Place Information
|
Guilford County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2000, the population was 421,048. Its county seat is Greensboro6. Since 1938, an additional county court has been located in High Point, North Carolina, making Guilford one of only a handfull of counties nationwide with a dual court system. High Point's courthouse is the 101st courthouse in North Carolina.
History
The county was formed in 1771 from parts of Rowan County and Orange County. It was named for Francis North, 1st Earl of Guildford, father of Frederick North, Lord North, British Prime Minister from 1770 to 1782. On March 15, 1781, the Battle of Guilford Court House was fought in present-day Greensboro between Generals Charles Cornwallis and Nathanael Greene during the American Revolution as its penultimate battle. In 1779 the southern third of Guilford County became Randolph County. In 1785 the northern half of its remaining territory became Rockingham County. In 1960 Guilford County saw the Greensboro Four spark a phase of the American civil rights movement. In just two months the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in 9 states. In 1979, the Greensboro massacre where the predominantly African American Maoist Communist Workers Party (CWP) attempting to organize industrial workers were attacked by the Ku Klux Klan and members of the American Nazi Party. Timeline
Population History
Research TipsExternal links
|
