Gibsonville, North Carolina
One-Place Study

Date: 1871
Location: Gibsonville, Alamance and Guilford Counties, North Carolina, United States
Surnames/tags: One_Place_Studies North_Carolina United_States

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Gibsonville, North Carolina One Place Study

• Official Website
• Gibsonville Museum and Historical Society, Inc.
• Wikidata: Item Q525407, en:Wikipedia
• WikiTree Profiles that link here
• Gibsonville Profiles on WikiTree

Name

Gibsonville is named after Joseph Gibson (1785-1857). He requested that the community name the newly incorporated town after him since he had no children.

Gibsonville has been known as the "City of Roses" since at least 1920 when train passengers could see the large number of rose bushes along the railroad tracks at the Minneola Mill.

Geography

Continent: North America

Country: United States of America

State/Province: North Carolina

County: Guilford and Alamance Counties

GPS Coordinates: 36.1025, -79.539167

Elevation: 218.0 m or 715.2 feet

History

Before 1851, no official town of Gibsonville existed, only a few buildings supporting local farmers and some gold seekers.

Joseph Gibson (1785-1857), whose father established farming and gold mining operations there as early as 1775, was a local farmer who provided grading services in 1851 for the newly formed North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) Company. Shortly afterwards Gibsonville began to emerge as a commerce center.

The first train arrived on October 9, 1855, and the depot was named Gibson Station in his honor. On February 18, 1871, the state legislature issued a charter officially establishing the Town of Gibsonville.

Gold mining played a minor role here when deposits were discovered on Gibson Hill (or Gold Hill) south of town in the early 1800s. In 1888, the Chifar Consolidated Gold Mine Company began crushing ore at a mine a half mile south of the depot in Gibsonville.

The town cemetery is located in that area, but no graves have yielded gold. Captain Billy Gilmer owned one of the first stores in town built before 1860, supplying farmers and miners. His wooden general store was at the corner of Main Street and Piedmont Street where Reno's Pizza is now. Several wooden saloons were also located downtown during the frenzied gold mining days, making Gibsonville a rough and ready town with few restrictions.

Minneola Cotton Mill - The Depot Greens served as a holding area for livestock and agricultural goods being shipped out on the railroad, which was the primary economic purpose of Gibsonville. In 1886, a local self-taught entrepreneurial mill builder, Berry Davidson, constructed the steam powered Minneola textile mill on Railroad Avenue. Subsequently, he built the Hiawatha textile mill on Eugene Street in 1893. Together, these mills transformed Gibsonville from an agricultural shipping station into a vibrant small town with an industrial base.

In 1894, Dr. Jordan built the first two-story brick building downtown on the corner of Main Street and Lewis Street, where Wade's Jewelry is situated now. The remainder of the brick buildings facing the Greens were built between 1905 and 1920. The early 1920s were a boom time for Gibsonville when Main Street was paved, water and sewer lines installed, and street lights erected. The wooden buildings were replaced with brick structures standing today.

Prior to 1912, the Gibsonville Development Company was founded by leading citizens A. B. Owens, J.W. Burke, and D. M. Davidson (son of Berry Davidson), plus P.L. Kivett later. These civic leaders were responsible for creating the town's telephone exchange, Bank, lumber yard, the Gibsonville Hosiery Mill on Apple Street, multiple, plus several houses. They also expanded the Rock Creek Jersey Dairy into the largest dairy in the state.

The town's population grew slowly from 111 residents in 1890 to 8,920 in 2020. Most of the rapid growth occurred after 1970 when the town's population was 2,024 residents.

When the mills closed in the 1980s the town slowly transformed itself into a commuter residential community for the Burlington and Greensboro metro area.^[1]

Population^[2]

The Census for Gibsonville was split between Alamance and Guilford Counties. Beginning in 1870, Gibsonville was in the Boone Station Township of Alamance County and the Rock Creek Township in Guilford County.

2020 Census: 8,971

2010 Census: 6,410

2000 Census: 4,372

1990 Census: 3,441

1980 Census: 2,865

1970 Census: 2,019

1960 Census: 1,784

1950 Census: 1,866

1940 Census: 1,753

1930 Census: 1,605

1920 Census: 1,302

1910 Census: 1,162

1900 Census: 512

1880 Census: 111

Notables

• Terrence_Holt - NFL player for Lions, Cardinals, Panthers, and Saints
• Torry_Holt - NFL player for Rams and Jaquars
• Deborah_Yow - N.C. State athletic director
• Kay Yow - N.C. State Women's basketball coach

Research Resources

• North Carolina DOT Historical Aerial Imagery

Project Task List

• Add people from Census records into Wikitree
• Research and add Gibsonville Development Company to Wikitree
• Research Rock Creek Dairy Sales Company Inc. - source: Greensboro (Guilford County, N.C.) city directory, 1930.
• Research Whitesell's Oil Company
• Find locations of Whitesell's Variety Store

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia article on Gibsonville.
2. ↑ United States Census Bureau