Editing Parmele, North Carolina (section)

==History==
The town was settled in 1890 when the [[Wilmington and Weldon Railroad]] was built through the area to provide transportation from nearby [[lumber mill]]s. It was named for local lumber mill owner E. A. Parmele. Following the construction of the [[Albemarle and Raleigh Railroad]] the population rapidly grew, and the community was incorporated as a town in 1893 by the [[North Carolina General Assembly]]. A fire burned through much of the town on April 1, 1904, destroying many businesses and leading to the decline of nearby lumber mills. In 1909, William C. Chance founded the Higgs Industrial School for [[African Americans]] (also known as the Parmele Industrial Institute) which at its peak occupied a six-building campus and merged with the town's public school. The school was closed following a fire at its main building in 1954.<ref name=ECU>{{cite web |url=https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/ncpi/view/22970 |title=A History of the Town of Parmele |author=Kammerer, Roger |newspaper=Greenville Times |date=November–December 1994 |via=[[East Carolina University]] |publisher=North Carolina Publications Index |accessdate=October 27, 2017}}</ref><ref name=MCCOC>{{cite web |url=http://www.martincountync.com/parmele.html |title=Parmele |website=Towns of Martin County, NC |publisher=Martin County Chamber of Commerce |accessdate=October 27, 2017}}</ref>