Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Winston-Salem is a city in and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. With a 2019 estimated population of 247,945, it is the fifth most populous city in North Carolina. It is home to Wake Forest University and Winston-Salen State University. In 2012, the city was listed among the ten best places to retire in the United States by CBS MoneyWatch.

About Winston-Salem, North Carolina in brief

Summary Winston-Salem, North CarolinaWinston-Salem is a city in and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. With a 2019 estimated population of 247,945, it is the fifth most populous city in North Carolina. It is home to Wake Forest University and Winston-Salen State University. In 2012, the city was listed among the ten best places to retire in the United States by CBS MoneyWatch. The city is a product of the merging of the two neighboring towns of Winston and Salem in 1913. The origin of the town of Salem dates to January 1753, when Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg, on behalf of the Moravian Church, selected a settlement site in the three forks of Muddy Creek. The land, just short of 99,000 acres, was subsequently purchased from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville. On January 6, 1766, the first tree was felled for the building of Salem. Salem was incorporated as a town in December 1856. In the 1880s, the US Post Office began referring to the two towns as Winston-salem and Salem after a decade of contention. In 1899, the U.S. Post Office established the Post Office Department of Winston- salem. In 1900, Hanes and Reynolds would compete for the next 25 years, absorbing a number of the smaller manufacturers of the Camel cigarettes. Hanes sold out to Reynolds in 1900 to begin a second career in textiles in the second career of his second career. He died in 1953, leaving a fortune worth an estimated $1.2 billion to the state of North Carolina and his family.

The town of Winston was named after a local hero of the Revolutionary War, Joseph Winston. In 1851, Winston was renamed Winston until 1851 when it was renamed Salem until 1852. In 1880, Richard Joshua Reynolds, also of Davie County, built his first tobacco factory a few hundred feet from his first factory in Winston. By 1880, there were almost 40 tobacco factories in the town. Winston was a sleepy county town until 1868, when work began by Salem and Winston business leaders to connect the town to the North Carolina Railroad. That same year, Thomas Jethro Brown rented a former livery stable and a tobacco warehouse in Winston for his first plant. The first factory was built in Winston in 1875, a few feet from the first tobacco warehouse. Winston is the third largest urban area in N.C. with a metropolitan population of 680,876. The tallest office building in the region, 100 North Main Street, formerly known as the Wachovia Building and now known locally as the Wells Fargo Center, is located in the downtown area of Winston. Many locals refer to the city as \”Winston\” in informal speech. It was named for the locally based R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s Camel cigarettes, which were made in the city in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It has been the site each Easter morning of the world-famous MORavian sunrise service.