The suburb is in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, whose predecessor was the oldest South Australian local government municipality.

Before British colonisation of South Australia and subsequent European settlement, Norwood was inhabited by one of the groups who later collectively became known as the Kaurna peoples.

The site of the present Norwood was then a magnificent gum forest, with an undergrowth of kangaroo grass, too high in places for a man to see over; in fact persons lost their way in going from Adelaide to Kensington in those days, through attempting a short or near cut across the country".

[6] The first permanent street-based public transport service in Adelaide was provided in Norwood and Kensington, and these suburbs were also the first to be served by electric trams.

[7] Until 1952, the service was linked in with the other eastern suburbs tramlines and terminated in the city, but in that year it was "through routed" with trams running to Henley Beach.

[10] In 1970, residents organised protests and a green ban in order to stop the destruction of the Norwood Velodrome for high-rise apartments.

[10][12] The suburb consists of four segments, being divided into north and south by the major thoroughfare of The Parade and east and west by Osmond Terrace.

There is a sculpture of the first Italian to arrive in the new colony of South Australia in 1839, Antonio Giannoni (1814–1883), who worked as a cab driver in Norwood, and whose son, Peter Gannoni, became mayor in 1920.

[19] One of the most visible landmarks in Norwood is the Clayton Wesley Uniting Church, at the eastern end of The Parade, on the north-east corner of Portrush Road.

[22] By the 2016 Australian census, the top language other than English spoken at home was Mandarin Chinese, at 3.6%, while 3.2% of the population spoke Italian and 2.8% Greek.

Sir Edwin Smith was a foundation member and patron of the club, which became incorporated in 1918, after it had bought land and built clubrooms at Port Noarlunga.

[10][12] Former members of the club include many champions, including Jack Bobridge, Luke Roberts, Tim Roe, Alexis Rhodes, Tiffany Cromwell, Patrick Jonker, Michael Turtur, David Solari (son of Nino Solari[26]), Wayne McCarney, Charlie Walsh and Jay Sweet.

The entrance was moved around the corner onto Queen Street, and the original foyer converted into restaurant,[32] as of 2024[update] St Louis dessert bar.