The first air fatality in Kansas occurred in
Norton in 1911.  Read about it in the Museum.

At about 5:00 p.m. on February 18, 1948, there was a loud explosion and fireball approximately 15 miles above Western Kansas.  The fireball was seen as far away as Denver, Western Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Western Kansas.  It was a meteor explosion and the resultant fragments landed in Norton County, Kansas.

In June 1982, the Kansas Archaelogical Association and Kansas State Historical Society conducted an excavation of an ancient Indian site in Norton County.  The artifacts recovered are now on display in the museum.  The culture known as the Upper Republican were ancestors of the Pawnee and lived here 1000 to 600 years ago.