FITCHBURG -- Until the end of her life, Eleanor Norcross returned home regularly from Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and later from more far-flung locales such as Paris.
It took effort. The trip across the Atlantic was a five-day journey by the time she died in 1923.
A highly regarded artist, Norcross left a legacy that is an important part of the city's cultural scene. Without her $100,000 bequest, the Fitchburg Art Museum would not exist.
Norcross, who was born in 1854, was an educated woman. In an era when completing high school was not always expected, she graduated from Fitchburg High School then attended the Wheaton Female Seminary, opened just 20 years before her birth.
Aspiring teachers could attend a normal school, usually a one- or two-year program, to prepare for a career. Norcross attended the recently opened Massachusetts Normal Art School. It later became the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
The young artist taught in Fitchburg public schools for a year before beginning a life of traveling. With the support of her father, Amasa, the first mayor of Fitchburg, then later a state senator and a United States representative, she studied at the Art Students' League in New York and left for Paris after five years.
Eleanor's only brother died in childhood, and Amasa Norcross never remarried after his wife died shortly after their son. While the family was not wealthy, the two remaining Norcrosses were able to live comfortably.
In exchange for financial support from her father, Eleanor Norcross agreed not to sell any of her works and return home to Fitchburg regularly. Despite this, the American's work was well-known in European and American art circles. She exhibited regularly in the salons, and after her death both the Louvre in Paris and the Museum of Fine Art in Boston held shows of her work.
Norcross did not specify that her bequest was to be used to fund a museum. The executors of her estate made the decision to form the Fitchburg Art Center where art, including the extensive collection of decorative arts and paintings left by Norcross, could be shown.
Tragedy struck. A fire in 1933 severely damaged the building and destroyed most of the collection, including her own work. The museum rebuilt the stable and today owns four buildings with 20,000 square feet of exhibition space.
Her legacy of bringing art and art education to the city continues. The museum offers special programming for youth and adults, and welcomes groups of students and home-schoolers.
The Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft, now in its 78th year, provides a venue for local artists to show their work and become inspired by others.