The town is named after Robert Norton, who arrived in South Australia shortly after its proclamation, and made the first recorded climb in the area in 1836.

[4] The Morialta Protestant Children's Home was established in 1924 on nearby land, part of John Baker's estate,[5] closed in 1972.

Thomas Playford, a Waterloo veteran turned preacher, settled in the area in the 1840s.

Thomas Playford IV is the longest serving Premier in South Australia's history, from 1938 to 1965.

Story Of Norton's Summit Early Struggles Of the Pioneers By Lucy Maymon Hines The Chronicle (Adelaide, SA 1895 - 1954) 3 June 1937, page 47 This South Australia geography article is a stub.