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== History == [[File:PhC 25 134.jpg|thumb|left|1919 view of Main Street]] The area in [[Richmond County, North Carolina|Richmond County]] which presently includes Hamlet was originally known as Sandhills.{{sfn|Huneycutt|Huneycutt|1976|p=185}} The Wilmington, Charlotte & Rutherford Railroad was extended through the area in 1866.{{sfn|Huneycutt|Huneycutt|1976|p=200}} The first house was constructed there in 1869. In 1872 the land was purchased by John Shortridge, an English immigrant who intended on building a textile mill along a creek. He renamed the locale Hamlet the following year, supposedly in homage to [[Hamlet (place)|hamlets]] in the [[British Isles]]. He planted a sycamore tree to celebrate the occasion, which stood until 1946.{{sfn|Huneycutt|Huneycutt|1976|pp=185–186}}<ref name= cityhistory>{{cite web| url = https://www.hamletnc.us/cityhistory.html| title = History of Hamlet| date = 2018| publisher = City of Hamlet| access-date = March 8, 2022}}</ref> A post office was established in 1876,{{sfn|Huneycutt|Huneycutt|1976|p=186}} and that year Shortridge sold a parcel of land to [[Raleigh and Augusta Air Line Railroad]], which completed its own line through Hamlet by the following year. Railway shops were built in 1894{{sfn|Huneycutt|Huneycutt|1976|p=188}} and the town was formally incorporated on February 9, 1897.{{sfn|Huneycutt|Huneycutt|1976|p=186}} [[Seaboard Air Line Railroad]] decided to establish its regional headquarters there, and Hamlet rapidly grew thereafter. By 1910, the locale hosted two [[five and dime]]s, five [[dry goods]] stores, and a [[Coca-Cola]] bottling plant. From a population of 639 in 1900, the town grew to encompass more than 4,000 residents in 1930.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=18}} The Hamlet Hospital—the first such facility in the county—was opened in 1915, and by 1940 it had expanded to a new facility and was the largest in the region.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=26}}{{sfn|Huneycutt|Huneycutt|1976|p=192}} Hamlet's early growth was sustained by Seaboard, which heavily invested in facilities within the town. By the end of [[World War I]], 30 trains passed through Hamlet daily, and the corporation decided to construct a maintenance shop, a [[Railway roundhouse|roundhouse]], and a shipping yard. After [[World War II]], an $11 million [[classification yard]], the first one in the [[Southeastern United States]], was established{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=18}} about one mile north of town, opening in 1954.<ref>{{cite news| title = Classification Freight Yard of Seaboard Opens| newspaper = The Pilot| page = 24| date = December 3, 1954| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073968/1954-12-03/ed-1/seq-24/}}</ref> The Seaboard Line carried mostly freight traffic, but also brought tourists through Hamlet on the ''[[Orange Blossom Special (train)|Orange Blossom Special]]'', the ''Boll Weevil'', and the ''[[Silver Meteor]]''.{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=18–19}} Before [[sleeping car]]s became predominant, many rail passengers would stop in Hamlet and board at the Terminal Hotel or Seaboard Hotel. They provided traffic to the businesses on Main Street, which included several banks, a jewelry store, shoe shop, drug store, hardware store, [[opera house]], and a bowling alley. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries Hamlet was visited by prominent persons including [[Booker T. Washington]], [[William Jennings Bryan]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], [[Buffalo Bill]], [[Jenny Lind]], and [[Enrico Caruso]].{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=25–26}} Seaboard provided thousands of mostly white men with well-paying, secure employment as conductors, engineers, and brakemen.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=19}} Workers received sick pay, pension plans, and wages negotiated by national unions.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=19}} As a result, Hamlet developed a large [[middle class]], unlike the nearby city of [[Rockingham, North Carolina|Rockingham]], which was home to many poorer [[textile mill]] workers.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=20}} Hamlet's economic situation came under strain beginning in the 1960s, as the railroad faced increasing competition from growing road networks, [[trucking]], and air travel. Seaboard acquired smaller competitors and consolidated its operations, moving workers out of Hamlet. It also froze wages, terminated some positions, and reduced passenger services, diminishing the number of outside visitors to the town. Seaboard became [[CSX Transportation]] in 1986.{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=26–27}} A [[K-Mart]] and [[Walmart]] were built in Rockingham in the 1970s, providing that municipality with tax revenue and pulling Hamlet's customers away from their own town. Seaboard laid off hundreds of workers while more national business chains with cheaper prices moved into the region, driving down wages and further reducing the viability of Hamlet's traditional businesses along Main Street.{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=28–29}} Coca-Cola closed its bottling plant in 1973.<ref name= Ruffin>{{cite news| last = Ruffin| first = Jane| title = Tragedy in Hamlet : End of the Line : Dreams of Better Days| newspaper = The News & Observer| pages = 1A, 6A–8A| edition = final| date = December 9, 1991| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115037681/end-of-the-line-tragedy-in-hamlet/}}</ref> Racially-charged riots broke out in June 1975 after a Hamlet police officer discharged his gun during an altercation with a black woman.{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=29–30}} By the late 1980s and early 1990s, many businesses along Main Street and Hamlet Avenue were vacant, and the Terminal Hotel had become a [[flophouse]]. Seaboard's facilities employed less than 600 people, and the [[Hamlet station|Hamlet Depot]] was only serviced by [[Amtrak]] passenger trains twice a day and visited occasionally by [[railfan]]s.{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=31–32}} National declines in manufacturing, including textiles, also had a wider stagnating effect on Richmond County.{{sfn|Simon|2020|pp=32–33}} [[File:Hamlet nc depot.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Hamlet station|Hamlet Depot]] in 1987, prior to its renovation; at this time the station experienced little traffic]] Between 1980 and 1990, Hamlet [[Municipal annexation|annexed]] several hundred acres of surrounding territory and gained 1,200 new residents.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=192}} In 1982 [[Richmond Community College]] sponsored the creation of the Seaboard Festival,<ref name= seaboardfest>{{cite web| url = https://www.hamletnc.us/seaboard.html| title = Seaboard Festival| date = 2018| publisher = City of Hamlet| access-date = February 24, 2022}}</ref> a community gathering including local vendors, running events, and music, designed to celebrate Hamlet's historical connections to the railroad.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=31}} A civic board was chartered to put on the event annually.<ref name= seaboardfest/> In 1990 portions of the film ''[[Billy Bathgate (film)|Billy Bathgate]]'' were filmed on Main Street, and in June the city was bestowed with the [[All-America City Award]] by the [[National Civic League]], which praised the city's library expansion, efforts to preserve the hospital, and the hosting of the Seaboard Festival.{{sfn|Simon|2020|p=31}}<ref>{{cite news| last = Schlosser| first = Jim| title = Mayor Guides City Through Tragedy| newspaper = News & Record| date = September 14, 1991| url = https://greensboro.com/mayor-guides-city-through-tragedy/article_088e2ecd-7c82-578e-850a-445d2a275e40.html| access-date = March 9, 2022}}</ref> On September 3, 1991, [[Hamlet chicken processing plant fire|an industrial fire]] destroyed the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet. Many exits at the plant were locked in violation of fire codes. The fire injured 54 and killed 25 (24 workers and 1 visiting delivery driver). Emmett J. Roe, the plant owner, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the [[involuntary manslaughter]].<ref>{{cite web| last = Mims| first = Bryan| title = '30 years in anguish.' Survivor reflects on horrors of Hamlet industrial plant fire| website = WRAL-TV|publisher=Capitol Broadcasting Company| date = September 3, 2021| url = https://www.wral.com/30-years-in-anguish-survivor-reflects-on-horrors-of-hamlet-industrial-plant-fire/19857356/| access-date = May 6, 2022}}</ref> State authorities imposed a record fine upon the company for the violations and the incident brought negative national attention to the town. The town spent a total of $13 million to clean up plant site and on related efforts aimed at economic revitalization which attempted to highlight Hamlet's historic connections to the railroad industry with particular efforts focused on renovating the Hamlet Depot.<ref name= quillen>{{cite news| last = Quillen| first = Martha| title = Hamlet fire defines and divides a town| newspaper = The News & Observer| date = September 4, 2011|url=https://www.newsobserver.com/2011/09/04/1459661/hamlet-fire-defines-and-divides.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130715154824/www.newsobserver.com/2011/09/04/1459661/hamlet-fire-defines-and-divides.html|archive-date=July 15, 2013|access-date=March 26, 2022}}</ref>
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