Guilford County, North Carolina

Guilford County, North Carolina
Seal
Location in the U.S. state of North Carolina
North Carolina's location in the U.S.
Founded	1771
Named for	Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford
Seat	Greensboro
Largest city	Greensboro
Area
• Total	658 sq mi (1,704 km2)
• Land	646 sq mi (1,673 km2)
• Water	12 sq mi (31 km2), 1.8%
Population (est.)
• (2014)	512,119
• Density	792.7/sq mi (306/km²)
Congressional districts	6th, 12th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	www.co.guilford.nc.us

Guilford County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 488,406, making it the third-most populous county in North Carolina. Its seat is Greensboro. Since 1938, an additional county court has been located in High Point, North Carolina. The county was formed in 1771.

Guilford County is included in the Greensboro-High Point, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, NC Combined Statistical Area.

History

State historical marker for Guilford Courthouse

At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of the area that became Guilford County were a Siouan-speaking people called the Saura. Beginning in the 1740s, settlers arrived in the region in search of fertile and affordable land. These first settlers included American Quakers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New England at what is now Greensboro, as well as German Reformed and Lutherans in the east, British Quakers in the south and west, and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the center of today's Guilford County. The county was formed in 1771 from parts of Rowan County and Orange County. It was named for Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford, father of Frederick North, Lord North, British Prime Minister from 1770 to 1782.

Friedens Church, whose name means "peace" in German, is in eastern Guilford County, at 6001 NC Hwy 61 North, northwest of Gibsonville. It is a historic church that has operated continuously since the earliest European settlers came to this area. According to a history of the church, Rev. John Ulrich Giesendanner led his Lutheran congregation from Pennsylvania in 1740, into the part of North Carolina around Haw River, Reedy Fork, Eno River, Alamance Creek, Travis Creek, Beaver Creek and Deep River. The first building used by Friedens Church was made of logs in 1745 and served for 25 years. The second building, completed about 1771, was much more substantial and remained in use until it was replaced in May, 1871. The third building was destroyed by fire on January 8, 1939. Only the columns in front survived. The structure was rebuilt and reopened in May 1939.

The Quaker meeting played a major role in the European settlement of the county, and numerous Quakers still live in the county. New Garden Friends Meeting, established in 1754, still operates in Greensboro.

Alamance Presbyterian Church, a log structure, was built in 1762, though it was not officially organized until 1764 by the Rev. Henry Patillo, pastor of Hawfields Presbyterian Church. It has operated on the same site in present-day Greensboro since then. According to the church history, it is now using its fifth church building and now has its eighteenth pastor.

On March 15, 1781, the Battle of Guilford Court House was fought just north of present-day Greensboro between Generals Charles Cornwallis and Nathanael Greene during the American Revolution. This battle marked a key turning point in the Revolutionary War in the South. Although General Cornwallis, the British Commander, held the field at the end of the battle, his losses were so severe that he decided to withdraw to the Carolina and Virginia coastline, where he could receive reinforcements and his battered army could be protected by the British Navy. His decision ultimately led to his defeat later in 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia, by a combined force of American and French troops and warships.

In 1779 the southern third of Guilford County became Randolph County. In 1785 the northern half of its remaining territory became Rockingham County.

In 1808, Greensboro replaced the hamlet of Guilford Court House as the county seat.

The county was site of early industrial development. The establishment of the Mt. Hecla Cotton Mill in 1818 marks one of the earliest cotton mills in the state. The re-establishment of the mill as a steam-powered factory is among the earliest examples of the use of steam power in the state.

Many of the county's residents were opposed to slavery before the Civil War. The county was a stop on the famous Underground Railroad, which provided escaped slaves with a route to freedom in the North. Levi Coffin, one of the founders of the "railroad", was a Guilford County native. He is credited with personally helping over 2,000 slaves escape to freedom before the war.

Education has long been a hallmark of the county. Guilford College was founded in 1837 as the New Garden Boarding School, its name changed in 1888 when the academic program expanded considerably. Guilford is the third-oldest coeducational institution in the country and the oldest such institution in the South. Greensboro College, established by the Methodist Church through a charter secured in 1838, is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States. Immanuel Lutheran College and Seminary, which was located on a small campus on East Market Street until it closed in 1961. "Lutheran" was founded in 1903 in Concord for black students by white German Lutherans. The school moved to Greensboro in 1905, where a large granite main building was built. The school operated a high school, junior college, and seminary. The school was under the jurisdiction of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America.

In 1891, the county became home to the state's first and only publicly supported institution of higher learning for women, the State Normal and Industrial School. In 1932, the school became the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina when it joined with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NC State University in Raleigh to form the Consolidated University of North Carolina. From the 1930s to the 1960s the Woman's College was the third-largest women's university in the world. The school's name was changed a final time in 1963 when it began admitting men; it is now known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

In 1911, a new county called Piedmont County was proposed, with High Point as its county seat, to be created from Guilford, Davidson and Randolph Counties. Many people appeared at the courthouse to oppose the plan, vowing to go to the state legislature to protest. The state legislature voted down the plan in February 1911.

In 1960 Guilford County helped spark a major development in the American civil rights movement when four black students from the North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro started an early civil rights sit-in. Known afterwards as the Greensboro Four, the four men deliberately sat at a "whites-only" lunch counter at the Woolworth's store in downtown Greensboro and asked to be served. They were arrested, but their action led to many other college students in Greensboro - including white students from Guilford College and the Women's College - to sit at the lunch counter in a show of support. Within two months the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in 9 states; Woolworth's eventually agreed to desegregate its lunch counters and other restaurants in Southern towns and cities followed suit.

A darker racial incident in 1979 was called the Greensboro massacre. In this incident the predominantly African American Communist Workers Party (CWP) led a march protesting the Ku Klux Klan and other white-supremacist groups through a black neighborhood in southeastern Greensboro. They were attacked and shot at by the Ku Klux Klan and members of the American Nazi Party, several of the Communist Party marchers were killed or wounded in the attack. The case received further national publicity when the accused shooters were found "not guilty" by an all-white jury. It should be noted that none of people involved in this shooting, from either side, were citizens of Guildford County - they had merely chosen this location as a rallying point.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 658 square miles (1,700 km²), of which 646 square miles (1,670 km²) is land and 12 square miles (31 km²) (1.8%) is water.

The county is drained, in part, by the Deep and Haw Rivers.

Adjacent counties

• Rockingham County (north)
• Alamance County (east)
• Randolph County (south)
• Davidson County (southwest)
• Forsyth County (west)

National protected area

• Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Major highways

• I‑40
• I‑73
• I‑74
• I‑85
• I‑785
• I‑840
• I‑40 Bus.
• I‑85 Bus.
• US 29
• US 70
• US 158
• US 220
• US 311
• US 421
• NC 22
• NC 61
• NC 62
• NC 65
• NC 68
• NC 100
• NC 150

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1790	7,300		—
1800	9,442		29.3%
1810	11,420		20.9%
1820	14,511		27.1%
1830	18,737		29.1%
1840	19,175		2.3%
1850	19,754		3.0%
1860	20,056		1.5%
1870	21,736		8.4%
1880	23,585		8.5%
1890	28,052		18.9%
1900	39,074		39.3%
1910	60,497		54.8%
1920	79,272		31.0%
1930	133,010		67.8%
1940	153,916		15.7%
1950	191,057		24.1%
1960	246,520		29.0%
1970	288,590		17.1%
1980	317,154		9.9%
1990	347,420		9.5%
2000	421,048		21.2%
2010	488,406		16.0%
Est. 2014	512,119		4.9%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2013

As of the census of 2010, there were 500,879 people, 192,064 households, 63% of which owned their own housing. The population density was 648 people per square mile (250/km²). There were 180,391 housing units at an average density of 278 per square mile (107/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 64.53% White, 29.27% Black or African American, 0.46% Native American, 2.44% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.81% from other races, and 1.45% from two or more races. 3.80% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 168,667 households out of which 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.00% were married couples living together, 13.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.90% were non-families. 27.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.70% under the age of 18, 11.00% from 18 to 24, 31.40% from 25 to 44, 22.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 92.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,618, and the median income for a family was $52,638. Males had a median income of $35,940 versus $27,092 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,340. About 7.60% of families and 10.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.80% of those under age 18 and 9.90% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government

Guilford County is a member of the regional Piedmont Triad Council of Governments.

Communities

Map of Guilford County, North Carolina With Municipal and Township Labels

Cities

• Archdale (part)
• Burlington (part)
• Greensboro (county seat)
• High Point (part)

Towns

• Gibsonville (part)
• Jamestown
• Kernersville (part)
• Oak Ridge
• Pleasant Garden
• Sedalia
• Stokesdale
• Summerfield
• Whitsett

Townships

• Bruce
• Center Grove
• Clay
• Deep River
• Fentress
• Friendship
• Gilmer
• Greene
• High Point
• Jamestown
• Jefferson
• Madison
• Monroe
• Morehead
• Oak Ridge
• Rock Creek
• Sumner
• Washington

Census-designated places

• Forest Oaks
• Julian
• McLeansville

Unincorporated communities

• Browns Summit
• Climax
• Colfax
• Monticello

Notable people

• Joseph Cannon, Speaker of the US House of Representatives (1903–1911)
• Edward R. Murrow, American broadcast journalist
• Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison and the fourth First Lady of the United States.
• William Sydney Porter, short-story writer better-known as "O. Henry"; his most famous story is "The Ransom of Red Chief".
• Levi Coffin, abolitionist leader who was nicknamed the "President of the Underground Railroad" for helping escaped slaves to freedom in the North before the Civil War.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Guilford County, North Carolina
• USS Guilford (APA-112)

External links

• Guilford County government official website
• NCGenWeb Guilford County - free genealogy resources for the county