ELGO OR NORWAY VILLAGE

In 1879 Gust Nelson gave the land for pioneer Norway.  He lived across the road (section line) on the north side in a stone house which he had built earlier.  He had a small grocery store in his home.  His homestead was NW4, Sec. 21.  The original townsite contained thirty-six lots, each lot 25 feet wide.  Block one on the east side had 12 lots and Block two on the west side had 24 lots--12 lots on each side of an alley.  Between the two Blocks was Nelson Avenue 100 feet wide.  On the east side of Block 1 there was a roadway between the railroad and Block 1.  (It is the same today.)  The section line was on the north side of the village and a street 40 feet wide on the west and south sides.  Farm land west, south and east of the Lutheran church and parsonage.  This land was also a gift of Gust Nelson to the Lutheran congregation.

The plat of the present Norway in the 1884 Republic County Atlas gives "Elgo Village" instead of Norway.  In some of the early deeds to lots in this village the description says "Original townsite of Elgo".  It was changed later to Norway at the suggestion of John McCathron the first postmaster in the township, honoring the first ten settlers who were Norwegians.

The 1884 atlas shows--one church and parsonage, three cemeteries, five schools, many groves and orchards on farms and along the streams and coal on the Peterson homestead on the NE4 of Section 30.