The act establishing the county specified that the first court wa to be held at the courthouse of Bute County, from which Warren County was created in 1779. Bute County was therefore abolished, its name relegated only to history. The act also provided that subsequent courts were to be held at a place decided upon by the justices of the peace until a courthouse could be constructed. Commissioners were named to select a site at the center of the county, purchase land, and have the courthouse, prison, and stocks constructed. In 1779, another act was passed establishing Warrenton. This act provided that the courts were to be held at the home of Thomas Christmas until the courthouse could be built. Warrenton has since been the only county seat of Warren County.

In 1837, we were called Ridgeway Junction and the expanding railroad found it necessary to stop in this area for refueling and resupplying. Local citizens, eager to supplement their income from this boom-town industry, began selling wood and water to the railroad.

Soon this had expanded to other supplies and services, such as camp-like food, provisions and supplies for arriving and departing travelers. In the 1860s, we became known as the "Woodyard," and in the 1870s the railroads merged to form the Seaboard & Raleigh Railroad, and we had become an area of commerce, trade and business.

Now known throughout the South as the "Junction," this area had grown from a small crossroads supplying roadside meals to a thriving community which included several smithing shops, two mercantile hardware stores, and a horse-drawn taxi service providing transportation to outlying areas.

In 1900, The Seaboard Air Line Railway was established through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Under the leadership of John Williams, an regional entrepreneur, the Seaboard quickly grew from 1,110 miles to over 4,680 miles.

During this period, the "Junction" exploded with growth, the Rail & Train Depot was established, and our historic hotel and restaurant were built to supply the traveling public with a clean bed and bath, and their specialty meal...quail on toast.

No one really knows how the name "Norlina" came about...whether it was the influence of the railroad to 'shorten' the name North Carolina to Norrr-lllina, or if was a decision of some of our first citizens. In any event, in 1913, a group of local citizens stepped off one mile square (with the railroad depot exactly in the center), sent a petition to the North Carolina General Assembly for charter, and we became known as.... Norlina.... where North Carolina begins.