Normal Heights Centennial Celebrated May 9th, 2006!
Visit our Centennial page
A Brief History on Normal Heights
-- Provided by Jessica McGee of SOHO
In the late 1800s the area that would become Normal Heights was sparsely
populated farmland with only a sprinkling of houses. It was formally
organized and platted in 1906 by the University Heights Syndicate under
the direction of D.C. Collier and named Normal Heights for the State
Normal School in University Heights.
In 1907 trolley tracks for Line #11 were laid to the western edge of
Ward Canyon with a spur line up today's 35th Street to a gravel quarry.
In 1910 Bonnie Brae was platted by Collier east of the gravel quarry to
the canyon rim overlooking Ward Road.
Transportation brought population and development to Normal Heights.
The man responsible for the main business development of the Normal
Heights portion of Adams Avenue was a carpenter named Bertram J.
Carteri. He moved to the area in 1916 and began buying, fixing up and
selling houses. He bought his first commercial lot, Adams Avenue between
Felton and 33rd Streets in c.1922 and, in partnership with noted local
architect Louis J. Gill (nephew of Irving Gill), began building what
would be known as Carteri Center.
