To the West of the Common – Central Street

lrau51548

Mar 25

Central Street "Park" (photo GoogleEarth)

To the west of this town square is Central Street, which during the summer months becomes an extension of the town square. Since the COVID pandemic, the town has placed Jersey barriers at either end of this section of the street (at Nahatan and at Cottage), and laid down artificial turf and set up several picnic benches, thus creating a larger outdoor space for people to gather and perhaps enjoy a meal or a treat from one of Norwood's many fine dining establishments. On this section of Central Street is a block of buildings that for years now have provided services to visitors to the downtown area.

The Norwood Theatre (photo George Curtis)

Norwood Theater: The Theater was designed by William Upham to compliment the planned Memorial Municipal Building as anchors to the Two Square. It opened on August 31, 1927, and run by Mr.'s Thomas Hayden and William Breen as a venue for live performances, similar to today. It was adapted in the 40's as a movie house; and in the 1970s a second screen was added in the balcony. In 1990 it was bought by the Fiddlehead Theater Company and then when they no longer did performances, in 2010 It was purchased by Susan Lewis and after a meticulous restoration to its original Spanish Romanesque style was reopened on August 31, 2012, 85 years to the day of the original opening. During the renovation many of the workmen claimed they felt an uncomfortable presence when working in the lower cellar portion of the theater. Susan Lewis's daughter Jen worked at the Travel Channel on a program called Trending Fear. She came to the theater with her TF colleagues to investigate. With the help of a local medium (have forgotten name) they did discover that a worker died during the building of the theater when the portion of the cellar he was working on caved in. They then discovered the ghost of a small boy who haunted mostly the balcony portion of the theater. They contacted the Historical Society, but our archives could find no mention of a small boy dying at the theater. The medium felt he died in the location where the theater is located sometime in the 1800s. His presence was seen by multiple employees and people working on the renovation.