Greenwood: 630 Norris Lane

An extra zero in a salary offer helped bring a musician to Henderson-and eventually connected him with the old Norris family home on Norris Lane.

Known as Greenwood, the house at 630 Norris Lane stands on property once part of a much larger family tract. Henderson County’s PVA lists its construction year as 1840, although the records reviewed do not independently confirm that date or identify its builder.

The documented land history reaches back to May 19, 1863, when F. E. Walker and his wife, Martha, sold approximately 15.7 acres to S. W. Norris for $10,000. Gaston M. Alves’s 1875 map labels property in this area “S. W. Norris Estate,” while the 1880 county atlas shows a tract marked “J. D. Norris,” with a building near its lane frontage.

In 1885, Julia D. Norris conveyed property to Annie Belle Norris, wife of George S. Norris. After George’s death in 1890 and Annie’s in 1897, ownership passed through their children, Frances, Virginia, and Georgie. In 1911, Frances and Georgie conveyed their interests to Virginia, by then Virginia N. Von Tobel.

Virginia’s husband, Harry E. von Tobel, became a leading figure in Henderson’s musical life. His arrival began with a clerical mistake: First Presbyterian Church officer Frank Adams accidentally added a zero to the salary offered for an organist. Von Tobel traveled from St. Louis, discovered the error, and returned home. But the congregation and musician had made an impression on one another. An adjusted offer brought him back.

According to Frank Boyett’s January 17, 2016, article in The Gleaner, von Tobel settled in Henderson in October 1901. Boyett also described summer evening piano recitals on the lawn of his Norris Lane home, identifying it as Virginia’s ancestral family home. Combined with the deeds, that account strongly connects their household with Greenwood’s earlier property.

A 1941 profile described the home grounds as a place of large oaks, a shaded lawn, flowers, gardening, and woodworking. Von Tobel’s musical career lasted more than fifty years. Virginia died on November 8, 1954, and Harry followed on Christmas Eve, leaving the real estate in trust.

The surrounding neighborhood was already changing. South Hills Subdivision laid out ten lots along Bluegrass Drive in 1952, adjoining the Von Tobel property. In 1956, approximately 1.7 acres sold to Hilary W. Pruitt Jr. and Marie S. Pruitt for $20,000. Their subdivision created five lots, with an existing house drawn on Lot 4-the property later identified as 630 Norris Lane.

The Pruitts sold Lot 4 to John B. and Leonora C. Hollinsworth in 1958. Their deed included a glimpse of the furnished home: all drapes and carpeting went with the sale. The Hollinsworths sold to W. Paul and Dorothy Herron in 1962.

In 1971, Elizabeth Street Hodge purchased the property for $48,000. The Hodge family remained associated with Greenwood until 1997, when they sold it to Bill and Lena Jo Bowen for $143,000. A later sale in 2017 was recorded at $270,000.

Remodeling and additions have continued to shape the house, including work recorded for 2006 and a screened patio completed in 2018. Its columned porch, decorative cornice, tall windows, and substantial brick chimney retain the character of an older home.

The larger Norris grounds have become smaller residential parcels, but Greenwood’s history preserves something more personal than property lines: family inheritance, gardens, and evenings when piano music carried across a Norris Lane lawn