Place Information
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North Wilkesboro is a town in Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,116 at the 2000 census. It is the original home of Lowe's Home Improvement, though the chain has since relocated its headquarters. North Wilkesboro's major industries include furniture, mirror, and textile production. History
North Wilkesboro was founded in 1891 when the Norfolk and Southern Railroad built a railroad line into Wilkes County. The line ended on the northern bank of the Yadkin River opposite Wilkesboro, the county seat. The town of North Wilkesboro quickly developed around the railroad tracks. North Wilkesboro is the home of the Carolina Mirror Company, which for many years was the largest mirror factory in the United States. Although this is no longer the case, the town remains a major producer of mirrors. Lowe's Foods, one of the Southeast's largest supermarket chains, was started in North Wilkesboro in 1954. Lowes Foods currently has its corporate headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, the nation's second-largest chain of home-improvement stores, was started in North Wilkesboro in 1946. The company maintained its corporate headquarters in North Wilkesboro until 2005, when it relocated its headquarters to Mooresville, North Carolina, a fast-growing suburb of Charlotte, the state's largest city. From 1947 to 1996 North Wilkesboro was the home of the North Wilkesboro Speedway, one of the first tracks on the NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Racing) circuit, and the town earned considerable revenue and publicity from the two NASCAR races that were held at the track each year. In 1996 the track was sold to two new owners, who closed the North Wilkesboro Speedway and moved its NASCAR races to their speedways in Texas and New Hampshire. A group known as "Save the Speedway" is currently trying to purchase the track and reopen it for auto racing. NASCAR driver Jimmy Pardue was from the town. North Wilkesboro is the home of the annual Brushy Mountain Apple Festival, which is held to celebrate the apple harvest from the nearby Brushy Mountains. Crowds of over 160,000 people usually attend the one-day festival, which features music, dancing, artwork, crafts, and food traditional to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The apple festival is one of the largest single-day arts and crafts festivals in the Southeastern United States. North Wilkesboro recently opened the Yadkin River Greenway. The Greenway contains biking, jogging, and walking trails which follow the Yadkin River and Reddies River for several miles between the towns of North Wilkesboro and Wilkesboro. One of the most popular spots on the Greenway is a 156-foot-long bridge which spans the Reddies River at its mouth, where it joins the Yadkin River. Research Tips
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