Norfolk County, Massachusetts

Norfolk County is located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 725,981. Its county seat is Dedham. It is the fourth most populous county in the United States whose county seat is neither a city nor a borough, and it is the second most populous county that has a county seat at a town. The county was named after the English county of the same name. Two towns, Cohasset and Brookline, are exclaves. Norfolk County is included in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area. Norfolk County is the 24th highest-income county in the United States with a median household income of $107,361. It is the wealthiest county in Massachusetts.

History
Shortly after the Constitution of Massachusetts was adopted on October 25, 1780, a number of towns in Suffolk County, of which Dedham was then a part, elected delegates to a convention to decide upon some policy relative to the division of the county. The convention met at Gay's Tavern in Dedham on December 12, 1780, and adopted a resolution to the effect that the towns of Bellingham, Dedham, Foxborough, Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Needham, Stoughton, Stoughtonham, Walpole, and Wrentham, along with the Middlesex County towns of Holliston, Hopkinton, Natick, and Sherborn ought to be formed into a new county with Medfield as the shiretown. The Great and General Court did not look favorably upon the resolution, however, and no new county was then created.

Norfolk County, Massachusetts was created on March 26, 1793, by legislation signed by Governor John Hancock. Most of the towns were originally part of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The towns of Dorchester and Roxbury were part of Norfolk County when it was created but, as Boston annexed each town, they became part of Suffolk County again, leaving Brookline separated from the rest of Norfolk County. Hingham and Hull were originally part of the Norfolk County legislation but petitioned to remain in Suffolk County and in June 1793 their removal to Norfolk County was repealed, making Cohasset an exclave. In 1803, they were moved into Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

Norfolk County is the birthplace of four Presidents of the United States (John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John F. Kennedy, and George H. W. Bush), resulting in the moniker "County of Presidents."

Jails
Following the creation of the county, Gay's Tavern was the site of a Court of General Sessions on August 25, 1794. They ordered that the committee on buildings proceed with collecting materials for building a jail. On the last day of September following this order, the court accepted from Timothy Gay the gift of a parallelogram lot of land to erect the Norfolk County Jail next to his tavern.

It was replaced by a new Norfolk County Jail in 1817. The two story stone building was built in 1817 and was 33' square. Part of the jail was torn down in 1851 to erect a central, octagonal portion and two wings. It resulted in a building with the shape of a Latin cross, and featured Gothic Revival windows. The three tiers of cells radiated out like spokes from the central guardroom. There were two hangings in the central rotunda: George C. Hersey on August 8, 1862 and James H. Costley on June 25, 1875.

Inmates were housed in the jail until 1992 when the Norfolk County Correctional Center was opened in 1992. A court forced the closure after 13 inmates escaped in 1989. There were at least 27 break outs during the prison's history.

The current Norfolk County Correctional Center is located on the median of Route 128 in Dedham. The facility has 502 beds and opened in 1992.

Courthouses
After the creation of the county, the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of General Sessions of the Peace first met in Dedham's meetinghouse. Nathaniel Ames was chosen as the clerk of both and they met for the first time on September 23.

When the court met on January 7, 1794, it was so cold in the building, which lacked any sort of heating, that they moved to the Woodward Tavern across the street. The Anglican Church in town had also offered their building, but it was in such a state of disrepair that the offer was not accepted. The First Church and Parish in Dedham then offered a piece of land on their Little Common, and a new courthouse was ordered to be constructed. Construction was sluggish, however, and the delays frustrated Ames.

The court was still sitting in the meetinghouse in 1794 but the new courthouse was completed in 1795. It was found to be too small, however, and the ceilings were so low as to stifle people in the courtrooms. Charles Bulfinch was hired in 1795 to design a turret for the building and Paul Revere was commissioned to cast a bell.

When it became apparent that the Courthouse was out of date, the County Commissioners ordered a new one to be built. They originally were seeking a utilitarian building that would be fireproof and safe to store important documents. Local boosters, however, wanted a building that aligned with the town's rapidly improving self-image.

The land for the courthouse, across the street from the existing one, was purchased from Frances Ames for $1,200. Ames later refused to sell the lot to the east at an asking price of $400, however. Masonic ceremonies, bell ringing and cannon fire accompanied the laying of the cornerstone on July 4, 1825. In 1827, the old courthouse was sold at public auction.

The new building was designed by Solomon Willard and was dedicated on February 20, 1827. It was a basic rectangular granite-walled structure, 48' by 98' and two stories tall, with Greek-temple porticoes at either end. Each 10' portico was supported by four Doric pillars. A bell made by Paul Revere was moved from the old courthouse to the new north portico, where it was tolled to announce court sessions.

The interior had a hall running through the center paved with brick. On the eastern side were the offices of the Country Treasurer and the Clerk of Courts. On the western side were the Registry of Deeds and Probate Court. The courtroom was upstairs and featured an arched ceiling. The high sheriff had a desk in the room.

From the outside it was an attractive building, but it was not a comfortable place to work. The only water was provided by a well on Court Street, and it did not have an adequate heating system. One employee complained that it was "barren and destitute of every convenience, demanded for health, comfort and decency." In 1846, an iron fence was installed around the perimeter.

Registry of Deeds
The Registry was originally housed in one of the first floor rooms of the home of Eliphalet Pond, the first registrar, at 963 Washington Street in Dedham. A sign was nailed to a tree out front informing the public of its location. It then moved to the original Norfolk County Courthouse and remained there for about three decades. When the new Norfolk County Courthouse was built in 1827, the middle office on the west side of the lower level was used by the Registry. When the population of the county grew and the number of real estate transactions increased apace, a new building was constructed for the Registry across the street at 649 High Street. The Boston firm Peabody & Stearns was hired to design the current Registry of Deeds, built in 1905. The main section of the building measures 52 feet by 186 feet, is two stories high with a copper hipped roof, and is built of Indiana limestone with details made of granite from Deer Isle, Maine.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 444 sqmi, of which 396 sqmi is land and 48 sqmi (11%) is water. It is the third-smallest county in Massachusetts by total area. The county is not completely contiguous; the towns of Brookline and Cohasset are each part of Norfolk County but are separated from the majority of Norfolk County (and each other) by either water or other counties. At the county's formation, Hingham and Hull were to be part of it, but joined Plymouth County instead, leaving Cohasset as the initial exclave of Norfolk County and an enclave of Plymouth County. Brookline became the second exclave of Norfolk County in 1873 when the neighboring town of West Roxbury was annexed by Boston (thus leaving Norfolk County to join Suffolk County) and Brookline refused to be annexed by Boston after the Brookline-Boston annexation debate of 1873.

Adjacent counties

 * Middlesex County (northwest)
 * Suffolk County (north)
 * Plymouth County (southeast)
 * Bristol County (south)
 * Providence County, Rhode Island (southwest)
 * Worcester County (west)

National protected areas

 * Adams National Historical Park
 * Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (part)
 * Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
 * John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site

2000 census
At the 2000 census there were 650,308 people, 248,827 households, and 165,967 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,628 PD/sqmi. There were 255,154 housing units at an average density of 639 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 89.02% White or European American, 3.18% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 5.50% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.78% from other races, and 1.37% from two or more races. 1.84%. were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 28.6% were of Irish, 13.4% Italian, 7.7% English and 5.0% descendants of colonists ancestry according to Census 2000. 85.7% spoke English, 2.3% Chinese in any dialect, 2.0% Spanish, 1.0% Italian and 1.0% French as their first language.

Of the 248,827 households 31.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.20% were married couples living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.30% were non-families. 26.80% of households were one person and 10.80% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.14.

The age distribution was 23.40% under the age of 18, 7.00% from 18 to 24, 31.60% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.40% 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.60 males.

The median household income was $63,432 and the median family income was $77,847 (these figures had risen to $77,294 and $95,243 respectively as of a 2007 estimate ). Males had a median income of $51,301 versus $37,108 for females. The per capita income for the county was $32,484. About 2.90% of families and 4.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.40% of those under age 18 and 5.70% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 670,850 people, 257,914 households, and 168,903 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,693.6 PD/sqmi. There were 270,359 housing units at an average density of 682.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 82.3% white, 8.6% Asian, 5.7% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 1.3% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 3.3% of the population. The largest ancestry groups were:


 * 31.8% Irish
 * 15.5% Italian
 * 11.0% English
 * 7.0% German
 * 4.6% French
 * 4.3% Chinese
 * 4.1% Polish
 * 3.2% Russian
 * 3.1% American
 * 2.8% Scottish
 * 2.6% French Canadian
 * 2.4% Scotch-Irish
 * 2.0% West Indian
 * 2.0% Sub-Saharan African
 * 1.9% Portuguese
 * 1.8% Swedish
 * 1.6% Indian
 * 1.4% Arab
 * 1.4% Greek
 * 1.2% Canadian
 * 1.1% Vietnamese
 * 1.1% Lithuanian

Of the 257,914 households, 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.5% were non-families, and 27.6% of households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.15. The median age was 40.7 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $81,027 and the median family income was $101,870. Males had a median income of $68,070 versus $51,870 for females. The per capita income for the county was $42,371. About 4.1% of families and 6.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.3% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Income
The ranking of unincorporated communities that are included on the list are reflective if the census-designated locations and villages were included as cities or towns. Data is from the 2007–2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Religion
* congregations ** adherents

Government
The county has offices in Dedham Square. It runs the Norfolk County Correctional Center, the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds, and the Norfolk County Courthouse.

Current elected officials
All eligible voters of Norfolk County vote for three County Commissioners, a District Attorney, a Clerk of Courts, a Register of Deeds, a Sheriff, a County Treasurer, and a Register of Probate.

County Commissioners are elected for a four-year term; two Commissioners are elected to coincide with presidential elections, and one Commissioner is elected during the midterm elections. All three Commissioners must hail from a different municipality. The District Attorney is elected every four years coinciding with the midterm elections. The Clerk of Courts and Register of Deeds are elected every six years coinciding with the elections of Class I US Senators. The County Treasurer and Register of Probate are elected every six years coinciding with the elections of Class II US Senators. The Sheriff is elected every six years coinciding with the elections of Class III US Senators.

Sheriffs
There have been 21 sheriffs of Norfolk County.

Other
In the mid-1800s, Jonathan H. Cobb was the clerk of courts.

Politics
Like the rest of Massachusetts, Norfolk County is a Democratic stronghold. The last time it voted for a Republican presidential candidate was in 1984, during Ronald Reagan's landslide victory in which he carried every state except Minnesota and the district of Washington, D.C.


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Cities

 * Braintree
 * Franklin
 * Quincy (largest city)
 * Randolph
 * Weymouth

Towns

 * Avon
 * Bellingham
 * Brookline
 * Canton
 * Cohasset
 * Dedham (traditional county seat)
 * Dover
 * Foxborough
 * Holbrook
 * Medfield
 * Medway
 * Millis
 * Milton
 * Needham
 * Norfolk
 * Norwood
 * Plainville
 * Sharon
 * Stoughton
 * Walpole
 * Wellesley
 * Westwood
 * Wrentham

Note: West Roxbury (annexed to Boston 1874), Roxbury (annexed to Boston 1868), Dorchester (founded 1630, annexed to Boston 1870), Hyde Park (incorporated 1868 from Dorchester, Milton, and Dedham, annexed to Boston 1912), and Hingham and Hull were originally part of Norfolk County when the county was incorporated in 1793. As of August 2012, Hingham's Precinct 2 will be part of the Fourth Norfolk District.

Census-designated places

 * Bellingham
 * Dover
 * Foxborough
 * Medfield
 * Millis-Clicquot
 * Sharon
 * Walpole

Education


School districts include:

K-12:


 * Avon School District
 * Bellingham School District
 * Braintree School District
 * Brookline School District
 * Canton School District
 * Cohasset School District
 * Dedham School District
 * Foxborough School District
 * Franklin School District
 * Holbrook School District
 * Medfield School District
 * Medway School District
 * Millis School District
 * Milton School District
 * Needham School District
 * Norwood School District
 * Quincy School District
 * Randolph School District
 * Sharon School District
 * Stoughton School District
 * Walpole School District
 * Wellesley School District
 * Westwood School District
 * Weymouth School District

Secondary:
 * Dover-Sherborn School District
 * King Philip School District

Elementary: Regional vocational High Schools:
 * Dover School District
 * Norfolk School District
 * Plainville School District
 * Wrentham School District


 * Blue Hills Regional Technical
 * Norfolk County Agricultural
 * Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical