Fertile soil and abundant fauna surrounding the Pennessewasse Lake supported native people in the region for thousands of years.

Many of the early settlers had fought in the Revolutionary War, including Phineas Whitney, a veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

[3] By 1789, a sawmill and gristmill were established, the first road was built in 1796, and the town of Norway was officially incorporated on March 9, 1797.

[4] Before incorporation, the township adopted the name Rustfield, to recognize the contributions of prominent landowner Henry Rust of Salem, Massachusetts, and the community once petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to be named Norage, meaning "falls" in the native peoples' language.

[3] During the Civil War, Norway and other municipalities in Oxford County formed a militia that joined the 1st Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment under the command of George Lafayette Beal.

Spread by a strong wind, what would become known as The Great Norway Fire, destroyed a substantial portion of the business district, devastating the opera house, Congregational Church, tannery, and 80 other buildings, including many homes.

Reconstruction began the same year, and many of the original wooden buildings on Main Street were rebuilt with brick.

Tubbs produced high quality ash snowshoes, skis, sleds, and furniture, even supplying Byrd's polar expeditions.

Soon after, SnoCraft Inc., a company owned and operated by Kenneth (Kac) Aldrich, set up production in the old Tubbs Factory.

In 2001, after domestic furniture manufacturers were unable to compete with production costs in China, the company closed and auctioned their factory.

Similarly, after K2 Sports bought Tubbs Snowshoe Company in 2014, production moved from Vermont to Guangzhou, China.

[11] In 1997, the New Balance Shoe Company built a manufacturing facility in Norway where production continues today.

Photographer W. H. Green created several stereographic cards of the town and surrounding Oxford County.