Another story is that Thomas Ridgway, for whom Ridgway was named, was on a train going through here. Mr. Ridgway was  the President of the Springfield and Illinois Southeastern Railroad, and he asked what the town had been named. It is said that the foreman of the construction crew, or one version says he was conductor or engineer of the train, spoke up and said the trainmen call it Popeye or Popeye’s Station. Mr. Ridgway, so the story goes, said that was no name for a town. This trainman is then supposed to have said, “Why don’t you name it after me?” So they did. His name was supposed to have been John William Norris of Fairfield. Nellie Johnson, wife of Mel Johnson, said her father was on the train when this happened. Mel and Nellie Johnson operated Johnson’s Hardware of the south side of East Main Street in Norris City for years.