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1871.   In November of 1871, James Hall, D.C. Coleman, Charles Brazee and Fred Hyde settled here.  James Hall was the first sheriff of Norton County. Sol Peak of Lenora and J.J. VanMeter of Oronoque were among the hunters and trappers who were camped here in 1871 and later became residents.

Norton County was officially proclaimed a county on August 22, 1872.  Billingsville (Norton) was declared the temporary county seat.  James W. Vance, Shelby D. Reed and James Hall appointed county commissioners and David C. Coleman, county clerk.  N.H. Billings, having moved here from Cloud County in February 1872, was a promoter, mostly a self-promoter.  He successfully convinced the few settlers of the area to elect him as their representative to the State Legislature.  There he prematurely petitioned the Governor for organization of the county with "Billingsville" as its county seat.  Later he succeeded in having the Legislature change the name of the county to "Billings County" in 1873.  The legislature changed it back to "Norton" County in 1874. The county was divided into three townships each 10 miles wide and thirty miles long, named Almena, Center and Solomon.

From William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas first published in 1883 by A.T.Andreas, Chicago, Illinois:
"First Things. - The first marriages in the county were James Kinyon and Ellen Green, July 25, 1873, and a few days later, John Lunny and Miss Dunlap.  The first births were Annie Beaumont, January 4, 1873, and Kate Kelly March 3, 1873.  The first natural death occurring in the county was that of Minnie Stiles, June 10, 1873.  A few weeks previous to this date a man named Cross, supposed to be a horse thief, was shot on suspicion.  The first post offices were established at West Union and Port Landis, in January 1874.  Alfred Coleman and John Landis were the first postmasters. From D.N. Bower's Seventy Years in Norton County, 1872-1942:  "The Almena post office was established farther down the Prairie Dog on June 10 1872, with D.C. Coleman as post master.   Norton's first actual post office was in charge of William Elroy Case who arrived here in April 1872.   In 1873, Mr. Case bought the Newell store located about in the quarter block to the southwest of the corner of Main and First Avenue, where he became postmaster and conducted the post office while also serving as clerk of the district court from 1872 to 1875. "
"Newell Bros. established the first store for the sale of general merchandise, in Center Township in 1872.  In the fall of 1873, Judge A.J. Banty held the first regular term of court.  The temple of justice was a log house afterward used as a residence.  A local historian states that "the roof was made of buffalo-skins".  The term occupied some twenty minutes.  Thomas Beaumont and Edward Hooverson were the two practicing attorneys.  Representative Billings invited the bench and bar to take dinner at his house and charged them twenty-five cents each."  [Cutler's History of the State of Kansas]
"Educational. -- On the first day of December 1873, J.H. Simmons commenced teaching the first school ever taught in the county.  The school was held in a dugout where the town of Norton now stands.  There were sixteen pupils in attendance and the time was by no means wasted.  It was a "pay" school, and like most others of the kind, the tuition promised was never paid.  Mr. Simmons, however, found a wife among his fair pupils, and of course, that piece of good fortune compensated for his pecuniary loss."
Religious:
1872, a clergyman named Wainwright held services in a log house with buffalo hides as a roof.
Celebrations:
The Fourth of July was celebrated in 1872.  Thirty men and three ladies, Mrs. James Hall, Mrs. John Price and Mrs. D.C. Coleman.  The ladies prepared a bountiful dinner, in which buffalo

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