[1] The county was established in 1867 and named for Orloff Norton, captain of Company L, 15th Kansas Militia Infantry Regiment.

[3] For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans.

In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre.

Norton County was founded by Noah H. Billings, Thomas Beaumont, Henry Gordon, P. Hansen, and George Cole on August 22, 1872.

The county gets its name for Civil War soldier Orloff Norton of the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry, who was killed at Cane Hill, Arkansas in 1864.

N.H. Billings, aiming to exploit the county government for personal gain, submitted a forged petition to Governor Harvey, claiming 600 inhabitants when there were only 8 verifiable residents.

The influx of settlers increased in 1872, though the area was not entirely safe from Native American activity, leading to several "Indian scares."

Community services began to establish with the first school in 1873, taught by J. H. Simmons, and the first physician, Mrs. P. A. O. Briggs, who was known for her dedication to patients regardless of their ability to pay.

In July, an inmate at the Norton Correctional Facility, a state prison, tested positive for coronavirus.

The last Democrat to reach forty percent of the county’s vote was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, ironically against Kansas Governor Alf Landon.

Roosevelt in 1932 was the last Democrat to carry Norton County, and the only others are Woodrow Wilson (twice) and William Jennings Bryan in his first 1896 campaign.

The city of Norton is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships.