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NORTON, TEXAS
Texas Ghost Town
Runnels County, Panhandle / West Texas
Population 96 est. (2000)
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Entering
Norton
Photo courtesy Stephen & Elizabeth Taylor, December 2005 |
Norton,
on Farm Road 383 in west central Runnels County, was named for George
W. Norton, who owned the townsite land. The post office opened in
1894 with Marion A. Wilkerson as postmaster. The first houses were
built in 1901, and in 1902 the post office was moved. A school began
operation in 1901, as did the first store, built by Robert Turner.
Businesses included a gin and a bank which operated from 1923 to 1930.
In 1912 a cyclone killed one resident and damaged buildings, and in
1929 a fire caused extensive property damage. At one time Norton had
four different churches; a Baptist, a Methodist, a Church of Christ,
and a Presbyterian. In 1968 the Norton School burned and the high
school students were sent to surrounding schools. The elementary school
was rebuilt but has since been closed. As of 2004 the Post Office
remains open.
Norton has remained a small town serving the surrounding rural area.
Until the 1930s its population did not exceed fifty. In 1940 the town
had a population of 120 and five businesses. The population was seventy-six
in 1980 and in 1990.
From "Eighteen
Ghost Towns of Runnels County" by Alton O'Neil Jr. |
Norton Texas
Forum
Subject: Norton
Texas in my youth
Norton Texas was the town where my grandparents lived most of their
lives. My grandmother was a Lilly (maiden name) and the farm just
a couple of miles north of Norton was owned by the Lilly family. My
father moved there in the early 1980's to take care of my grandmother
and is buried in the norton cemetery next to my grandparents. Most
of my summers were spent there with my grandparents who lived at the
west end of town, across the road from the lilly girls and Mrs. Steele.
- Zeke Allen, August 17, 2005
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