Montgomery Road. This location is now at the Surrey Square lot.

    With space for 337 automobiles, it is hoped that it will improve traffic flow and help the downtown businesses. Although initially there is a small parking fee, on January 1, 1950, the costs are absorbed by the city and the Norwood Businessmen's Association.

  • 1949 (January 1)
    The South Norwood and Vine-Norwood street car lines are eliminated. New trolley buses are started on the South Norwood route, a new east-west shuttle line begins and more West Norwood buses to downtown Cincinnati are added.

  • 1949 (February 2)
    An overheated motor starts a $21,550.98 fire at the Russell Gannon Company. The heating and equipment manufacturer is located at 5037 Beech Street.

  • 1949 (February 23)
    Norwood purchases Burwood Park.

  • 1949 (summer?)
    The streets west of Montgomery Road are seal coated with asphalt and crushed rocks this year. The heavily traveled streets in North, South and East Norwood, east of Montgomery Road will be coated in the summer of 1950.

  • 1949 (Friday, October 10)
    A Clifton-Hyde Park west-bound bus sinks into a three-foot hole at Hudson and Regent Avenues. The 12 passengers and driver are not harmed, but a Cincinnati Street Railway Company wrecker had to be called to get the bus out of the cave-in. It was believed that a leaking water line had softened the ground.

  • 1949 (Tuesday, November 1)
    A new well at the Harris Avenue Water Works starts producing 720,000 gallons of water a day. This brings the total daily water production of the eight city-owned wells to 3,200,000 gallons.

  • 1949 (December 18)
    A fire, at a one-story factory building at Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company's Park and Linden Avenue location, causes $2,600 in damage.

  • 1949
    The total loss from Norwood fires in 1949 (actually December 15, 1948-December 15, 1949) are $46,436.72. The four fires responsible for most of the loss are the Russell Gannon Company fire on February 2, a Williams avenue apartment blaze on March 4, a residential fire on December 4, and the December 18 Allis-Chalmers fire.

  • 1949
    The property tax rate of Norwood is listed (with the rest of Hamilton County) in newspapers as follows (with 2007 and 2010 rounded-off "effective tax rates" for comparison ... and, in parentheses, for each category, the percentage of the total tax):

      1949 2007 2010
      millage % of total millage % of total millage % of total
    County 3.06 (15.4%) 11.91 (23.3%) 12.94 (24.9%)
    Parks* 0.23 (  1.2%) 1.21 (  2.4%) 1.26 (  2.3%)
    Schools* 11.55 (58.0%) 32.14 (62.8%) 31.85 (61.3%)
    City 5.08 (25.5%) 5.92 (11.6%) 5.89 (11.3%)
    TOTAL 19.92 - 51.18 - 51.95 -

    Compare 1949's tax rate with 2007's and 2010's "effective tax rate" of almost 51.18 and 51.95 mills and a full tax rate (before the "reduction factor") of 84.06 and 84.69 mills, respectively. Also, notice that the percentage of the total tax bill increased for every category except the city's.

    *For 2007, School rate includes Joint Vocational School of 2.0 mills, and Parks rate includes Zoo and Museum Center at approximately 0.26 and 0.17 mills, respectively.

    

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