Norwood Memorial Municipal Building (Norwood Town Hall) is a historic building located in Norwood, Massachusetts, United States.

The Late Gothic Revival building was dedicated November 11, 1928, and is made of Weymouth seamed-face granite.

The building's construction was approved May 26, 1926 at a special town meeting when Norwood's citizens unanimously voted to appropriate $265,000.

Inside the building are several brass plaques in remembrance of all veterans from Norwood.

Visitors often mistake it for a church or believe it to have been a church, but it never was; its stained-glass windows depict not saints, but local patriot Aaron Guild.

"Guild", whose name appears in local street and building names, is pronounced with a long i, like the second syllable of the word "beguiled".

Guild's significance is explained by an inscription on the Aaron Guild Memorial Stone, dedicated in 1903, which stands outside the Norwood public library. The inscription reads: NEAR THIS SPOT CAPT. AARON GUILD ON APRIL 19, 1775 LEFT PLOW IN FURROW, OXEN STANDING AND DEPARTING FOR LEXINGTON ARRIVED IN TIME TO FIRE UPON THE RETREATING BRITISH.

Guild and his oxen are featured in the town seal.

The building includes a 50-bellTowerbells.org database: "Traditional carillon of 50 bells...Year of latest technical information source is 2015"World Carillon Federation, "Bells: 50"Norwood Library: Norwood Historical Records , "The building’s 170-foot tower accommodates a 50 bell carillon"Boston Globe, South Regional edition 7/6/2013, Jean Lang: Norwood Town Hall gets a makeover: "Another concern is the carillon within the tower. There are 50 large bells that have been covered with blankets to protect them, but the blankets have to be taken on and off for the summer carillon concert series, which runs from July 1 to Aug. 19." carillon tower housing the Walter F. Tilton Memorial Carillon, one of nine carillons in Massachusetts and the seventh-largest in the United States.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.Announcement of listing in 1996

See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Norfolk County, Massachusetts

References