Norton, the county seat of Norton county, is an incorporated city of the third class, located north of the center of the county, on the Prairie Dog creek and on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago. Rock Island & Pacific railroads. It has four newspapers (the Telegram, a daily and weekly, the Courier, the Champion and the Norton County News, weeklies), an opera house, waterworks, an electric light plant, an ice plant, flour mill, grain elevators, fire department, brick and tile works, 2 banks, telegraph and express offices, and an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. This is the seat of the county high school. The population according to the census of 1910 was 1,787.

Norton was founded in 1872. The first hotel was built of logs in 1873. This building was bought by George Griffin in 1884 and in 1904 he presented it to the Norton women's clubs, who moved it to their park (Elmwood) and it is now used as a place to hold social and literary meetings.