Norton, Zimbabwe

Norton is a commuter town on the main road and railway line linking Harare and Bulawayo in Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe, about 40 kilometres west of Harare. It began in 1914 as a railway siding and was named for the Norton family, who had farmed the area since the 1890s and were killed in the First Chimurenga in 1896. The town grew as a commercial hub for a rich farming district producing tobacco, maize and wheat, and later as an industrial centre helped by nearby water and power, with a large pulp and paper mill and a brewery built from the 1960s. The 2022 census counted 87,039 people.