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Greensboro, North Carolina (IPA: ), is the largest city in Guilford County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the largest city in the Piedmont Triad region. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 223,891, making it the third most populous city in North Carolina. Its estimated 2006 population is 240,955. It is located at the intersection of two major interstate highways (I-85 and I-40) in the Piedmont ("foot of the mountains") region in central North Carolina. In 1808, Greensborough (as it was spelled before 1895) was planned around a central courthouse square to replace Guilford Court House as the county seat. This act moved the county courts closer to the geographical center of the county, a location more easily reached by a greater number of the county's citizens. In 2004, the previous Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was broken up by the U.S. Census Bureau, resulting in the formation of the Greensboro-High Point MSA and the Winston-Salem MSA. The 2004 Greensboro-High Point MSA estimate was 667,542. The Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point combined statistical area, popularly referred to as the Piedmont Triad, had an estimated population of 1,490,886 in 2005. Source: US Bureau of the Census, Released April 2006 The city is home to several universities and colleges. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T), Guilford College, Bennett College, and Greensboro College all call Greensboro home. In addition, the state community college system has several campuses for Guilford Technical Community College. In August 2006, the Elon University School of Law opened a campus in downtown Greensboro. The city is the home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball club of the South Atlantic League and the Carolina Dynamo of the USL Premier Development League. The Wyndham Championship, one of the oldest national PGA Tour golf events, is held annually in Greensboro at Forest Oaks Country Club. History
The city was named for Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the American forces at the Battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, 1781. The Americans lost that battle but the Pyrrhic victory slowed Cornwallis' British forces enough to allow the Americans to prepare to defeat them at the Battle of Yorktown, where the British were forced to surrender on October 19, 1781, after a 20-day siege, thus ending the American Revolution. In the early 1840s, Greensboro was selected by the state government at the request of then Governor Morehead whose estate, Blandwood, is located in Greensboro, to become a railroad hub and substantially grew in size. It soon became known as the Gateway City. The railroads transported goods to and from the textile industries, which grew up around Greensboro due to its location. Many of these businesses remained in the city until the 21st century, when many of them went bankrupt, reorganized, and/or merged with other companies. Greensboro remains as a major textile headquarters city with the main offices of International Textile Group (Cone, Burlington Industries), Galey & Lord, Unifi, and VF Corporation (Wrangler, Lee, North Face, Vanity Fair). Rail traffic continues as Greensboro is a major North Carolina freight hub, and four Amtrak passenger trains stop in Greensboro daily on the main Norfolk & Western line between Washington and New Orleans by way of Atlanta. FedEx is scheduled to open a major hub near Piedmont Triad International Airport. Greensboro has been known for being on the forefront of issues involving racial and ethnic equality, sometimes resulting in nationally known events. During the 19th century, with its large concentration of anti-slavery Quakers near Guilford College (now part of Greensboro), the town was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Railroad helped to smuggle runaway slaves to freedom in the North. In the 1861 Secession Convention Vote, Guilford County voted against secession from the Union by a margin of 2771-to-112, the fourth largest "no" margin in the state. Later, in the 1890s, the city caught the attention of a number of Jews, who established a thriving business community headed by Moses and Ceasar Cone. Though the city developed slowly, early wealth generated from cotton trade and merchandising led to the construction of several notable buildings. The earliest building, later named Blandwood Mansion and Gardens, built in 1795. Additions to this residence in 1846 designed by A. J. Davis of New York City made the house an influential landmark in the nation as America's earliest Tuscan Villa. Other significant estates followed, including "Dunleith" designed by Samuel Sloan, Bellemeade, and the Bumpass-Troy House (now operated as an inn). Early civic architecture included the Guilford County Courthouse, West Market Street Methodist Church by S. W. Faulk, several buildings designed by Frank A. Weston, and UNCG's Main Building designed by Orlo Epps. During the twentieth century, Greensboro expanded in wealth and population due to profitable textile and tobacco interests. Rapid growth led to construction of grand commercial and civic buildings many of which remain standing today, designed by hometown architects Charles Hartmann, Harry Barton, Ed Loewenstein, and nationally prominent designers such as Walter Gropius, Eduardo Catalano, and George Matsumoto. On February 1, 1960, four black college students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat down at an all-white Woolworths lunch counter, and refused to leave when they were denied service. Hundreds of others soon joined in this sit-in, which lasted for several months. Such protests quickly spread across the South, ultimately leading to the desegregation of Woolworths and other chains. The original Woolworths counter and stools now sit in the Smithsonian, but a Sit-In Museum is being built in the old Woolworths building where the event actually occurred. On November 3, 1979, members of the Communist Workers Party were holding an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally, when a group of KKK and neo-Nazis caravanned into the Morningside Heights neighborhood in which the rally was being convened and ambushed the protest. Four local TV stations filmed the event as it happened. The Klansmen/Nazis (members of the recently created United Racist Front) allegedly were given directions and a parade permit by an undercover agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who attended Klan meetings and, it is believed, acted as the final impetus toward a showdown. The alleged actions of the BATF agent, as well as the evidence of other government informers who worked with the Klan at the time, have led to allegations of city/state/federal wrongdoing by members of the CWP. Although a pistol was probably fired by a CWP organizer (allegedly into the air) and the Klan caravan was beaten with sticks prior to stopping, only anti-Klan protesters were hurt. Five CWP members were killed and seven were wounded and television footage of the event was shown across the nation. This event is known as the Greensboro massacre. The Klansmen/Nazis were all acquitted by an all-white jury in two separate criminal trials. In 1985, a civil suit found the five police and two individuals liable for $350,000 in damages, to be paid to the Greensboro Justice Fund. In 2005, some Greensboro residents, inspired by post-apartheid South Africa, initiated a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to take public testimony and examine the causes and consequences of the massacre. It is the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission convened in the United States. Most recently, controversies have come to light within the Greensboro Police Department with allegations of racism, officers involved in crime and subsequent coverups, and internal power grabs. It has garnered even more attention since nationally known writer Jerry Bledsoe has been running a weekly story/newspiece in the local Rhinocerous Times recapping the events. NeighborhoodsGreensboro's early neighborhoods include: College Hill, Bellemeade, Fisher Park, Sunset Hills and Aycock. These were the first neighborhoods to develop outside the central historical core of the city. Other historical neighborhoods developed after automobile use, including Starmount, Irving Park, Lake Daniel Park, Lindley Park, Hamilton Lakes, Rankin, O. Henry Oaks, and Glenwood. Recent additions to the city include the Southside neighborhood redevelopment, Adams Farm, Lake Jeanette, The Cardinal, New Irving Park, and Reedy Fork Ranch. Greensboro's unique park-defined neighborhoods: Greensboro has a long and visionary tradition of establishing neighborhoods defined by their own unique park: Starmount Forest Park, Lindley Park, Latham Park, Lake Daniel Park, Irving Park, Fisher Park, College Park, etc. Within each distinct park neighborhood there are often several subdivisions, varying in size and scope. Greensboro's park neighborhoods often share a common feature - most private properties bordering the park are included in the legal plat map named after the park. Frequently the bordering streets reflect the park's name, as well (Fisher Park, College Park, Lake Daniel Park, Starmount Forest Park.) These key characteristics were intentionally designed to define the neighborhood's identity, thus creating a pleasant environment to live, study, work and recreate/socialize. Research Tips
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