HOA Management in Gibsonville, NC

Gibsonville, NC facts and information

Gibsonville was incorporated as a town by the North Carolina General Assembly on February 18, 1871.

The Town of Gibsonville, Alamance and Guilford Counties, an Overview

Gibsonville’s median household income (2015-2019) was $66,761 in 2019 2019 dollars.

Per the 2010 United States Census, the land area of Gibsonville was 3.49 square miles.

As of 2010, Gibsonville’s population per square mile was 1,834.1 per the 2010 United States Census.

Per the United States Census Bureau (2015-2019), there were 2,481 households in Gibsonville.

85.4% of Gibsonville’s population who are 25 years of age or older are high school graduates per the United States Census Bureau (2015-2019).   

31.8% of Gibsonville’s population who are 25 years of age or older hold a bachelor’s degree or have obtained a higher level of education  (2015-2019).   

The coordinates or location of Graham per Google Earth – Latitude: 36°06′23.44″N, Longitude: 79°32′29.96″ W

The elevation of Graham at the above coordinates or location per Google Earth is 717 feet.

Gibsonville is known as the “City of Roses.” Reportedly this is from the 1920s when train passengers would see large numbers of rose bushes along the railroad tracks beside the Minneola Mill.

The Town of Gibsonville is a municipality located in Alamance and Guilford counties. Alamance County was established in 1849. It was formed from the western part of Orange County. Alamance Creek flows through the county, and the county is named for the Creek. The known early inhabitants of the future Alamance County and Guilford County were the Native American people, the Shakori, the Eno, and the Occaneechi. Settlers of European descent began arriving in the future Alamance and Guilford counties in the 1700s and did not begin arriving in large numbers until the mid-1700s. These early immigrants to Guilford and Alamance counties were of German descent and Scots-Irish origin. There were small pockets of Quakers within these early settlers as well. These early settlers were principally subsistence farmers, mainly farming small plots of land.

One of the first significant historical events in the future Alamance County occurred on May 17, 1771. This became known as the Battle of Alamance. This was an engagement between North Carolina British Royal Governor William Tryon and his militia force and the Regulators on the banks of Alamance Creek. The Regulators, who were mainly farmers, while not in open rebellion of the British Royal, were hostile to certain aspects of the governance. Up to this point, the Regulators had not been well organized but were becoming so along with becoming more vocal and active in their dissent. Governor Tryon’s militia force disbursed the Regulators in a relatively short engagement with limited casualties on either side. The governor later executed seven Regulators for treason that were captured at the battle. What is most significant about this pre–American Revolutionary War uprising is that it demonstrated the simmering discontent that many of the colonial population held against British colonial rule.

A very significant American Revolutionary War battle occurred within Guilford County. On March 15, 1781, The Battle of Guilford Court House was fought in what is now within the city limits of Greensboro.

The Battle of Guilford Court House was the turning point of the American Revolution. Surprising, this battle may have been a Patriot tactical defeat. However, it was a Patriot strategic victory. The Battle of Guilford Court House was truly a British Pyrrhic victory from which they could not recover.

The actual battle lasted less than two hours. However, it was the largest battle to take place during Major General Nathanael Greene’s Southern Campaign. Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis, the British commander, had a 2,100-man force that was much better trained and equipped than the 4,500-man Patriot force. Even though the British force was significantly outnumbered, Cornwallis’ force defeated Nathanael Greene’s forces. But the victory came at a considerable cost to the British forces. Of Cornwallis’ 2,100-man force, he had over 25% casualties. A harsh commentary on service in the British Army at this time is that many of the British casualties were the result of intentional friendly fire ordered directly and purposely by General Cornwallis himself. Charles James Fox, a member of British Parliament and a vocal critic of England’s struggle to quell the American War of Independence, said in reaction to the British “victory” at The Battle of Guilford Court House, “Another such victory would ruin the British Army!”

Before the arrival of the railroad in the 1850s, there were only a few structures within the future Gibsonville. One of these structures may have been the general store owned and operated by Captain Billy Gilmer at the corner of what is now Main Street and Piedmont Street. His store supplied the farmers and miners. His general store was known to have been there before the American Civil War.

Farming was the primary economic activity in the future Gibsonville area. To a much lesser extent, gold mining played a small role in the local economy. In the early 1800s, gold deposits were found on Gibson Hill, which is south of town. Full-scale gold mining arrived in 1888 with the Chifar Consolidated Gold Mine Company. They opened a mine half a mile south of town and began processing ore in search of gold.

Gibsonville’s fast development, like hundreds and hundreds of towns developed in the United States in the 1800s, was the result of the arrival of the railroad. Dr. Thomas Cummings, a large landowner, gave the railroad the right of way. Dr. Cummings also donated two acres of land as a hitching lot. The arrival of the North Carolina Railroad in 1855 transformed Gibsonville into a bustling community essentially overnight. The arrival of the railroad is when the town’s namesake, Joseph Gibson, comes into prominence. Gibson was a local landowner and local farmer. Joseph Gibson’s father, Andrew D. Gibson (1750-1824), arrived in the future Gibsonville around 1775 from Edinburgh, Scotland. His father had established a farm and a gold mining operation. Andrew D. Gibson fought and was wounded at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781. Joseph Gibson performed extensive grading and construction work for the North Carolina Railroad.

The first train arrived on October 9, 1855, and was a boom to the economy and a boom to the population. The rail line connecting Charlotte and Goldsboro was ultimately completed on January 29, 1856. The following day, January 30, 1856, the first train to travel the entire, complete rail line arrived in town after town to crowds of cheering townspeople.

Agriculture remained the primary economic activity within Gibsonville after the arrival of the railroad for the next five decades. The train depot had an adjacent holding area for cattle and other livestock. The depot was accustomed to shipping out large qualities of local agricultural products to faraway markets.

In 1887, Berry Davidson (1831-1915) sold his mill in Altamahaw, North Carolina, and opened the Minneola Manufacturing Co, a textile mill on Railroad Avenue in Gibsonville. In 1893, he sold the Minneola Manufacturing mill to the Cone family of Greensboro. Davidson then opened the Hiawatha Mill on Eugene Street in 1893. He eventually sold this hosiery mill to the Holt family of Burlington. This introduction of the industry moved Gibsonville away from its sole dependence on just agriculture.

The Great Depression of the 1930s brought economic difficulties to Gibsonville. The market for textile production dropped, resulting in mills reducing work hours or closing completely. Wage reductions and unemployment were affecting much of the population. During this time period, many municipalities throughout the nation were defaulting on debt obligations. Gibsonville was one of the few municipalities in North Carolina that did not miss a payment or need to have their debt restructured. The Bank of Gibsonville weathered the banking crisis of the 1930s as well and remained strong.

Gibsonville recovered from the Great Depression, as did the rest of the United States with the beginning of World War II in the late 1930s. Demand for textiles and agricultural products increased drastically during the war period through the 1950s. Textiles were still a major factor within the Gibsonville economy through the 1970s. The weak economy of the late 70s and early 80s and the importation of lower-cost foreign-produced textiles commenced the precipitous drop of textile manufacturing in the United States. NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the free trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, had the most negative consequences on textile production when it was signed into law in 1993.

Since the 1980s, Gibsonville has weathered the economic storm by establishing a more diverse economic base. Textile manufacturing has been replaced by other smaller-scale manufacturing activities and service-related enterprises that are less susceptible to economic downturns because of their smaller size and ability to adapt to economic situations. Initially, when the textile mills closed in the 1980s, Gibsonville turned into a bedroom community for commuters to Burlington and Greensboro. Commuters are driving as far as Research Triangle Park, Chapel Hill, and Durham now.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Gibsonville: The Gibsonville School, Francis Marion Smith House, and Simeon Wagoner House.

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