Holly Springs, North Carolina

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Holly Springs is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2006 census, the town population was over 15,000, gaining the title of "The fastest growing town in The Carolinas".

1 Geography
2 History
3 Demographics
4 External links
5 Sources

[edit] Geography

Location of Holly Springs, North Carolina

Holly Springs is located at 35°39′16″N, 78°49′29″W (35.654583, -78.824624)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 19.4 km² (7.5 mi²), all land.

[edit] History

[edit] Native Americans

The Tuscarora Indians used the area around Holly Springs as a hunting ground prior to colonial settlement. This tribe fled North Carolina around 1720 to escape the influx of Europeans, and eventually became the sixth nation of the Iroquois.

[edit] Pre-1800

The Town of Holly Springs grew around fresh water springs, believed to be the original “holly springs,” near the intersection of what is now Avent Ferry Road and Cass Holt Road. These roads linked Raleigh to the Cape Fear River and ultimately to Fayetteville as well as linking Hillsborough to Smithfield.

[edit] Early 19th Century

By 1800, the crossroads had spawned a village, including a general store built by Richard Jones, a Baptist Church, and a Masonic Lodge. These were soon followed by a sawmill and cotton gin.

Archibald Leslie, a Scottish tailor, arrived in the community around 1817, opened a tailoring business and a store and soon began construction of a large, impressive home near the springs. This 38-room mansion, now known as the Leslie-Alford-Mims House, is located off Avent Ferry Road near Town Hall. Mr. Leslie became a prominent citizen in Holly Springs, and under his influence the village attracted many business owners and their families.

Holly Springs Baptist Church, established in 1822, was the Town's first successful church, the original Baptist Church having disbanded because "several members became indulged in things of the world and became unfaithful". The Masonic Lodge #115 was formed in 1847, and in 1854 a two-story lodge building was erected, to replace the original lodge, which was destroyed by fire. This building also served as the Town's first school. Holly Springs Academy opened its doors in 1854 to prepare young men for admission to Wake Forest College. Two years later, the first floor of the lodge was used as a school for local girls. Despite the perhaps justified allegations of mysticism and occultism lodged against the organization, the lodge was honored with an historical-site plaque in the fall of 2006.

[edit] Civil War

This period of prosperity came to an end in 1860 with the start of the Civil War. North Carolina seceded from the Union. Captain Oscar R. Rand recruited willing men of all ages to join Governor Zebulon Baird Vance's infamous 26th Infantry Regiment. On a single day, on a bloodied Gettysburg battlefield during the battle known as "Pickett's Charge," 13 of the 14 commanding officers died. A mere 81 soldiers out of a unit of 880 lived to tell the story.

With the men of the Town gone, both schools in Town closed, and Holly Springs became a virtual ghost town. When the Union Army receded northward, Holly Springs lay in its path. Bands of marauding robbers known as "bummers" raided the area farms and homesteads, taking food, supplies, silver, clothes and anything of value.

Also during the war, for a two-week period, a segment of the Union Army encamped near Town and set up headquarters in the Leslie-Alford-Mims House. It is reported that Mrs. Leslie hated the Yankees bitterly but loved her home more, so she treated them with cool civility. This may have protected the home from destruction, the fate of many other grand southern homes. Mrs. Leslie is said to have “charmed the soldiers so that they didn't burn the house down, but they did get the chickens, though.” Union soldiers reportedly stole the chandeliers from the house, as well.

The little community of Holly Springs had appeared to be on its way to becoming a bustling town. The Civil War ultimately left the community economically devastated. Some families moved away. The exodus was encouraged by construction of the Chatham Railroad through the village of Apex, giving that neighboring town a link to the outside world which Holly Springs did not have. Historian M N. Amis described Holly Springs in 1871 as "a deserted village."

[edit] Late 19th Century

But Holly Springs was to make a comeback, starting with the arrival in 1875 of George Benton Alford who moved his successful mercantile business from Middle Creek Township to Holly Springs and was instrumental in beginning an economic revival in the community. A year later he bought the Leslie house which was the centerpiece of the village. Over the years he made significant additions and improvements to the house until it became one of the largest mansions in Wake County, one of the few with its own ballroom.

Alford, a dynamic businessman and politician, started several businesses including a mercantile store, a sawmill, a cotton gin and the Holly Springs Land and Improvement Company. He got the General Assembly to grant the town a charter. And he started a newspaper, the Cape Fear Enterprise, which he used to promote the town. He also got other prominent men in the community to join him in seeking a charter of incorporation for the Cape Fear and Northern Railroad, which became the [Durham and Southern Railway]

During the post-war period, several attempts were made to revive the Holly Springs Academy, but none were successful. For a time, children were taught in private homes, until the first co-educational school serving 125 students was opened by the Masons. In 1906, the Town addressed the need for a larger and better-equipped facility to educate the children. Under the leadership of Raymond A. Burt, J. Carter and the Women's School Betterment Association, 10 acres (40,000 m²) of land were purchased near local springs (soon to be the site of the future library and cultural arts center). The first bell rang for classes in 1908.

[edit] World War I

By this point, Alford was a wealthy man. He had dreams of turning Holly Springs into an industrial city of 10,000 people. The town’s population had not increased a great deal, holding at around 300, but the business community and the schools were drawing outsiders to shop and to get for their children a good education. Holly Springs was poised a second time to boom, but a second time, the flourishing village was struck down by war. With the start of World War I the young men went off to fight and many others went away to work in war-related industry.

[edit] The Depression

In 1923 Alford died, leaving the town without an effective voice in political circles. Then came the Great Depression. The Bank of Holly Springs, established before the turn of the century, failed in 1924. Holly Springs muddled along between the two World Wars, not growing much, if any, but making do, using some PWA funds to build a school auditorium but missing out on the new federal road-building projects being carried out to provide employment.

[edit] World War II

World War II did what World War I had done, drawing more young people away from Holly Springs to war and/or to cities for jobs. At the close of the war Holly Springs was faced with a depleted population. During the early 1950’s, while most Piedmont cities were booming, Holly Springs was stagnant.

[edit] 1960-1980

During the early 1960’s, with a population stabilized at around 580, the little town installed fluorescent street lights about the same time that Highway 55 (Main Street) was widened. A general clean-up fix-up effort netted the town an award from a state appearance committee.

[edit] 1980-Present

But it was not until the town built its first sewer plant in 1987 that any real growth occurred. Development began tentatively. It was 1992 before Holly Springs, in line for the spillover from burgeoning populations in Cary and Apex, suddenly boomed. Population increased from 900 in 1992 to an estimated 6000 in 1998.

Nearing a population of 14,000 in 2004, Holly Springs continues to grow and evolve. The Town now boasts two public elementary schools and a middle school, and a public high school is scheduled to open for the 2006-2007 school year. A Wake County southwest branch library and a cultural arts facility opened in early December 2006.

In June of 2006, county commissioners approved a plan that would convert 471 acres at the corner of Main Street and N.C. Hwy 55 to process the waste of the county. The projected life of this landfill will begin receiving trash in 2008 and is expected to be in operation through 2033. In January of 2007, the county also approved the expansion of their existing landfill (Red Rock Construction and Demolition Landfill), to accommodate construction debris from eight counties to a historical 59 counties. "I don't like Holly Springs being pegged as a dump town. It's wrong," Mayor Dick Sears said.

On July 18, 2006, it was announced that the pharmaceutical giant Novartis would be building a manufacturing facility in Holly Springs employing approximately 350 to produce flu vaccines using new technologies. The manufacturing facility will go on 167 acres in Holly Springs Business Park off N.C. 55 Bypass. Construction will begin in early 2007, with the first phase scheduled for completion by late 2008. Novartis' investment would be at least $267 million and eventually could reach $600 million.

Bristol-Myers Squibb expressed interest in county-owned land along N.C. 55 Bypass at the future interchange of Interstate 540. When the company decided not to locate on the site, Wake County commissioners voted 5 to 2 to proceed with plans to build a landfill there. As time passes, some believe it seems less likely that the 540 loop will ever reach Holly Springs. This makes future landfill traffic problems potentially even more troubling.

For years, Town leaders have become increasingly confident that Holly Springs is positioned to take off, propelled by the economic engine of Research Triangle Park. At a distance of 18 miles, Holly Springs is close, but not too close, to RTP – a short trip down N.C. 55 to more affordable land and less traffic congestion.

Now with a brand new High School, Holly Springs High School (http://hollyspringshs.wcpss.net/), built off of Cass Holt Road, Holly Springs has new room for growth. New neighborhoods are to be built near the school, and a strip-mall is being built because of it. Many of the students that attend Holly Springs High School live in the super neighborhood complex of Sunset Ridge , a now thriving home subdivision that has spawned its own private water park, a restaurant, and a whole host of other small businesses. The entire area of Holly Springs has grown tremendously between the years of 2004 and 2006. The town has received a new strip mall with an Ale House style restaurant, a Mexican Restaurant, a Lowe's Foods, a Dollar Tree, and several other fast food chains including Quizno's, and a Chinese food chain. In another area of town, off a main road (Holly Springs Road), a Harris Teeter strip-mall was built with other restaurants and stores opening. A new strip mall featuring a Wal-Mart Super Center is also being constructed off Highway 55. New growth has expanded the population, and growth yet to come will enlarge it even more. Holly Springs is one of the few municipalities that provide team sports directly by the town for residents including football, baseball (served by four professional fields), basketball and recreational soccer. There is also a non-profit challenge soccer league called the Holly Springs Futbol Club. The 2006 Championship win by the UNC Women's Soccer team sports home grown talent in Ariel Harris. Holly Springs is truly one of the "fastest growing towns in North Carolina".

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 9,192 people, 3,316 households, and 2,609 families residing in the town. The population density was 473.8/km² (1,227.6/mi²). There were 3,642 housing units at an average density of 187.7/km² (486.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 77.14% White, 18.65% African American, 0.42% Native American, 1.23% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.12% from other races, and 1.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.02% of the population.

There were 3,316 households out of which 45.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.1% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.3% were non-families. 16.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the town the population was spread out with 31.3% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 45.0% from 25 to 44, 15.9% from 45 to 64, and 2.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $69,550, and the median income for a family was $74,010. Males had a median income of $52,275 versus $32,396 for females. The per capita income for the town was $28,580. About 3.3% of families and 4.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those age 65 or over.