The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States.

Prior to 20th century

1753 – November 17: Moravian settlers establish Bethabara in present-day Winston-Salem, the first community in the Wachovia tract. 1766 – January 6: Work begins on Salem, planned as the administrative center of Wachovia. 1769 – Single Brothers' House completed in Salem. 1771 – June 7: First burial in Salem's Moravian cemetery, God's Acre. 1772 – School that became Salem Academy and Salem College opens in Salem. 1784 – Salem Tavern rebuilt after fire. 1822 – African and African-American Moravian congregation later known as St. Philips Moravian Church organized in Salem. 1840 – Salem Cotton Mill operating in Salem. 1843 – Salem Vigilant Fire Company established. 1849 – Salem becomes part of the newly formed Forsyth County. 1851 – New town "Winston" created as seat of Forsyth County. 1854 – Fayetteville and Western Plank Road completed to Forsyth County. 1856 December 13: Salem incorporated. Western Sentinel newspaper begins publication in Winston. 1857 – Charles Brietz becomes first mayor of Salem. 1859 Winston incorporated. William Barrow becomes first mayor of Winston. 1861 May 20: North Carolina secedes from the Union. December 15: Brick church later known as St. Philips Moravian Church consecrated in Salem. 1866 – First National Bank of Salem established. 1870 – Hamilton Scales begins manufacturing plug tobacco on Liberty Street in Winston. 1872 – P. H. Hanes and Company organized to manufacture tobacco in Winston. 1873 – Piedmont Warehouse, Winston's first tobacco warehouse, established. 1875 – R. J. Reynolds builds his first tobacco factory in Winston. 1879 – Wachovia National Bank established in Winston. 1890 – Twin-City Daily Sentinel newspaper in publication. 1891 – First Catholic Mass held at St. Leo's original church site in the West End. 1892 – September 28: Slater Industrial Academy, a school for African Americans, founded. 1896 – Population: 5,500 in Salem; 13,500 in Winston. 1897 – The Journal newspaper begins publication. 1899 – United States Post Office Department merges the Winston and Salem post offices as the Winston-Salem Post Office.

20th century

1905 – Professional baseball comes to Winston-Salem. 1912 – Winston-Salem Hebrew Congregation formed. 1913 May 13: Town of Salem and city of Winston merge to form Winston-Salem municipality. Camel cigarettes introduced by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. 1918 – November 17–18: Riot occurs after a mob gathers at the city jail amid lynching rumors. 1919 – October 14: Winston-Salem Foundation established with seed money from Col. Francis Henry Fries. 1923 – May 28: North Carolina Baptist Hospital opens. 1926 Nissen Building constructed. June 1: Safe Bus Company begins offering transportation to African-American residents of Winston-Salem. 1927 – Miller Municipal Airport established. 1929 – April 23: Reynolds Building officially opens. 1930 WSJS radio begins broadcasting. Shell-shaped Shell Service Station built. 1935 – State Theatre active. 1936 – Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation established in Winston-Salem. 1937 WAIR radio begins broadcasting. Krispy Kreme donuts in business. 1943 – June 17: Tobacco workers at R. J. Reynolds begin a sit-down strike that leads to Local 22 labor and civil-rights activism. 1948 – Piedmont Airlines founded in Winston-Salem. 1949 – August 9: Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County founded as the first locally established arts council in the United States. 1951 – Flamingo Drive-In cinema opens. 1952 – Temple Emanuel synagogue built. 1953 – WSJS-TV begins broadcasting. 1956 Wake Forest College's new Winston-Salem campus opens. Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art founded by James G. Hanes. 1960 Population: 111,135; Winston-Salem exceeds 100,000 for the first time. February 8: Carl Matthews begins sit-ins at downtown lunch counters; later protests by Winston-Salem State and Wake Forest students help lead to a desegregation agreement among local merchants. 1965 North Carolina School of the Arts opens in Winston-Salem. Hanes Hosiery Mills Company and P. H. Hanes Knitting Company merge to form Hanes Corporation. Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts established. Parkway Theatre opens. 1966 – Wachovia Building completed. 1967 Reynolda House Museum of American Art becomes the setting for a collection of American art. November 3–5: Civil unrest follows the death of a Black man in police custody; the National Guard is called in and the city is placed under curfew. 1969 – Black Panther Party, Winston-Salem, North Carolina Chapter established. 1972 – Winston-Salem Transit Authority purchases the assets of the Safe Bus Company. 1975 – Hanes Mall opens. 1979 North Carolina Black Repertory Company founded by Larry Leon Hamlin. WGNN-TV begins broadcasting. 1981 – Wake Forest University's Layton Field baseball park dedicated. 1982 Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina opens. Southern Garden History Society founded in Winston-Salem. RJR Plaza Building completed. 1989 National Black Theatre Festival held for the first time in Winston-Salem. Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum opens. May 5: Tornadoes strike Winston-Salem and Forsyth County as part of the May 1989 tornado outbreak. 1993 – Mel Watt becomes U.S. representative for North Carolina's 12th congressional district. 1995 – Wachovia Center completed. 1997 City website online by June. Jack Cavanagh becomes mayor. 2000 – Sister city relationship established with Ungheni, Moldova.

21st century 2001 November: Allen Joines elected mayor. July: Sister city relationship with Kumasi, Ghana, formalized. WinstonNet, a community technology nonprofit, established. 2005 – Winston Cup Museum opens. 2006 September 5: Hanesbrands becomes an independent, publicly traded company after its spin-off from Sara Lee Corporation. October 23: Sister city relationship with Nassau, Bahamas, formalized. December 18: Sister city relationship with Yangpu District, Shanghai, formalized. 2008 – Wachovia acquired by Wells Fargo. 2010 BB&T Ballpark opens as home of the Winston-Salem Dash. Population: 229,617. 2011 February 21: Winston-Salem City Council considers a resolution establishing a sister-city partnership with Buchanan, Liberia. Winston-Salem Open tennis tournament begins at Wake Forest University. 2012 – Wake Forest Biotech Place opens in converted R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company buildings downtown. 2013 – Piedmont Triad Research Park renamed Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. 2014 – Alma Adams becomes U.S. representative for North Carolina's 12th congressional district. 2016 – Kaleideum formed by the merger of the Children's Museum of Winston-Salem and SciWorks. 2019 March 12: Confederate Dead Monument removed from the former Forsyth County Courthouse property. December 6: BB&T and SunTrust Banks complete merger of equals to form Truist Financial, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. 2020 October 9: Atrium Health and Wake Forest Baptist Health combine as a single enterprise. Population: 249,545. 2022 – January 31: Fire at the Winston Weaver Company fertilizer plant on North Cherry Street prompts evacuation within a one-mile radius because of explosion risk from ammonium nitrate. 2023 – December 16: Winston Cup Museum closes to the public. 2024 – February 17: Kaleideum opens its new downtown museum. 2025 – December 1: Gildan completes acquisition of Hanesbrands.

See also History of Winston-Salem List of mayors of Winston-Salem, North Carolina History of Forsyth County National Register of Historic Places listings in Forsyth County, North Carolina Timelines of other cities in North Carolina: Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Wilmington

References

Bibliography

External links

History of Salem, Winston, and Winston-Salem, City of Winston-Salem North Carolina Collection and Local History, Forsyth County Public Library Digital Forsyth, historical photographs of Forsyth County