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I suppose Gastonia doesn't quite fit into the burgeoning growth of the other towns mentioned, but you get the point.
This is true, but that will be changing soon enough now that Gaston County has joined the other immediate suburban counties in the growth game. Western Mecklenburg is the last frontier in the county to be developed and you can already see how things have been picking up over the past few years.
At one point, Durham might have been a good contender, but I definitely agree that Winston-Salem is a better choice in this day and age. You can still see tobacco warehouses in Winston and I believe they're still in use, while Durham is starting to embrace a glossier (techie) image as the Triangle keeps growing.
whose economies usually related to textiles, furniture, and tobacco and have either lost population or are seeing marginal growth at best. So Thomasville, Kinston, Hickory, etc., are legacy cities.
Besides Winston-Salem, though, most of them hardly qualify as "cities" by today's standards. (The latest OMB draft standard now says any region around a city <100K is "micropolitan" rather than "metropolitan.")
That said, there are a lot of post-industrial towns around NC that are hurting, even if the state overall is better off than those in the Rust Belt. Riding through downtown Rocky Mount on Amtrak's Silver Star is almost heartbreaking. I talked a while ago to someone from Massachusetts' Gateway Cities initiative, which could really offer some lessons to their counterparts here.
Besides Winston-Salem, though, most of them hardly qualify as "cities" by today's standards. (The latest OMB draft standard now says any region around a city <100K is "micropolitan" rather than "metropolitan.")
That said, there are a lot of post-industrial towns around NC that are hurting, even if the state overall is better off than those in the Rust Belt. Riding through downtown Rocky Mount on Amtrak's Silver Star is almost heartbreaking. I talked a while ago to someone from Massachusetts' Gateway Cities initiative, which could really offer some lessons to their counterparts here.
Right, those examples that I gave, and places like them, are not large cities but they do account for a decent share of what makes up North Carolina.
Rocky Mount has been the perfect storm of struggles, from the decline of traditional industries such as textiles that it saw during better times and even losing its HQ of Hardee's, catastrophic flooding, a location that's not close enough to either the Triangle or the coast to significantly capitalize on either, poorer socioeconomic demographics, corruption in its local government, etc.
Some promise still exists though (this is an excellent series and Rocky Mount is in Nash County):
Perhaps it could. I think this is generally true of the entire Triad area.
I agree. There are many American brands born in or associated with Greensboro and Winston-Salem due to their manufacturing history. The 1940s and 1950s were probably the golden years for these cities in regards to traditional manufacturing. The Triad was driving the state's economy during this era. The Cone family left an imprint on Greensboro and the Reynolds family left an imprint on Winston-Salem
Greensboro:
Wrangler Jeans
Lee Jeans
Vicks Vaporub
Newport Cigarettes
The Fresh Market
Winston-Salem:
Hanes Brands
Winston Cigarettes
Camel Cigarettes
Salem Cigarettes
Krispy Kreme
I remember in the 1980s, there was a perception that Greensboro had weathered the manufacturing declines of other regions relatively well. But then Ciba Geigy, Burlington Industries, Cone Mills, etc fell and people began to realize how much manufacturing had underlined the area.
Besides Winston-Salem, though, most of them hardly qualify as "cities" by today's standards. (The latest OMB draft standard now says any region around a city <100K is "micropolitan" rather than "metropolitan.")
That said, there are a lot of post-industrial towns around NC that are hurting, even if the state overall is better off than those in the Rust Belt. Riding through downtown Rocky Mount on Amtrak's Silver Star is almost heartbreaking. I talked a while ago to someone from Massachusetts' Gateway Cities initiative, which could really offer some lessons to their counterparts here.
Rocky Mount seems to be making an effort to revitalize it’s historic district. That part of the city has been in a long decline, since the 60s when the now defunct Tarrytown Mall was built. The downtown area appears to be steadily coming back to life as there are numerous coffee houses, restaurants, and small shops opening up in recent years.
The entire Triad region (Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point, Burlington) holds on to its historic image better than the other metros in the state. Durham, in its urban core, comes a close second. The areas along I-40 and north of 85 are rather “sprawly”.
Last edited by santie27; 02-19-2021 at 09:22 PM..
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