page_title: Norfolk, Massachusetts
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Norfolk, Massachusetts / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Norfolk Grange Hall, Norfolk Massachusetts This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 89000438
context_page_description: Norfolk is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, with a population of 11,227 people at the 2010 census. Formerly known as North Wrentham, Norfolk broke away to become an independent town in 1870.
context_section_description: Norfolk is a rural suburban town on the periphery of metropolitan Boston, located on an upper valley of the Charles River. There were a half dozen small farms in the town after 1669, the result of a determined effort to populate the colonial frontier. This was seen as a difficult task despite the good agricultural lands, fresh water fishing and fish runs because the settlement was so remote.
  It was abandoned during King Philip's War, and when Norfolk was reestablished, settlers relied on agriculture and cattle grazing with some considerable lumbering and planting of orchards. After 1812, three cotton manufacturing companies were established at Stony Brook, and later in the 19th century George Campbell's paper mill was opened at Highland Lake making heavy wrapping and building papers. The town saw a rapid increase in population after 1925 when a hospital and a state prison were built in Norfolk on the Walpole line. Major residential development took place before 1940 in the Pondville and Clark Streets section of town with scattered new housing along Seekonk and Main Streets, and suburban residential building has continued since.
  Norfolk is located in eastern Massachusetts, bordered by Millis and Medfield on the north, Walpole on the east, Foxborough and Wrentham on the south, and Franklin and Medway on the west. Norfolk is 20 miles southwest of Boston; about 21 miles north of Providence, Rhode Island; and about 205 miles from New York City.
  In 2014, Norfolk was the filming location for Ted 2, a comedy film starring Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane.
caption: Norfolk Grange Hall
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