Quick History Stops: Norton, MA

Few towns have been as thoroughly shaped by a single woman than Norton, MA by Eliza Baylies Chapin Wheaton. Born in Northbridge, MA in 1809 and educated at Uxbridge Academy, in Uxbridge, MA, and later at Young Ladies’ High School of Boston, Mrs. Wheaton married a judge, Laban Morey Wheaton, when she was nineteen, and he was thirty-one. Clearly not cowed by the age gap, Mrs. Wheaton kept Mr. Wheaton — as she insisted he be called — in line while running the house, creating a women’s seminary, and donating buildings to the town. Her thumbprint is still found throughout Norton.

A Pair of Churches

Like many congregations in New England, currently active Trinitarian Congregational Church of Norton began in 1832 after a schism from First Congregational Unitarian Church of Norton. In 1833, Stephen Carpenter Earle designed the Colonial Revival style building. He was a Quaker from Worcester, MA who specialized in building places of worship and learning, including the original part of the Worcester Art Museum. The congregation dedicated its church on New Year’s Day in 1834. Mrs. Wheaton decided to improve upon the church over a number of years, donating the organ in 1851 and completely renovating the space in 1882. The church’s last renovation and expansion, completed without the wallet of Eliza Wheaton, was completed in 1962. Meanwhile, the building for First Congregational Unitarian Church stands vacant in Norton Center across from the town common. In 1810, its bell was made by Paul Revere & Sons but is now in the care of Norton Historical Society.

Original Norton Public Library & Town Common

The public library, like Trinitarian Congregational, was designed by Stephen Carpenter. In 1888, Mrs. Wheaton decided her town needed a library, so she had one built and donated the building plus the land to the town as a gift on the behalf of Wheaton Seminary. In 1978, the town decided it needed a new library and picked as spot down the road on East Main Street, but it did not designate funding. Not until 1986 did voters approve over $1.5 million for some of the new building. Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, established by the founder of the Balfour ring company, which was featured in my post on the Attleboro Area Industrial Museum, gave an additional $1 million for construction. Accordingly, the new public library is named after L.G. Balfour and his wife Mildred Balfour, and opened in 1989. Meanwhile, ownership of the original public library reverted back to the college, which did nothing with the building for many years. The college sold the library for $375,000 in 2021 to the Pernock family, local home renovators who are now looking for small businesses interested in renting the space. As for the nearby town common, it has its own little war memorial and Welcome to Norton signage.

Cole Memorial Chapel

In 1834, Mrs. Wheaton decided that Norton needed a place of higher education for women and founded Wheaton Female Seminary, now called Wheaton College and also admitting men. In 1918, American architect Ralph Adams Cram designed a red brick chapel with a towering white spire, along with much of the Upper Campus. He was well-known for his “Collegiate Gothic” style, and his work is found across the United States, include parts of Phillips Exeter Academy previously featured on a walking tour of Exeter, NH. The building was named for the first seminary president Rev. Dr. Samuel Valentine Cole, who held the role for thirty-two years from 1893 to his death in 1925.

Mary Lyons Hall & Presidents’ House

Mr. Wheaton needed to impress his new wife with a spectacular wedding gift, so he had this three-story Federal style home built in 1829. The house was expanded by the family in the 1870s. After the death of Mrs. Wheaton in 1905, the college converted the building into a home for its presidents, starting with Rev. Dr. Cole and his wife, Wheaton College professor of classics Dr. Helen Wieand Cole. The interior of the house was redesigned between 2004 to 2007 to turn the first floor into a community space where presidents could host gatherings.

Across the street, bright yellow Greek Revival style Mary Lyon Hall was built in 1849 as New Seminary Hall and renamed in 1910. Mary Lyon consulted for the Wheaton family during the establishment of the Seminary and its unique curriculum. After five years of working at Wheaton, in 1837, Lyon was ready to start her own school, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, now Mount Holyoke College, and left with the principal and eight students. Any hard feelings have been forgotten. Meanwhile, this building gets to be on the Hurricane of 1938 list, as its weathervane had to be removed after the event.