Norwood generations: The 1920s |
One quite common way to classify modern history is to divide it up loosely by generational age (also called a cohort), each group gets its own name and an approximate age span.
This is where we find the groups called the Greatest Generation (people born between 1901 and 1924, the Silent Generation 1925 to 1945, Baby Boomers 1946 to 1964, Generation X 1965 to 1980, Millennials (or generation Y) 1981 to 1996, Generation Z 1997 to 2012, we also have a Generation Alpha 2013 to 2025 (so called because it is the first generation to be born entirely in the 21st century) and the newest kids on the block generation Beta 2026 and up.
Each of these cohorts has their own set of characteristics that are associated with their unique group. These distinct qualities are greatly influenced by historical, technological, and social experiences including war, The Great Depression, music and video, the age of the internet and social connectivity. As an example Gen Z individuals have never known a world without the internet or the smartphone.
While I am not going to discuss the characteristics of each cohort, I will say that the residents of the village of Norwood over the last century would have shared in these influential experiences. However Norwood, like most North American small towns has its own personality that would have provided is own effect on each generation’s experience.
Past generations are often referred to as living in a simpler time; for the first two generations listed above their early years would have indeed been simple in comparison to today. Norwood in the 1920s and earlier was a busy and growing community; however these two cohorts witnessed the arrival of many amenities that we do not give even a thought to today.
A few facts and interesting oddities from the village of Norwood in the 1920s:
One popular form of winter entertainment both before and beyond the 1920s was tobogganing on the hill that we refer to today as Water Tower Hill. The area at the time was free of bushes and trees and of course there was no water tower, so it provided both children and adults with the perfect slide, interestingly a good run........