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[ Back to History ] Born in Manhattan in 1894, Rockwell spent his childhood in a variety of boarding houses in the New York area, including Mamaroneck. By the age of 17 Rockwell had illustrated his first children's book, Tell Me Why Stories. The same year his family moved to Brown Lodge, at 39 Prospect Street, New Rochelle. The family's new community was the consummate location for the budding illustrator. New Rochelle was, at the time, home to many of the country's leading illustrators who supplied the essential covers for the popular magazines of the day. He would live and work in New Rochelle for the next 25 years, in various homes and studios from the south end of the town to the north. Rockwell achieved tremendous popularity during his New Rochelle years. His detailed renderings affectionately captured typical, homespun America and its people which struck a might chord that resounded across the country. not only did he become one of the best-known illustrators of the day—he was also a familiar and beloved figure around New Rochelle. With great admiration for his friends and neighbors, Rockwell was forever scouring the city for ideas, models and props to compose his pictorial vignettes. "Some of my happiest years were spent in New Rochelle," Rockwell told a Standard Star reporter when he returned to New Rochelle for a visit in 1972. He died six years later, on November 9, 1978, at the age of 84. | Rockwell Chronology | | | | 1894 | Norman Rockwell is born on Amsterdam Ave. & 103rd Street, New York City. | | | | 1904/05 | Norman, his father, mother and brother Jarvis move to Mamaroneck. | | | | 1913 | The Rockwell family moves to Brown lodge, 39 prospect Street, New Rochelle. Norman rents his first studio on second floor of Covelly Building, above a dry cleaners (now Schmuckler's Cleaners) 360 North Ave. | | | | | Rockwell and artist Clyde Forsythe rent Frederic Remington's former studio on Webster Ave. | | | | 1915 or 1916 | Norman and his family move to Edgwood Hall, off Webster Ave. where he meets, then marries, Irene O'Connor | | | | 1916 | At the age of 21, Rockwell sells his first cover to The Saturday Evening Post. | | | | 1921 to 1926 | Norman rents the top of a garage owned by Georg Lishke at 40 Prospect Street. At some point, after renting an apartment in a house at 218 Centre Avenue, he buys a cottage on Premium Point. | | | | 1926 | Rockewell and his wife Irene "buy" a house at 24 Lord Kitchener Road from Irving Hansen. He later builds a studio next to the house. | | | | 1929 | Norman and Irene divorce. | | | | 1930 | Norman marries Mary Barstow and they start a family while living in the house at 24 Lord Kitchener Road. | | | | 1939 | Rockwell and wife and three sons move to Arlington, VT. |
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