Construction was initiated in late January, at the same time that neighboring forts Allen, Hamilton (in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania), and Franklin were being built.

The fort was named for Isaac Norris, speaker of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, who was a member of the planning committee charged with designing defenses in preparation for the French and Indian war.

[4]: 138 At the beginning of the French and Indian War, Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela left Pennsylvania without a professional military force.

[7] In late 1755, Colonel John Armstrong wrote to Governor Robert Hunter Morris: "I am of the opinion that no other means of defense than a chain of blockhouses along or near the south side of the Kittatinny Mountains from the Susquehanna to the temporary line, can secure the lives and property of the inhabitants of this country.

"[4]: 557 In December 1755, a series of attacks on people in the area east of what is now Stroudsburg had terrified the population, who then demanded that the Pennsylvania government provide military protection.

[8]: 226  The next day, warriors set fire to Daniel Brodhead's Plantation, and attacked and burned farms belonging to the Culvers, the McMichaels, and the Hartmanns.

"[8]: 228 Commissary General James Young inspected Fort Norris on 23 June 1756, and reported: Historians believe that Fort Norris was located about one mile southeast of Kresgeville, Pennsylvania, just south of Pohopoco Creek, and to the north of a road passing east towards the Minisink (present-day Mountain View Drive) near its intersection with Silver Spring Boulevard.

[4]: 225 On 27 September, Deputy Governor William Denny ordered Colonel Weiser to abandon Fort Norris and to transfer its garrison to the blockhouse at Wind Gap.