Granville Then & Now – Granville legend John ‘Hector’ Norton turns 99

By Erik Pekar

New Year’s Eve was warm with temps in the 40s and a light drizzle of rain. By the evening a fog appeared, dissipating overnight. New Year’s Day was sunny for much of the day, temps reaching into the high 40s. The warmer, milder weather stayed around last week. Our optimistic weather “prediction” turned out right; the start of 2023 was neither chilly-cold, nor were deluges of rain pouring from the skies like on New Year’s Day of 1923 or in early January of 1998.


Yearly reorganizing and elections of officers were of the order this time a century ago, as attested on the front page of the Jan. 12, 1923 issue of the Sentinel. The Granville Post of the American Legion held its annual meeting Tuesday and chose the following officers: commander, Paul R. Manchester; vice commander, Morris Rote-Rosen; adjutant, William E. Roberts; treasurer, Arthur J. Williams. Michael T. Minogue, Harold E. Paul and Patrick G. Tierney were chosen for the executive committee.

Some organizations had yet to hold their meetings as of the Jan. 12 issue. The Mettowee Lodge, No. 559, I.O.O.F. (Odd Fellows) was to hold their special meeting on Friday night; the officers had been elected but not installed yet. Mettowee Grange was to install their officers on the next Monday night, and its leaders asked “if all members in arrears will kindly pay their dues it will assist the secretary in straightening up the books for the past year.”

Of the organizations above, none exist today save for the Granville Post of the American Legion, which recently reached the centenary mark. The Mettowee Lodge of Odd Fellows, the Mettowee Grange, and other named groups such as the Granville Masonic Club, the Women’s Guild of Trinity Church, and the Granville Poultry Association, have all gone defunct.


Basketball was also in the conversation, in the same dated issue: “The Granville high school basketball five easily defeated a five made up of Rutland high school players on the community hall basketball court last week Friday, score 45 to 21. Granville had the game its own way all the time. The Rutland boys put up a good game but were outclassed. During the last part of the game, Coach Hodgkins had his entire second team on the floor opposing the Rutland players, but the latter seemed just as helpless against the second team, the only difference was that the players of the second team could not score with as much ease as the first-string men. The (scoring) honors were evenly divided between Hugh Williams, Kenneth Norton and Bishop Vail. ‘Bish’ has the makings of a star for G.H.S. He is improving with every game and goes through seemingly hard plays with ease. While the G.H.S. players won easily they missed the support of ‘Jim’ Evans who was out of the lineup and who expects to be restored to good standing for the next game.”

Semi-professional games had also piqued the interest of the local fans. Two of them were coming up, both to be staged at Corinthian Hall court in Middle Granville. One of them, the Granville town team vs. the St. Mary’s All-Stars, was actually held the night before the dateline of the paper. Its door money was to have 50% be “given to the American Legion Auxiliary for the general fund of the Granville town tablet memorial of the World War.” The other game was to be between the Granville Post of the American Legion’s “married men” and “single men” teams.

Basketball is still of local interest for high school athletes and their fans and supporters, as can be evidenced by the crowds at their games. Semi-professional basketball, on the other hand, has gone the way of such things as rural professional baseball, cigar store newsrooms, soda counters, and barbers that also shave. The name of Coach Hodgkins will draw a blank for many, even those who are well versed in Granville’s athletic history. Hodgkins was one of a few long-forgotten physical education teachers and coaches at Granville High School during a period of several years where such programs existed prior to the hiring of Sam Eppolito in 1926. Middle Granville’s Corinthian Hall was the top floor of the Middle Granville Union School building, an iconic building in “Middle” in its time but torn down in the 1970s when old school buildings were seen only as run down “fire traps” and not as buildings viable for renovation or restoration.


A Granville legend will celebrate his birthday tomorrow, Jan. 13. John “Hector” Norton will turn 99 on Friday. Many of Granville’s “long-timers” will know him as part owner of the Wilson’s clothing store, which operated on Main Street for many years, as well as his civic involvement with such organizations as the Granville Rotary Club, Knights of Columbus, and the Chamber of Commerce. Best wishes that he will enjoy the day, and hopefully a small get-together will be held to celebrate the occasion. We wish “Hector” a Happy Birthday, and many happy returns of the day.


The relocation of the Granville town offices to the new town building has been completed. The building was purchased by the town in late 2021, with renovations following. Most of the town offices and files were relocated at the end of April 2022; May 2 was the first day open at the new building. Some items remained; these were moved later. Over three days within a week, on Dec. 19, 20, and 22, the town highway department moved to the new building the collections, files, and archives of the Granville town historian; this was the last of the town offices in the old building. With moving completed, the old town building has been completely vacated by the town of Granville. The town first occupied the building as lessees in March of 1964 and bought the building in October of 1973. A span of primary occupation of 58 years and a month, and of just over 49 years of ownership.

The old town hall building was declared as surplus and was placed for auction in November, on the same website used by Washington County for foreclosed property auction. The winning bid of $61,000 was made by someone from the New York City area who contemplates using the building for office space. The transfer of ownership was projected to take place around the start of this year. Congratulations to the Town of Granville on completing the big move to the new building and selling the old building. Best wishes to the new owner; may their plans be successful.


Main Street for the past few weeks has been illuminated by the pleasant glow of Christmas lights. From the decorative building-outline lights to the strands strung on wires above the street, down to the colorfully lighted Christmas trees, the street is in tune with the season. Over the Christmas week, Christmas music emanated from speakers set up in front of the post office building. Several of the storefronts were decorated, to varying degrees, some more elaborate than others, all getting into the spirit of the Christmas holiday season.

With Christmas now behind us, the end of the Christmas holiday decorations is near. The lights in Veterans Memorial Park and other Christmas decorations put up by the Village DPW and the village volunteers, will be shut off on Monday, Jan. 15; the decorative building outline lights on many of the village business buildings will be turned off around that time as well. The decorations put up by many people in the Granville area made the nights and all showed the Christmas spirit. A big thank you goes out to everyone who decorated for the Christmas holiday season.