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Today’s South Norfolk is pretty far removed from its heyday, years after the land was surveyed by the Norfolk Land Company in 1900.
After the land was parcelled, construction began. Homes for the more-well-to-do were erected along Chesapeake Avenue and were mostly owned by professional white-collar types: Doctors, Lawyers, and Engineers. The builders themselves built homes for themselves and their families on Chesapeake Avenue, too.
In those days, South Norfolk was a pedestrian community. Electricity was new. Homes were built without driveways. Automobiles wouldn’t become available to the average buyer until 1910. Most of the streets were dirt.