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Thursday, July 28, 2011 — The Plainville Citizen
Norton Continued from page 6
young man. (He was probably headed for the train station, just to the west of their home.) Four years later, this same young man, was carried by their home on a stretcher, gravely wounded. Charles and his mother were again in their front yard and she again had picked flowers. The solider called, “Have you been there ever since I went away?” And once again Mrs. Norton placed the flowers, this time on his stretcher. The young man never recovered from his wounds. Other stories in his little book tell of adventures that sometimes got him into trouble. Charles loved to explore the railroad yards which were not far from his home. The Canal Road (also called Canal Line) ran from Plainville to Collinsville twice a day. He tells us: “The locomotive and train
had headquarters here with our engine horse, a turntable, and a wood yard since the big machines burned wood.” The wood was cut up by a horse-powered treadmill. I wish I could find photos of that area of time but they are few and not of good quality. Of special interest is his listing a turntable in town, for I have always believed that we had to have had one with all that rail traffic, and there it is? Ah-ha! Mr. Norton recorded that when he was 14 (in 1855) there were no typewriters, no telephones, and trolley cars and the sewing machine had just been invented. Hundreds of new words were added to the dictionary during his lifetime. His patents of inventions, mostly dealing with grinding processes, fill a 5-inch-thick book and may be seen at the Plainville Historic Center. To prove the practical use of the grinding machine made by his Norton Company, he traveled to England
and Germany in 1902, ’04 and ’08, always by steamship, the “only way to go.”. He wrote that he was not a good sailor. On one of these trips to Germany he was to demonstrate one of the grinding machines in front of the Kaiser. He himself was not allowed to do the demo and was very nervous that the emperor’s aide would not do the machine justice; all went well however. He stayed at Sharpenhoe, the country estate of friends who were able to steer good customers to him. When this quiet man was 74 years old in June 1925, he along with other giants of industry and men of science met to receive the internationally famous John Scott Medal. Previous winners had been Marie Curie for discovering radium, Frederick Bunting for insulin, and Thomas Edison. Charles stood shoulder to shoulder with Orville Wright of Kitty Hawk fame. With pride tempered by humility, these men went
down in history for making contributions to the betterment of mankind. The Norton Precision Grinding Process made smoother running wheels and equipment which came of age along with the auto industry and railroads. It all started with experiments at the little home on East Main Street that sometimes led to minor disasters. Living there with his parents he occasionally saw or heard mysterious happenings since the Norton home was a stop on Redman’s Underground Railroad. His family were abolitionists and harbored fugitive slaves on their way to freedom further north. One man who passed through Plainville, came back after the Civil War was over and is said to have built a home and raised a family. No records can be found to verify this. The Norton home has since been destroyed. A Freedom Trail plaque marks the spot. After his great career and world travels, Charles
Hotchkiss Norton returned to our little town. He is most widely recognized as the donor of the land for Norton Park. He built a replica of Sharpenhoe, the beautiful home in which he stayed when abroad. It dominates Red Stone Hill overlooking Norton Park. Now that the Trumbull and Hills’ mansions are gone, Sharpenhoe is the showplace of the town. Lovingly repaired and restored it looks over the town that Charles Norton loved so much.
Brochure available
A few copies of the brochure, “Hardware City Flyers” are available at the Plainville Historical Center Gift Shop, 29 Pierce St. It has wonderful information about Nels Nelson and other early flyers. A group photo shows Nelson and several of his helpers taken in 1963 the year before he died. For more information, call (860) 747-6577. 1184954
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