Editing Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[File:Fuquay-Varina Ballentine Spence House.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Ballentine Spence House]]
[[French people|Frenchman]] William Fuquay first settled in the small farming town of Sippihaw, named for the original [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribe that inhabited the area. Although there is no history of a tribe called Sippihaw, there are historical accounts in the area of a tribe called Susippihaw. Around 1858, while plowing the fields of the family tobacco farm, Stephen Fuquay, son of William, discovered a [[Spring (hydrosphere)|spring]]. Originally the spring was used solely for drinking water. Stephen soon came to the conclusion that the [[mineral water]] flowing from the springs had healing properties.  As word spread, locals began to help the springs establish this reputation, which brought residents from neighboring communities and counties to its waters. The springs were eventually walled in to better serve the tourists coming to the area by road or rail. In 1860, Fuquay sold the springs to a group of local investors who formed the Chalybeate Springs Company to market the attraction and its waters.

At that time another Sippihaw resident, J. D. "Squire" Ballentine, was returning home from the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Ballentine had been the town's schoolmaster before going off to fight for the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]]. During his tour of duty, he had received letters from one of many southern ladies who wrote to the troops to improve their morale. Originally signing her name "Varina", perhaps an homage to the [[Varina Davis|wife of Jefferson Davis]], Virginia Avery would later meet and fall in love with Ballentine. He continued to call her Varina throughout their life together. When he became the first postmaster at the new post office in town in 1880, he named it "Varina" in her honor. A community grew just south of the springs, near the post office and the couple's Varina Mercantile Company [[Mercantile Stores Company, Inc.|general store]]. In time, it adopted the same name. Ballentine's business success allowed him to construct the Ballentine Spence House in 1910, the first house to have plumbing and electricity in the area. This house, a local historic landmark, still stands today.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fuquay-varina.org/planning/downloads/Ch1_History_and_Background.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819141039/http://www.fuquay-varina.org/planning/downloads/Ch1_History_and_Background.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Archived copy|archive-date=August 19, 2006|access-date=November 8, 2023}}</ref>

===Growth around the start of the 20th century===
[[File:Ben Wiley.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Ben Wiley Hotel]]
The Fuquay Mineral Spring's popularity grew in the 1890s and around the start of the 20th century as local businessman John Mills developed the idea to offer "Moonlight Excursions" to the springs. He fitted flat [[Railroad car|rail cars]] with seats and offered nighttime train trips to southern Wake County from Raleigh. As more guests came to the springs to "take the waters", a group of small hotels sprung up in town, along with restaurants, [[barbecue]] stands, and a dance pavilion with a [[player piano]]. The town became a tourist destination and was the site of special celebrations on [[Independence Day (United States)|Fourths of July]] and [[Easter]] Mondays. During these events, residents of Raleigh would take the train down to watch the accompanying baseball games and participate in the dances and celebrations. Hotels like the [[Ben-Wiley Hotel|Ben Wiley Hotel]] (now called the Fuquay Mineral Spring Inn & Garden) catered to the out-of-towners and became as much a center of town life as the springs. In 1902, Sippihaw was renamed "Fuquay Springs" in honor of its founding family and was officially incorporated in 1909.

When it was incorporated, the new Fuquay Springs town limits included the core of the neighboring town of Varina, consisting of its business district and the rail junction of the [[Durham and Southern Railway|Cape Fear and Northern Railway]] and the [[Norfolk Southern Railway (1942–1982)|Norfolk Southern Railway]]. But Varina reestablished itself the following year when the Varina Union Station was erected and a new post office was created, spurred by the lobbying of Ballentine. Four years later, the Bank of Varina was established, competing directly with the Bank of Fuquay (now Fidelity Bank). Several warehouses for the growing [[tobacco]] business were built in town over the next few years, capitalizing on the railroad connections. Another supply store and a knitting factory followed. As Varina came into its own as a hub for area agriculture, the Fuquay Springs Corporation was formed and began bottling and selling mineral water from the springs commercially. Area businesses continued to develop and, in 1927, [[U.S. Route 401]] was paved through town, shortening travel times to Raleigh and nearby communities.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

===Unification and the present===
[[File:Dr Wiley S Cozart House.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Dr. Wiley S. Cozart House]]
By this time, Fuquay Springs and Varina had become major trading hubs for southern Wake County as well as neighboring [[Harnett County, North Carolina|Harnett]] and [[Johnston County, North Carolina|Johnston]] counties. Yet improvements to automobiles and area roads caused a decline in tourism at the springs. Rather than visiting the springs, residents in the region chose to visit the coast as travel times decreased. During this time, however, the tobacco industry continued to drive the area economy, with five warehouses, a cotton buyer, and fifteen stores established by the end of the 1920s. The shared emphasis on agricultural and industrial growth brought the towns to a shared vision, and as their residents worked, played, and attended church together, the towns merged into Fuquay-Varina in 1963.

[[File:Fuquay Varina Downtown.jpg|thumb|Historic Downtown District In Fuquay-Varina]]

While development in the area today includes numerous residential communities and commercial sites along the major roadways into town, many of the older structures from its past remain within the town limits. The [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]], Craftsman, and [[American colonial architecture|Colonial Revival]] homes constructed in the late 19th century and early 20th century are contributing structures to the [[Fuquay Springs Historic District]], while the downtown shops and businesses are part of the [[Varina Commercial Historic District]]. Area landmarks located in these districts include the [[Ben-Wiley Hotel]], the Ballentine-Spence House, and the Dr. Wiley S. Cozart House, built across the street from the springs by the original owner and proprietor of the Ben Wiley. The springs are now contained in a small park developed on the site in 1945 which was handed over to the town in 1998 to maintain as a historic park.  Lexie McLean owned and operated McLean's Grocery on Academy Street for many years. McLean was a community leader and considered a major factor in the growth and development of the Fuquay-Varina area. Edward N. Farnell was the principal of the Fuquay Spring High School from 1952 through 1967. Farnell was an important community leader and educator; many of his students went on to become community and state leaders.

From 1970 to 2000, the population more than doubled, growing from 3,576 residents to 7,898. The population more than doubled again between 2000 and 2010, growing to 17,937 at the 2010 census.<ref name="Census 2010"/> According to the [[North Carolina State University|NC State]] Data Center, Fuquay-Varina grew 23% from 2000 to 2003, making it the 26th fastest growing community in the state and the 11th fastest for those with populations over 5,000.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

Fuquay-Varina is also the former hometown of Internet personalities [[Rhett and Link|Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal]], who moved their studio there in 2010, as well as Link who until then lived in [[Apex, North Carolina]].

In addition to the Ben-Wiley Hotel, Fuquay Springs Historic District, and Varina Commercial Historic District, the [[Fuquay Mineral Spring]], [[Fuquay Springs High School]], [[Fuquay Springs Teacherage]], [[Fuquay-Varina Woman's Club Clubhouse]], [[J. Beale Johnson House]], [[Kemp B. Johnson House]], [[Jones-Johnson-Ballentine Historic District]], and [[Wayland H. and Mamie Burt Stevens House]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref><ref name="nps">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/listings/20141219.htm|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=December 19, 2014|work=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 12/08/14 through 12/12/14 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>