 The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Norton with surrounding Wise County for statistical purposes.The settlement was originally known as "Prince's Flats," but in a bid to convince the Louisville and Nashville Railroad to build a depot there, the town was renamed after the current head of the railroad, Mr. Eckstein Norton.Part of the Wilderness Trail blazed by Daniel Boone, and later extensively mapped and settled by Christopher Gest, Norton was a central hub for the timber trade until the coal boom of the 1930-40's.