In going forward, we look back….

The following is an excerpt from an article in the Norfolk Daily News on Saturday, February 10, 1894. It covers a presentation given by John Koenigstein, an early pioneer of the Elkhorn Valley, to Norfolk Businessmen.

“In 1869, Col. Mathewson was induced to come here. He kept a little store on the bank of the North Fork of the Elkhorn, where the mill damn now is. Before the end of the year, he also built a new store and as it was added to from time to time in order to meet the growing demands of trade, it looked like a huge wooden telescope resting on the earth. This did not prevent the growth of trade for people came from far and near, even places as far distant as Long Pine. Thus around this store, –the mill,– clustered the infant Norfolk and from this enterprise grew the present business street – Norfolk Avenue.”

The downtown Norfolk business district finds our place of birth to be a point of location on the North Fork of the Elkhorn. We now recognize and celebrate our birth as an area of commerce.