Editing Rocky Mount, North Carolina (section)

==History==
===Beginnings===
The region around the [[Tar River]] was continuously inhabited by various cultures of [[indigenous people]] for 12,000 years. It had long been home to the historic [[Tuscarora people]], who spoke an [[Iroquoian language]].<ref name="Land">{{cite web |last=Coscolluela|first= Nicole|title=Landscape and Environment|url=https://rockymountmill.prospect.unc.edu/mill-history/narrative/geography-and-landscape/|website=Digital Rocky Mount Mills|publisher=UNC-Chapel Hill Community Histories Workshop|access-date=March 27, 2019}}</ref> After English colonists and indigenous allies waged the [[Tuscarora War]] in the early 1700s; most survivors migrated to the North. The main party of the Tuscarora settled by 1722 with other Iroquoian peoples of the [[Haudenosaunee|Five Nations]], south of the [[Great Lakes]] in what became central and western New York. They became the Sixth Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy.

More English speakers began to settle the area along the [[Tar River]].<ref name=nativeAmerican>{{cite web|last=Coscolluela|first= Nicole|title=Native American Connections|url=https://rockymountmill.prospect.unc.edu/mill-history/narrative/native-american-history-and-archaeology/|website=Digital Rocky Mount Mills|publisher=UNC-Chapel Hill Community Histories Workshop|access-date=March 27, 2019}}</ref> They settled along the [[fall line]] between the [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] and coastal plain, below which the rivers were navigable to the coast. The difference in height meant that the downstream waters could power  [[gristmill|mill]]s.<ref name="Land"/>

The Falls of the Tar River Primitive Baptist Church was established in 1757.<ref name ="Fleming">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5WZcyJNNV1gC |last=Fleming |first=Monika |title=Rocky Mount and Nash County |year=1998 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780752412139}}</ref> As the church was the center of community life, its records were the first civil and vital records of the developing village. Its congregation effectively administered law enforcement, with officers issuing citations for crimes.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dune |first=Sierra |title=Lying About the Age of a Horse: The Primitive Baptist Church on The Falls of the Tar River Records |url=http://communityhistories.org/uncategorized/lying-about-the-age-of-a-horse-the-primitive-baptist-church-on-the-falls-of-the-tar-river-records-rocky-mount-nc|website=Digital Rocky Mount Mills|publisher=UNC-Chapel Hill Community Histories Workshop|access-date=March 27, 2019}}</ref>

===19th century===
A post office was established at the falls of the Tar River on March 22, 1816. At this point, the name "Rocky Mount" officially appears in documented history, referring to the rocky mound at the falls of the Tar River. [[Rocky Mount Mills]], the second [[cotton mill]] in the state of North Carolina, was built there soon after in 1818.<ref name="About Rocky Mount"/> Its proprietors were two entrepreneurs and Joel Battle, grandson of an original colonial settler here. Battle bought out the other proprietors before turning over the enterprise to his cousin James Smith Battle. Until the 1850s, the mill operated with the labor of [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved African Americans]]. They also comprised most of the labor on the cotton plantations.

Beginning then, the mill owners hired exclusively white women and girls as mill workers for the rest of the century.<ref name="Fleming2">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cOWO-ahOKlwC |last=Fleming |first=Monika |title=Legendary Locals of Edgecombe and Nash Counties |year=2013 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9781467100441}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Gaddis|first=Elijah|title=Early Mill History|url=https://rockymountmill.prospect.unc.edu/mill-history/narrative/early-mill-history/|website=Digital Rocky Mount Mills|publisher=UNC-Chapel Hill Community Histories Workshop|access-date=March 27, 2019}}</ref>

The Battle family was also involved in the construction of the longest continuous railroad in the world up to that time, the [[Wilmington and Weldon Railroad]], which ran about {{convert|2|mi|0|spell=in}} east of the mill.<ref name="Fleming2"/> It connected the area to major ports in [[Virginia]] to the north and the port of [[Wilmington, North Carolina]] to the south. The tracks first reached Rocky Mount on [[Christmas Eve]] in 1839. In 1840, a train of cars en route to Wilmington stopped in Rocky Mount to import some "Old Nash" for special toasts at opening festivities. The fame of Nash County [[apple brandy]] spread from there.

The railroad stimulated development of the town. In 1871, the county line was moved from the Tar River to its present location in the center of the tracks.<ref name="About Rocky Mount"/> The [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]]-[[Tarboro, North Carolina|Tarboro]] stage route also passed just south of Rocky Mount (roughly where [[Interstate 95|I-95]] and [[US 64|U.S. 64]] run today), and for a time was the logical debarking point for railroad travelers wishing to proceed east or west.<ref name="About Rocky Mount"/>

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the surrounding region was raided in 1863 by [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] troops under the command of Brigadier General [[Edward E. Potter]]. They burned down the mill, which supplied [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] yarn and cloth. After the war ended, the owners rebuilt the mill.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kelley|first=Lucas|title=The Civil War|url=https://rockymountmill.prospect.unc.edu/mill-history/narrative/the-civil-war/|website=Digital Rocky Mount Mills|publisher=UNC-Chapel Hill Community Histories Workshop|access-date=March 27, 2019}}</ref> On February 19, 1867, [[Rocky Mount Mills Village Historic District|the village]] outside the mill, which was largely devoted to worker housing, was incorporated as a town.<ref name="About Rocky Mount"/>

In the latter half of the 19th century, the [[tobacco industry]] became established in the state. Adjacent to the sandy [[Geography of North Carolina#Coastal Plain|coastal plain]], Rocky Mount was well situated to take advantage of the rapidly rising demand for brightleaf [[tobacco]] that grew best in the sandy soil.<ref name="Biles">{{cite journal |last=Biles |first=Roger |title=Tobacco Towns: Urban Growth and Economic Development in Eastern North Carolina |journal=The North Carolina Historical Review |volume=84 |issue = 2|edition= 2nd |date=April 2007 |pages=156–190|jstor = 23522906|publisher = North Carolina Office of Archives and History}}</ref> Tobacco also shaped the city's social life. Warehouses where tobacco was stored and marketed began hosting balls for the community in the 1880s; these became known as "june germans" for the time of year and style of dance. June Germans eventually transformed into all-night dance parties and attracted musicians and socialites from miles around well into the 1900s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Tomlin |first=Jimmy |date=2014 |title=Dance Till Dawn |url=https://www.ourstate.com/june-german/ |work=Our State}}</ref> By the end of the 19th century, tobacco had surpassed [[King Cotton]] as the town's primary agricultural product.<ref name="Biles"/>

===20th century===
[[File:RMNCPanoramicMap1907.jpg|thumb|right|Rocky Mount in 1907]]
[[File:1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - North Carolina (NC) - Nash County - Rocky Mount - ED 64-42 to 61 - NARA - 22117974.jpg|thumb|right|A map of Rocky Mount in 1950]]
At the turn of the 20th century, Rocky Mount became the northern headquarters of the [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad]], which located its major repair shops and yard facilities in the town. With it came an influx of railroad workers.<ref name="Fleming"/> In 1900, Rocky Mount's population was around 3,000.

On February 28, 1907, with a population around 7,500, Rocky Mount was officially incorporated as a city. A main railroad line, a well-established cotton mill, and productive farmland for brightleaf tobacco were major contributors to the area's growth and prosperity over the next decades.<ref name="About Rocky Mount">{{cite web |title=Information - City of Rocky Mount |url=https://www.rockymountnc.gov/government/information |website=City of Rocky Mount |access-date=November 17, 2016}}</ref> A vibrant [[central business district]] arose.<ref name="Cent0">{{cite news |last=Eckard |first=J. Eric|title=1910 - 1934: Headlines have a familiar ring |newspaper=[[Rocky Mount Telegram]] |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1910-1934-headlines-have-familiar-ring-968515 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215174648/http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1910-1934-headlines-have-familiar-ring-968515 |date=February 28, 2012 |archive-date=February 15, 2016}}</ref>

As in the rest of the [[American South|South]], North Carolina had imposed legal [[racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], including restrictions and discrimination in housing. White suburbs developed largely on the west side of town, such as [[Villa Place Historic District|Villa Place]] and [[West Haven Historic District|West Haven]]. Black neighborhoods, such as Crosstown and Around the "Y", where jazz musician [[Thelonious Monk]] was born,<ref name="Kelley">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9W9qQG04tEC |last=Kelley |first=Robin |title=Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original |publisher=Simon and Schuster |date=2009 |isbn=9781439190494}}</ref> were concentrated on the east side of town.

Several notable [[Civil Rights Movement|Civil Rights]] events occurred in Rocky Mount. In 1946, [[African American|African-American]] tobacco warehouse workers voted to organize in Rocky Mount as part of a broader nationwide movement known as [[Operation Dixie]]. It included voter registration to fight against the [[disenfranchisement]] of blacks and to take other political action against segregation.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5MOtXyGrG7IC |last=Korstad |first=Robert |title=Civil Rights Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for Democracy in the Mid-twentieth-century South |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780807854549}}</ref> On November 27, 1962, [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] gave a speech at Booker T. Washington High School; he used his refrain "[[I have a dream]]" a year before his better known delivery at the [[March on Washington]], which became famous.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article30736836.html|last=Shaffer |first=Josh |title=Martin Luther King's Rocky Mount dream speech rings out again |newspaper=News & Observer |date=August 11, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://kingsfirstdream.com/ |title=Home - King's First Dream |website=King's First Dream |access-date=March 27, 2019}}</ref> 

[[Memphis sanitation strike|Sanitation workers went on strike]] in 1978 when government sanitation workers protested their black co-worker being wrongfully arrested. He was acquitted in court on the charges. In 2018 the city council officially apologized to him for the case.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2018/10/09/City-Council-apologizes-for-historic-strike.html |last=Kay |first=Lindell John |title=Council apologizes for historic strike |date=October 9, 2018 |newspaper=Rocky Mount Telegram}}</ref>

[[File:DTRockyMount 19622.jpg|thumb|right|Downtown Rocky Mount, 1962]] 
After [[WWII]], the city continued to grow. In the 1950s and 1960s the city's economy diversified to include banking, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and the headquarters of a fast food chain known as [[Hardee's]].<ref name="Cent1">{{cite news |last=Henderson |first=John |title=1935 - 1959: Bustling times in post-War era |newspaper=[[Rocky Mount Telegram]] |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1935-1959-bustling-times-post-war-era-968479 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709232752/http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1935-1959-bustling-times-post-war-era-968479 |date=February 28, 2012 |archive-date=July 9, 2015 |access-date=April 10, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

New higher education facilities were founded, including [[North Carolina Wesleyan College]] in 1956 and [[Nash Community College]] and [[Edgecombe Community College]] in 1968. In 1970, Rocky Mount received an [[All-America City Award]]. In the 1970s the city's hospitals were consolidated under [[Nash UNC Health Care|Nash General Hospital]]. That was also the period of completion of [[Rocky Mount–Wilson Regional Airport]].<ref name="Cent2">{{cite news |last=Cooper |first=Geoffrey|title=1960 - 1984: Tobacco, textiles fuel economy |newspaper=[[Rocky Mount Telegram]] |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1960-1984-tobacco-textiles-fuel-economy-968417 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901164614/http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1960-1984-tobacco-textiles-fuel-economy-968417 |date=February 28, 2012 |archive-date=September 1, 2014}}</ref><ref name="About Rocky Mount"/>

From the 1980s, the inner city suffered [[urban decay]], as businesses had moved out to suburban highway locations. Rocky Mount's downtown deteriorated as new neighborhoods and shopping malls were built, such as [[Golden East Crossing]]. The city expanded its boundaries by annexation; for instance, in 1996, annexing the town of [[Battleboro, North Carolina|Battleboro]] to the north of the city.<ref name="Cent3">{{cite news |last=Handgraaf |first=Brie |title=1985 - 2010: New dynamics drive change |newspaper=[[Rocky Mount Telegram]] |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1985-2010-new-dynamics-drive-change-968363 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901173122/http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1985-2010-new-dynamics-drive-change-968363 |date=February 28, 2012 |archive-date=September 1, 2014}}</ref><ref name="ANNEX">[http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/1995/Bills/House/PDF/H1177v1.pdf North Carolina General Assembly, Battleboro/Rocky Mount merger, House Bill 1177, 1995 Session], Retrieved Aug. 16, 2017.</ref> In 1999, the city won its second All-America City Award.<ref name="NCL">{{cite web|title=Previous Winners|url=http://www.nationalcivicleague.org/previous-all-america-city-winners/|website=[[National Civic League]]|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref>

In the fall of 1999 two hurricanes made landfall in [[eastern North Carolina]]. Both passed over Rocky Mount: [[Hurricane Dennis]] as a tropical storm in August with {{convert|20|in|mm}} of rain and [[Hurricane Floyd]] in September with nearly {{convert|17|in|mm}} of rain. Floyd is especially memorable because most localized flooding happened quickly overnight. Many residents were not aware of the flooding until the water came into their homes, and many required rescue. The hurricane resulted in the worst flooding in history of the Tar River, which had become saturated in August. It exceeded 500-year flood levels along its lower stretches, and many homes and businesses were destroyed.<ref name="Cent3"/><ref>{{cite book |author=Friends of [[Braswell Memorial Library|Braswell Library]] |title=Flooded: Reflections of Hurricane Floyd |year=2004 |publisher=Chapel Hill Press |isbn=9781880849989}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bales |first=Jerad D. |url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri004093/summary.html |title=USGS: 1999 North Carolina Flooding: Summary |publisher=Pubs.usgs.gov |access-date=2010-12-09}}</ref>

===21st century===
During the first decades of the 21st century, the city has encouraged efforts to revitalize the historic downtown. It has supported projects to renovate buildings such as the [[Rocky Mount station|train station]] and Douglas Block, or repurpose them, such as the [[Imperial Centre for Arts and Sciences]].<ref name="APA">{{cite web |url=https://apa-nc.org/great-places-2016-winners/ |title=Professional's Category: Great Main Street In-the-Making - Rocky Mount |website=[[American Planning Association]]-North Carolina Chapter |access-date=April 15, 2019}}</ref>

In 2007, [[Capitol Broadcasting Company]] bought Rocky Mount Mills. It is adapting it as a mixed-use campus of [[brewery|breweries]], restaurants, residential lofts, and event space.<ref name="ULI">{{cite news |last=Abrams |first=Amanda |title=Revitalizing a Historic Mill Town in North Carolina |date=June 18, 2018 |publisher=[[Urban Land]] |url=https://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/revitalizing-historic-mill-town-breweries-tiny-homes-new-office-space-north-carolina/ |access-date=April 15, 2019}}</ref> Major new community projects include the {{convert|143|acre|adj=on}} [[Rocky Mount Sports Complex|sports complex]] and {{convert|165,000|sqft|adj=on}} downtown [[Rocky Mount Event Center|event center]].<ref name="Cent3"/> In 2019, [[CSX]], the successor company of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, broke ground on a new [[intermodal freight transport|intermodal]] cargo terminal that is expected to stimulate the local economy in the next decade.<ref name="CSX">{{cite news |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2019/03/16/CSX-to-break-ground-for-rail-hub-in-April.html |last=West |first=William F. |title=CSX to break ground for rail hub in April |date=March 16, 2019 |newspaper=Rocky Mount Telegram}}</ref>