On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Norton is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #810 of 993 in Ohio. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Norton’s overall grade.
Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Norton’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.9 points).
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Norton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1818, Norton Township was organized as a part of Wolf Creek Township which consisted of present-day Norton, Copley, Wadsworth, Sharon, Guilford, and Montville townships. Norton Township was plotted into lots half a square mile after being surveyed by Joseph Darrow. Norton was known as Town 1, Range 12 of the Western Reserve. It was named after Birdseye Norton, one of the original owners of the township. The first two people to settle on this land, in 1810, were James Robinson and John Cahow. Robinson purchased lot 19 and Cahow lot 20. The first marriage in the township was in the fall of 1814 between James Robinson and Lois Bates. The first tavern was built by John Cahow on his lot 20 in 1812. The first saw and grist mills were built by Thomas Johnson in 1823 (saw) and 1830 (grist). Norton Township consisted of seven small villages: Loyal Oak (also known as Bates' Corners, located at…
Passages that mention Norton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Centennial history of Summit County, Ohio1908 · page 117Read the page →
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Norton township was originally a part of Wolf Creek township, but was organized as a separate township in April, 1818. It was named for Birdsey Norton, one of its Connecticut proprietors. It was first settled in 1810 by James Robinson, who came from New York and built a cabin for himself on Wolf Creek. Other early settlers were .John
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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio1881 · page 502Read the page →
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In 1805, one Aaron Norton, afterward Judge Norton, of Portage County, bought of Solomon Stodard ten acres of land in the southeast corner. Lot 27, now comprising the waterfalls and iron bridge, where he erected the first gristmill in tlie township. This was duly appreciated as a great convenience by the inhabitants of this and adjoining townships. Previous
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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio1881 · page 589Read the page →
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Portage was probabl}' the first village laid out either wholly or in part in the township. It was laid out in 1818 by Ambrose Palmer, or at least the part was which belonged to Norton. Buildings both log and frame sprang up, and soon a thriving town stood where, a few years before, there were nothing but woods to be seen. A glass factory was started by Palmer,
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Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County1892 · page 935Read the page →
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SINCK the compilation of this history was begun, and the publication of the foregoing chapters on Coventry and Norton, in serial form, the vicinity of New Portage, on the Norton side of the line, has been invested with a new and truly wonderful importance. In January, 1890, Messrs. Ohio C. Barber, Charles Baird, Albert T. Paige and John K. Robinson, realizing the beauty and business possibilities of the locality, purchased a number of contiguous farms, adjacent to the already considerable village of New
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Norton, 1834 to 1959
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Norton is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns, #810 of 993 in Ohio. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Norton?
14% of Norton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1962.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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