Greensboro is the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina. It’s the third-largest city in the state by population and the largest city in the Piedmont Triad metropolitan area. As of 2019, the estimated population is 296,710.
Around 1750, Quaker families from Pennsylvania began to arrive in what is formerly known as Capefair, the current-day Greensboro. Within about six years, the settlement grew rapidly, with members being added from as far as Massachusetts. Soon after, it was considered the most important Quaker community in the state.
When the Revolutionary War ended, the settlement’s name was changed to Greensboro. It was named after Major General Nathanael Green, who commanded American rebel forces on March 15, 1781, at the Battle of Guilford Court House. Though Green and his men lost the battle, they did cause many casualties to the British Army.
The General Assembly passed an act in 1807 that allowed commissioners to begin looking for a county seat. Surveyors made their way into the area, and a location near what is now the downtown area was chosen. The land was purchased from the Saura people for $98. Public auctions were held for the sale of 44 building lots to raise enough money to build the jail and courthouse.
During the mid-1850s, a new railway came through the town, and by the Civil War, the village had a population of 2,000 residents. As a member of the confederacy, there were many people stationed in the immediate area during the war, including injured soldiers. Greensboro even served as a temporary state capital in April 1865 after Union forces swept through Raleigh, forcing the Confederates out.
Following Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Ulysses S. Grant, investors began to restore textile mills and other industries around the area. The Cone brothers took an interest in Greensboro in the 1890s and decided to establish large plants there. Within a decade, the village boomed so much that it turned from a village to a city. By 1900, it was considered the center of the Southern textile industry as many items, including overalls, denim, and flannel, were made there. This led the way to the city’s well-known twentieth-century Civic Architecture.
By the 1960s, Greensboro was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, it was a center for nonviolent protests, some of which were led by Jesse Jackson. Greensboro was the first city in the Southeast to desegregate a public school in the 1950s. This was not a widespread occurrence until 1971.
Today, the city is still home to many manufacturing companies, such as Honda Aircraft Company, Lorillard Tobacco, and VF Corporation. While it’s not the manufacturing city it used to be, it is still also an important transportation hub for companies like FedEx.