Rowan County ( )Talk Like a Tarheel , from the North Carolina Collection website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved August 16, 2023. is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 146,875. Its county seat, Salisbury, is the oldest continuously populated European-American town in the western half of North Carolina. Rowan County is located northeast of Charlotte, and is considered part of the Charlotte metropolitan area.
Established in 1753 from the upper part of Anson County, it was named after acting North Carolina governor Matthew Rowan. Originally a vast territory with unlimited western boundaries, Rowan County was reduced in size to after several counties were formed from it in the 18th and 19th centuries.
History 16th century The first Europeans to enter what is now Rowan County were members of the Spanish expedition of Juan Pardo in 1567. They established a fort and a mission in the native village of Guatari, believed to be located near the Yadkin River and inhabited by the Wateree. At the time, the area was ruled by a female chief whom the Spaniards called Guatari Mico (Mico was a term common among the Muskogee and Siouan speaking peoples of the south to mean "chief" or "leader"). The Spaniards called the village Salamanca in honor of the city of Salamanca in western Spain, and established a mission, headed by a secular priest named Sebastián Montero.
This fort was one of six that Pardo's expedition established before he returned separately to Spain in 1568. Small garrisons were stationed at each fort. They were built into the interior, including across the mountains in what is now southeastern Tennessee. In 1568, Native Americans at each fort massacred all but one soldier in the garrisons. The Spanish never returned to this interior area in other colonizing attempts, instead concentrating their efforts in Spanish Florida.
18th century English colonial settlement of North Carolina came decades later, starting in the coastal areas, where settlers migrated south from Virginia. Explorers and fur traders were the first to reach the Piedmont, paving the way for eventual settlers. Rowan County and St. Luke's Parish were established on March 27, 1753, from the upper part of Anson County. It was named for Matthew Rowan, acting governor of North Carolina from 1753 to 1754. It was intended to incorporate all of the lands of the Granville District that had previously been included in Anson County.
A house several miles west of present-day Salisbury in "the Irish settlement" served as the first courthouse starting June 15, 1753. Daniel Boone's father Squire Boone served as one of the first magistrates. By mid-1754 a new courthouse site was selected near "the place where the Old Waggon Road (crosses) over Grant's Creek."
As was typical of the time, Rowan County was originally a vast territory with an indefinite western boundary. As the population increased in the region, portions were taken to organize other counties and their seats. In 1770, the eastern portion was combined with the western part of Orange County to form Guilford County. In 1771 the northeastern portion of what was left became Surry County. In 1777 the western part of Rowan County was organized as Burke County. After the American Revolutionary War, in 1788, the western portion of the now much smaller Rowan County was organized as Iredell County.
19th century In 1822, Davidson County was formed from an eastern section. Finally, in 1836, that part of Rowan County north of the South Yadkin River became Davie County, and Rowan County took its present form and size. Since Rowan County was developed for tobacco, cotton cultivation, and mixed farming in the antebellum period, many of the plantation owners and some farmers were dependent on enslaved labor. Cotton and tobacco continued as a commodity crop after the war and into the 20th century. The population of Rowan County was 27.1 percent slaves in 1860.
During and following the Reconstruction era, the state legislature encouraged investment in railways, which had not occurred before. In addition, textile mills were built here and elsewhere in the Piedmont, bringing back cotton processing and manufacturing from centers in New York and New England. Urban populations increased.
20th century At the turn of the 20th century, after losing to Republican-Populist fusionist candidates, Democrats regained power and passed laws erecting barriers to voter registration to disenfranchise most Blacks. Together with the passage of Jim Crow laws, which suppressed Blacks socially, these measures ended the progress of African Americans in the state, after Republican men had already been serving in Congress. Charles Aycock and Robert Glenn, who were elected as state governors in 1900 and 1904, respectively, ran political campaigns to appeal to Whites. Six lynchings of African Americans were recorded in Rowan County from the late 19th into the early 20th centuries. This was the second-highest total of killings in the state, a number of extrajudicial murders that two other counties also had.
The racial terrorism of lynchings enforced White suppression of African Americans. In 1902, brothers James and Harrison Gillespie, aged 11 and 13, were lynched by a White mob for allegedly killing a young White woman working in a field.Amy Louise Wood, "Lynching and Local History: A Review of 'Troubled Ground'", Southern Spaces, May 8, 2012; accessed June 8, 2018 In August 1906, six African-American men were arrested as suspects in the murder of a farm family. That evening, a White mob stormed the county jail in Salisbury, freeing all the White prisoners, interrogating the Black ones, and taking out Jack Dillingham, Nease Gillespie, and his son John. The mob hanged the three men from a tree in a field, mutilated and tortured them, and shot them numerous times.
A center of textile manufacturing spanning from the late 19th to the late 20th century, the county has worked to attract new industries, after many textile manufacturing occupations moved offshore to lower wage markets during the late 20th century.
21st century In 2003, the county held the "250 Fest", celebrating its 250th anniversary.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.36%) is water.
The county's eastern border is formed by the Yadkin River. North of Ellis Crossroads, the South Yadkin River meets the Yadkin. The South Yadkin forms the county's northern border with Davie County. The southern border is an east–west line that bisects the city of Kannapolis.
State and local protected areas/sites Bell Tower Green Eagle Point Nature Preserve Gold Hill Mines Historic Park Lake Corriher Wilderness Park North Carolina Transportation Museum Second Creek Game Land Yadkin River Game Land (part)
Major water bodies Cold Water Creek Dutch Buffalo Creek High Rock Lake Irish Buffalo Creek Kannapolis Lake Lake Corriher Lake Fisher Lake Wright South Yadkin River Tuckertown Reservoir Yadkin River
Adjacent counties Cabarrus County – south Davidson County – east Davie County – north Iredell County – west Stanly County – southeast
Major highways
Interstate 85 passes through the county from southwest to northeast. In the early 2000s, I-85 was widened in the central and northern part of the county, from exit 68, US 29 Connector, north almost to the Davidson County line. A new bridge over the Yadkin River was also built.
U.S. Route 70 enters the northwestern part of Rowan County, west of Cleveland. It runs southeast into Salisbury, where it follows Jake Alexander Boulevard to the southeast and joins US 29 North as Main Street. US 70 continues northeast as Main Street; it is called Salisbury Avenue in Spencer before crossing into Davidson County.
U.S. Route 29 forms Main Street in Kannapolis, China Grove, and Landis in the southern part of the county. It joins US 70 as Main Street through Salisbury, and as Salisbury Avenue in Spencer.
U.S. Route 52 is the main artery for the southeastern part of the county, serving the towns of Gold Hill, Rockwell, and Granite Quarry. Just before reaching downtown Salisbury, US-52 joins Interstate 85, which it follows into Davidson county.
Major infrastructure Mid-Carolina Regional Airport, near Salisbury Salisbury Station
Demographics
2020 census +Rowan County, North Carolina – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)82,70791,521101,859101,986100,13583.39%82.75%78.15%73.67%68.18%Black or African American alone (NH)15,48017,71920,44022,15322,73015.61%16.02%15.68%16.00%15.48%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)1652573793764440.17%0.23%0.29%0.27%0.30%Asian alone (NH)2134411,0861,3531,5050.21%0.40%0.83%0.98%1.02%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)xincluded in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusxincluded in the Asian category in the 1990 Census154471xx0.01%0.03%0.05%Other race alone (NH)69161181485350.07%0.01%0.09%0.11%0.36%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)xnot an option in the 1980 Censusxnot an option in the 1990 Census1,0741,7245,515xx0.82%1.25%3.75%Hispanic or Latino (any race)5526515,36910,64415,9400.56%0.59%4.12%7.69%10.85%Total99,186110,605130,340138,428146,875 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 146,875 and 57,433 households, of which 37,900 were families.
The median age was 41.4 years. 21.7% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 97.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 95.6 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 69.9% White, 15.7% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 6.1% from some other race, and 6.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 10.9% of the population.
57.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 42.2% lived in rural areas.
There were 57,433 households in the county, of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.9% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 63,200 housing units, of which 9.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 68.6% were owner-occupied and 31.4% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.9%.
2010 census At the 2010 census, there were 138,428 people, 53,140 households, and 37,058 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 60,211 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 76.52% White, 16.18% Black or African American, 0.34% Native American, 1.00% Asian, 0.035% Pacific Islander, 4.33% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races. 7.69% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 53,140 households, 29.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.20% were married couples living together, 8.49% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.41% had a male householder with no wife and 30.26% were non-families. 25.22% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.15% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.00.