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Norwood is the third most populous city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and an enclave of the larger city of Cincinnati. The population was 19,043 at the 2020 census. Originally settled as an early suburb of Cincinnati in the wooded countryside north of the city, the area is characterized by older homes and tree lined streets.

The earliest humans in the area now known as Norwood are believed to have been Pre Columbian era people of the Adena culture. Norwood Mound, a prehistoric earthwork mound built by the Adena, is located in Norwood and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Adena constructed the mound at the location of Norwood's present day Water Tower Park, which is the highest land elevation in the city. Archaeologists believe the mound was built at this site due to the high elevation and was used by the Adena for religious ceremonies and smoke signaling. Native American mounds are not uncommon in Ohio and several were located in Downtown Cincinnati at the time of arrival of the first white settlers. However, by 1895, the Norwood Mound was the only remaining mound in the vicinity of Cincinnati." The mound has never been excavated, but it is reported that many artifacts found in the area by early Norwood settlers in the 1800s made up the original nucleus of the Native American Art Collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum. In the early 20th century, Norwood High School named their sports team mascot the Indians in honor of this local Native American heritage.

In 1787, the United States Congress established the Northwest Territory, and John Cleves Symmes, Congressman from New Jersey, purchased of the territory (the Symmes Purchase), within which the future Norwood is located. One year later, the first permanent settlement on the banks of the Ohio River in what would later become Cincinnati was established. In 1793, General "Mad Anthony" Wayne led several companies of troops from Fort Washington in Cincinnati to advance against a hostile tribe of Native Americans encamped on the banks of the nearby Millcreek in what is now St. Bernard. Historians believe that a company of troops under the direction of General Wayne made their way through Norwood during this campaign and widened an old Native American trail, which followed the path of present day Smith Road, Montgomery Road, and Carthage Avenue. In 1794, a pioneer named Peter Smith settled on Duck Creek in or near the current location of Norwood. It is believed he is one of the earliest Norwood settlers, if not the first. Soon after, a road was built connecting the early settlement of Columbia on the Ohio River near the Little Miami River with the settlement of Carthage, just north of Cincinnati. This road cut through Norwood along the old Indian Path widened by General Wayne's troops. In 1809, a settler named Samuel D. Bowman purchased land near the crossing of the State Road and the County Road, where he established a tavern and coach stop for travelers. He was soon joined by John Sharp, who built a cabin and country store at the opposite side of the intersection. The community of half a dozen houses soon became known as "Sharpsburg", after Sharp. In 1868, two early developments were platted in the area north of the railroad. The first train station was established that same year. In 1869, Sylvester H. Parvin, Col. Philander P. Lane and Lemuel Bolles purchased the William Ferguson farm north of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad tracks and platted an eighty one acre subdivision they called Norwood Heights. This was the first recorded use of the name Norwood in the area. It is commonly believed that the person who came up with the name was Sarah Bolles, wife of Lemuel Bolles. In the 1894 book, Norwood, Her Homes and Her People, it was stated that the name "Sharpsburg" was "not considered pretty enough for such a spot, and the suggestion of the Bolles' to call it Norwood (an abbreviation of Northwood) met with endorsement, and so it was that the suburb was christened anew." However, the origin of the name Norwood is commonly disputed. It is also stated that Mrs. Bolles's name for the 1869 Norwood Heights subdivision was inspired by Henry Ward Beecher's popular 1869 novel Norwood: or, Village Life in New England. Others have claimed Mrs. Bolles arrived at the name by combining "North Woods", in reference to Norwood being a wooded area north of Cincinnati. In any case, the new name Norwood was popular enough that the Cincinnati Enquirer reported in 1870 that "the old town of Sharpsburg has been changed to Norwood" and the Sharpsburg post office was officially renamed Norwood the same year. By 1873, a second subdivision using the Norwood name, "The Heart of Norwood", was platted on 50 acres west of Montgomery Road at Maple and Elm Avenues. It was later referred to as "Old Norwood" after newer subdivisions using the name Norwood were built.

The 1880s in Norwood were marked by the development of several new subdivisions and municipal improvements throughout the village. The Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern railroad influenced to the construction of the subdivisions. The first Norwood Town Hall was constructed in 1882. The hall was constructed at the demand of local residents who wanted a village center for community functions. The Norwood Town Hall Association was instrumental in leading the effort to incorporate Norwood as a village in later years. A small Central School schoolhouse was erected in 1887 to meet the education demands of the growing village. A one room school house for Columbia Township had existed at this location possibly as early as 1828. Just one year after construction, the 1887 school house was expanded, as the number of students enrolled had already doubled.

Around the time of Norwood's incorporation, local leaders began pushing for an electric streetcar route on Montgomery Road to connect Norwood with downtown. Until this time, Montgomery Road (known as "The Pike") was a privately owned turnpike, requiring users pay a toll to use the road. This private ownership became a sore spot for local residents who desired public streetcar transportation. With the help of the County Commissioners of Hamilton County and the State of Ohio, Norwood was able to purchase the road for public use and construction was started on an electric railway. In mid 1891, the Norwood Electric Railway streetcar line was completed between Norwood and Walnut Hills, with the route extending to a turnaround at the Mount Adams Incline. Increasing school enrollment resulted in the construction of two new school buildings in 1891. Williams School (later Williams Avenue Elementary) was opened in on Williams Avenue and Marion School (later North Norwood School) was opened on Marion Avenue. Both buildings were later replaced with newer structures. Clean drinking water was one of the most important issues facing Norwood in its early days. Residents had to rely on private wells, cisterns or streams for their water. In 1892, the citizens of Norwood voted for a public "water works" system to be built. In 1894, the Norwood Water Works was completed, which supplied Norwood with clean water for 65 years. In March 1894, Norwood's first newspaper, the Norwood Enterprise, began publication. It would stay in print until 1989.

In 1898, the Bullock Electric Manufacturing Company relocated to Norwood, becoming one of the village's first industrial plants, following McFarlan Lumber Company and the Cincinnati Brick Company. The plant was eventually acquired by German company, Siemens. In 1900, the Globe Wernicke Company constructed a new factory in Norwood for the manufacture of wooden bookcases. In 1901, the United States Playing Card Company moved to new facilities in Norwood. It was the second Carnegie Library to open in the Cincinnati area. The City of Norwood transferred the property to the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County and it became a branch of that organization. In an effort to improve Duck Creek Road, Norwood encased the Duck Creek waterway in a concrete aqueduct in 1923. The creek bed was filled in and all bridges spanning the waterway were removed. Most of Duck Creek road was later eliminated with the construction of Interstate 71 in the late 1960s. Construction of the massive $1,000,000 Mt. Saint Mary's Seminary was completed in 1923. The seminary educated dozens of future priests, bishops, and archbishops for the Catholic Church until it closed in 1980. In 1930, the City of Norwood rezoned the city council from four to six wards, reflecting the increase in the city's population. The six wards were rezoned back to four after the population declined in the 2000s.

In 1933, Norwood's last new passenger train station was constructed. This station was opened to complement the new Cincinnati Union Terminal station downtown. The station was later closed and the renovated building is now used as a social hall. Albers, the former president of the Kroger Company, went on to revolutionize the grocery industry by embracing many innovations such as shopping carts, fluorescent lighting, and individual pricing on all items. The Albers chain was a success and was later acquired by Colonial Stores in 1955. The Norwood location was destroyed by a fire in 1968. Street flushing trucks were brought in from Cleveland to haul the water from Norwood to downtown. In 1940, residents Carl H. Lindner Sr. and his children Carl Lindner Jr., Robert, Richard, and Dorothy opened the first United Dairy Farmers store in Norwood. Until this point, most people paid a premium to have milk delivered directly to their homes. United Dairy Farmers cut out the delivery middleman and sold milk at their store for nearly half the price of delivered milk. The UDF chain of stores eventually grew and helped make Carl Lindner Jr. one of the world's richest people. In 1948, Norwood opened a municipal parking lot at the site of the future Surrey Square shopping center. This was one of the first significant steps in the transformation of Norwood's downtown business district, known as "The Pike," from pedestrian friendly storefronts to the Surrey Square automobile centric strip mall. The following year, streetcar lines in Norwood were eliminated and replaced by trolley buses, using the same overhead double electric lines. Ohio State Route 562, also known as the Norwood Lateral Expressway, was first completed between Interstate 75 and Reading Road in 1962. It was nicknamed the Norwood Lateral due to its close approach to Norwood, which at the time was Hamilton County's 2nd largest municipality. For nearly two decades, the "Lateral" terminated at Reading Road inside Cincinnati city limits. In 1969, work began on the extension of the "Lateral" into Norwood proper and connection to the proposed Interstate 71. The route of I 71 would pass through Norwood's east side. To accommodate the extension, nearly 200 homes in the old East Norwood neighborhood were razed, resulting in a loss of population and property tax revenue. Norwood was also required to share 5% of the cost of the expressway project. The full Norwood Lateral extension was completed in 1977. At about the same time as the Norwood Lateral completion, the Globe Wernicke Company moved operations out of Norwood to Tennessee. The factory was closed and demolished two years later. The overhead wires used to power the trolley buses and the street cars were removed from Norwood streets in 1965. The trolley buses, which had replaced street cars in 1949, were replaced by gasoline and diesel powered buses.

Around 1967, Norwood's first strip mall, Norwood Plaza, opened. Business owners were concerned the strip mall would impact Norwood's central business district. After the Albers Supermarket was destroyed by fire in 1968, Norwood purchased the property and demolished the building as part of an urban renewal plan. This plan was centered around the construction of a new shopping center, which eventually became Surrey Square. In 1985, Norwood natives Carl Lindner Jr. and his brother Robert Lindner donated $150,000 to the City of Norwood so it could purchase the 14 acre McCullough Estate. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources also awarded a matching grant so the estate could be converted into a nature preserve and park. The estate was part of the original 100 acre McCullough Seed Company property the McCullough Family settled in 1850 and operated on this land until 1960. Although the park is located in Cincinnati, it is owned and operated as a City of Norwood park. Norwood now totaled 30 acres of recreation land among 9 city parks.

On November 6, 1986, General Motors announced that it would close the Norwood Assembly automobile plant as part of a $10 billion plan to reorganize the company. Many Norwood employees expected Norwood's sister plant, Van Nuys Assembly, to close instead. However, GM stated that the aging Norwood plant would be difficult to modernize and the campus was "landlocked" with no room for expansion. The company also cited high absenteeism, low productivity and low quality control as additional factors in its decision. In July 1990, a cleaning solvent leak at the BASF chemical plant on the border of Norwood and Evanston resulted in a explosion, killing two and injuring 90 people. The blast heavily damaged Norwood businesses and affected Norwood homes as far as a mile away. In 1993, the Belvedere Corporation opened a second new development called Central Parke. The project consisted of mixed use office buildings. In 1993, developers opened the Rookwood Pavilion shopping center on the grounds of the old Lablond factory site. Rookwood Pavilion was successful and prompted developers to begin purchasing additional land in the area for future developments. Despite sporadic efforts to save what was remaining of "The Pike," the city allowed the demolition of several historic storefronts and buildings in 2002. The city approved the plan and Anderson began purchasing the neighborhood properties in 2005 through voluntary sales. All of the property owners eventually agreed to sell except for three which refused to leave. In an effort to clear the remaining properties, Anderson paid for a study declaring the neighborhood a "deteriorating area" so the City of Norwood could use eminent domain to force the remaining property owners to sell. The three property owners fought Norwood's use of eminent domain, and the dispute eventually made national headlines in 2006 when it was brought before the Ohio Supreme Court in Norwood, Ohio v. Horney. The court ruled unanimously for the property owners, forcing the city and developers to return ownership of the three properties. After the verdict, the property owners held out for several more years before eventually selling. The second to last property was sold to the developer in 2007 for $650,000. In September 2008, the final property owner agreed to sell his rental home to the developer for 1.25 million. In 2014, after many years of legal battles and construction delays, Rookwood Exchange opened.

In 2006, developers broke ground on Linden Pointe on the Lateral, a large office park complex on the old former American Laundry Machine Company and Globe Wernicke properties. Because the property was Brownfield land, it had to be decontaminated prior to construction.

Norwood is located at (39.160060, −84.455074). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.15 square miles (8 km2), all land.

As of the census of 2020, there were 19,043 people living in the city, for a population density of 6,058.86 people per square mile (2,339.33/km2). There were 9,644 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 77.5% White, 11.8% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.1% from some other race, and 6.1% from two or more races. 5.8% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 8,543 households, out of which 18.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.3% were married couples living together, 30.4% had a male householder with no spouse present, and 32.0% had a female householder with no spouse present. 41.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.8% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19, and the average family size was 3.09. of 2010, there were 19,207 people, 8,320 households, and 4,190 families residing in the city. The population density was There were 9,515 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the city was 86.6% White, 7.6% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.0% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.1% of the population. There were 8,320 households, of which 25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.1% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 49.6% were non families. 37.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 3.03. The median age in the city was 33.4 years. 20.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 14.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 30.3% were from 25 to 44; 24.2% were from 45 to 64; and 11.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. As of the 2010 United States Census, The median value of owner occupied housing units between 2005–2009 was $120,900. The home ownership rate from 2005–2009 was 57.8%. The median household income 2005–2009 was $39,224. The per capita money income in past 12 months (2009 dollars) 2005–2009 was $21,367. People of all ages in poverty from 2005–2009 was 20.6%.

The Norwood City School District consists of Norwood High School, Norwood Middle School, Sharpsburg Elementary, Norwood View Elementary, Williams Avenue Elementary, and Norwood Preschool. The current high school opened as a state of the art facility in 1972, with a planetarium, greenhouse, swimming pool, and television studio. Drake Planetarium, named after astronomer and astrophysicist Frank Drake, is associated with NASA. Norwood High School's mascot is the Indian. Norwood Middle School is located next to the high school in the previous high school building, which opened in 1914. In 1988, the Norwood Middle School field house and offices were used to film prison scenes in the 1989 Tom Selleck movie An Innocent Man. Norwood is also home to Immaculate Conception Academy parochial grade school and high school, located in the former Gressle School on Floral Avenue.

The Norwood Recreation Commission was established in 1943, by ordinance of the City Council. The commission is unique in that it is a non political joint effort between the city and Board of Education. The commission consists of five policy makers; two selected by the Board of Education and three appointed by the mayor. The Norwood Recreation Commission operates and supervises four playgrounds and three swimming pools during the summer months. Permits for ball diamonds, tennis courts and picnic areas are also issued through the Recreation office. The Recreation Commission conducts leagues for 30 softball teams for men and women in addition to assisting and cooperating with the Norwood Knothole Association and Norwood Soccer Association in providing facilities for all their teams. In the past the Norwood Recreation Commission has moved into the schools with its Fall, Winter, and Spring programs.