Editing Rowan County, North Carolina (section)

==History==
===16th century===
The first Europeans to enter what is now Rowan County were members of the Spanish expedition of [[Juan Pardo (explorer)|Juan Pardo]] in 1567. They established a fort and a mission in the native village of Guatari, believed to be located near the [[Yadkin River]] and inhabited by the [[Wateree people|Wateree]]. At the time, the area was ruled by a female chief whom the Spaniards called ''Guatari Mico'' (Mico was a term common among the Muskogee and Souian speaking peoples of the south to mean "chief" or "leader"). The Spaniards called the village Salamanca in honor of the city of [[Salamanca]] in western Spain, and established a mission, headed by a [[Secular clergy|secular priest]] named [[Sebastián Montero]].

This fort was one of six that Pardo's expedition established before he returned separately to Spain in 1568. Small garrisons were stationed at each fort.<ref>{{Cite web |last = Simmons |first = Geitner |title = An unknown South: Pardo story helps Rowan learn about itself |publisher = [[Salisbury Post]] |date = August 29, 1999 |url = http://www.salisburypost.com/august/082999e.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103032146/http://www.salisburypost.com/august/082999e.htm |archive-date=November 3, 2006| access-date = January 11, 2013}}</ref> They were built into the interior, including across the mountains in what is now southeastern Tennessee. In 1568, Native Americans at each fort massacred all but one soldier in the garrisons. The Spanish never returned to this interior area in other colonizing attempts, instead concentrating their efforts in [[Spanish Florida]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Today in Asheville history: Explorer arrives|url=http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/12/01/today-asheville-history-explorer-arrives/76598266/|journal=Citizen Times|date = December 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last = Simmons |first = Geitner |title = Understanding the "original Southerners" |publisher = [[Salisbury Post]] |date = August 22, 1999 |url = http://www.salisburypost.com/august/082299f.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103031011/http://www.salisburypost.com/august/082299f.htm |archive-date=November 3, 2006| access-date = January 11, 2013}}</ref>

===18th century===
English colonial settlement of North Carolina came decades later, starting in the coastal areas, where settlers migrated south from Virginia. Explorers and fur traders were the first to reach the Piedmont, paving the way for eventual settlers. Rowan County and [[Saint Luke|St. Luke]]'s Parish were established on March 27, 1753, from the upper part of Anson County, [[Province of North Carolina|North Carolina]].<ref>{{cite book |ref={{harvid|''Complete Revisal of All the Acts of Assembly'',|1773}} |date=1773 |title=A Complete Revisal of All the Acts of Assembly, of the Province of North-Carolina, Now in Force and Use.: Together With the Titles of All Such Laws as are Obsolete, Expired, or Repealed.: With Marginal Notes and References, and an Exact Table to the Whole |url=https://archive.org/details/completerevisalo1773nort |location=Newbern |publisher=James Davis |p=154 |oclc=1042380338 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> It was named for Matthew Rowan, acting governor of North Carolina from 1753 to 1754. It was intended to incorporate all of the lands of the [[Granville District]] that had previously been included in Anson County.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rumple, Jethro|title=A History of Rowan County, North Carolina|publisher=Daughters of the American Revolution, Elizabeth Maxwell Steele Chapter (Salisbury, N.C.)|year=1916|page=59}}</ref>

A house several miles west of present-day Salisbury in "the Irish settlement" served as the first courthouse starting June 15, 1753. [[Daniel Boone]]'s father Squire Boone served as one of the first [[magistrate]]s. By mid-1754 a new courthouse site was selected near "the place where the Old Waggon Road (crosses) over Grant's Creek."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.salisburypost.com/2021/10/10/rowan-countys-first-courthouse/|title=Rowan County's first courthouse|last=Freeze|first=Gary|work=[[Salisbury Post]]|date=October 10, 2021}}</ref>

As was typical of the time, Rowan County was originally a vast territory with an indefinite western boundary. As the population increased in the region, portions were taken to organize other counties and their seats. In 1770, the eastern portion was combined with the western part of [[Orange County, North Carolina|Orange County]] to form [[Guilford County, North Carolina|Guilford County]]. In 1771 the northeastern portion of what was left became [[Surry County, North Carolina|Surry County]]. In 1777 the western part of Rowan County was organized as [[Burke County, North Carolina|Burke County]].<ref name='Formation'/> After the [[American Revolutionary War]], in 1788, the western portion of the now much smaller Rowan County was organized as [[Iredell County, North Carolina|Iredell County]].

===19th century===
In 1822, [[Davidson County, North Carolina|Davidson County]] was formed from an eastern section. Finally, in 1836, that part of Rowan County north of the [[Yadkin River|South Yadkin River]] became [[Davie County, North Carolina|Davie County]], and Rowan County took its present form and size.<ref name='Formation'>{{cite book|title=Formation of North Carolina Counties, 1663–1943|url=http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p16062coll9/id/289959|author=Corbitt, David Leroy|year=1987|publisher=State Department of Archives and History|pages=185–188}}</ref> Since Rowan County was developed for tobacco, cotton cultivation, and mixed farming in the antebellum period, many of the plantation owners and some farmers were dependent on enslaved labor. Cotton and tobacco continued as a commodity crop after the war and into the 20th century. The population of Rowan County was 27.1 percent slaves in 1860.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/slavery|title=Slavery|website=NCPEDIA|access-date=February 27, 2021}}</ref>

During and following the [[Reconstruction era]], the state legislature encouraged investment in railways, which had not occurred before. In addition, textile mills were built here and elsewhere in the Piedmont, bringing back cotton processing and manufacturing from centers in New York and New England. Urban populations increased.

===20th century===
At the turn of the 20th century, after losing to Republican-Populist fusionist candidates, Democrats regained power and passed laws erecting barriers to voter registration to [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchise most Blacks]]. Together with the passage of Jim Crow laws, which suppressed Blacks socially, these measures ended the progress of African Americans in the state, after Republican men had already been serving in Congress. [[Charles Aycock]] and [[Robert Broadnax Glenn|Robert Glenn]], who were elected as state governors in 1900 and 1904, respectively, ran political campaigns to appeal to Whites. Six [[Lynching in the United States|lynchings of African Americans]] were recorded in Rowan County from the late 19th into the early 20th centuries. This was the second-highest total of killings in the state, a number of extrajudicial murders that two other counties also had.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf|title=Lynching in America'', 3rd edition, Supplement: Lynching by County, Montgomery, Alabama: Equal Justice Initiative|year=2017|access-date=June 8, 2018|archive-date=October 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The racial terrorism of lynchings enforced White suppression of African Americans. In 1902, brothers James and Harrison Gillespie, aged 11 and 13, were lynched by a White mob for allegedly killing a young White woman working in a field.<ref name="wood">[https://southernspaces.org/2012/lynching-and-local-history-review-troubled-ground Amy Louise Wood, "Lynching and Local History: A Review of 'Troubled Ground'"], ''Southern Spaces'', May 8, 2012; accessed June 8, 2018</ref> In August 1906, six African-American men were arrested as suspects in the murder of a farm family. That evening, a White mob stormed the county jail in Salisbury, freeing all the White prisoners, interrogating the Black ones, and taking out Jack Dillingham, Nease Gillespie, and his son John. The mob hanged the three men from a tree in a field, mutilated and tortured them, and shot them numerous times.<ref name="wood"/>

A center of textile manufacturing spanning from the late 19th to the late 20th century, the county has worked to attract new industries, after many textile manufacturing occupations moved offshore to lower wage markets during the late 20th century.

===21st century===
In 2003, the county held the "250 Fest", celebrating its 250th anniversary.<ref name='Dispatch'>{{cite web|url=https://www.the-dispatch.com/news/20030412/congrats-rowan-county-on-250-years-and-a-happy-birthday-to-davidson-as-well|title=Congrats Rowan County on 250 Years and a Happy Birthday to Davidson as Well|date=April 12, 2003|author=The Dispatch|access-date=June 15, 2019|archive-date=September 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918135212/https://www.the-dispatch.com/news/20030412/congrats-rowan-county-on-250-years-and-a-happy-birthday-to-davidson-as-well|url-status=dead}}</ref>