Editing Farmville, North Carolina (section)

==History==
Established in February 1872, the town was named Farmville because all of its undertakings and activities were farm related. Among the influential founding fathers of Farmville, James Williams May and William Gray Lang made exceptional contributions to the towns development. Mr. James Williams May was a commissioner named in the original town charter. He donated sites for churches and was a business leader willing to invest his services and resources towards the success of the town. He was the grandson of Major Benjamin May. William Gray Lang served as a commissioner on the town board for more than 10 years. He also serviced on the executive committee appointed to establish the Tobacco Market in Farmville. The town grew slowly, with the 1880 census showing 111 in Farmville and 79 in Marlborough, a nearby unincorporated settlement along the wooden Historic Plank Road. The Marlborough settlement is now inside the town limits of Farmville. The cultivation of Tobacco in Pitt County and the Farmville area began in the 1890s, which helped bring the East Carolina Railway to Farmville in 1900. Most of buildings in downtown Farmville were built shortly after due to the economic boom the railroad helped begin.  The [[Farmville Historic District (Farmville, North Carolina)|Farmville Historic District]] and [[Benjamin May-Lewis House]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>