Editing Scotland County, North Carolina (section)

==History==
===Early history===
The earliest residents of the land which became Scotland County were [[Cheraw]] Native Americans. [[Scottish Highlands|Scottish Highlanders]] and some English [[Quakers]] began colonizing the area as early as the 1720s when it was within the British [[Province of North Carolina]].<ref name= martin>{{cite web| url = https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/scotland-county-1899/| title = Scotland County (1899)| last = Martin| first = Jonathan| website = North Carolina History Project| publisher = John Locke Foundation| access-date = July 21, 2022}}</ref> The land encompassing Scotland County was originally under the jurisdiction of [[Bladen County, North Carolina|Bladen County]]. As North Carolina grew, its original counties were subdivided and the future Scotland portion was placed in the new [[Anson County, North Carolina|Anson County]].{{sfn|Stewart|Stewart|2001|p=7}} The relevant portion was then moved into the new [[Richmond County, North Carolina|Richmond County]] in 1779.{{sfn|Stewart|Stewart|2001|p=7}}<ref>{{cite web| url = https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/richmond-county-1779/| title = Richmond County (1779)| last = Martin| first = Jonathan| website = North Carolina History Project| publisher = John Locke Foundation| access-date = July 21, 2022}}</ref> Richmond County was bisected by the [[Sandhills (Carolina)|Sandhills]], leaving the eastern portion—of future Scotland—geographically separated from the rest of the county.<ref name= anniversary>{{cite news| title = Scotland County 1906---1916| newspaper = The Laurinburg Exchange| page = 5| date = June 29, 1916| volume = XXXIV| issue = 26| edition = anniversary|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114085864/scotland-county-1906-1916/}}</ref>

More immigrants came after the [[American Revolutionary War]], especially one large group of Highland Scots which came from the [[Cape Fear River]]. The group split and settled two areas in the county, Johns and [[Laurel Hill, Scotland County, North Carolina|Laurel Hill]], the latter in the vicinity of the [[Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church]], established in 1797.{{sfn|Stewart|Stewart|2001|p=7}} Laurel Hill became the first major community in the region, prospering as a post-revolution trading center.{{sfn|Marks|2021|pp=10–11}} More immigrants settled the area at this time, including Germans, Welsh, English, and Ulster Scots. Enslaved Africans were also brought into the area.{{sfn|Stewart|Stewart|2001|p=7}} The Laurel Hill community largely moved south in 1861 after the [[Wilmington Subdivision|Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad]] laid a line through the area.{{sfn|Marks|2021|pp=10–11}} [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] was spoken in the area through the 1860s.{{sfn|Davis|2008|p=90}}

During the [[American Civil War]], the railroad's shops were moved to [[Laurinburg, North Carolina|Laurinburg]] in the hope they would be safer from [[Union Army]] attack; however, in March 1865, Union forces reached Laurinburg and burned the railroad depot and temporary shops.{{sfn|Barrett|1995|p=300}} The shops were rebuilt after the war,<ref name= john>{{cite news|last=John|first=Maxcy L.| title = Historical Sketch of Laurinburg| newspaper = The Laurinburg Exchange| page = 2| date = June 29, 1916| volume = XXXIV| issue = 26| edition = anniversary|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3530162/the-laurinburg-exchange/}}</ref> though economic recovery was slow.{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=5}} Laurinburg was incorporated in 1877.{{sfn|Marks|2021|p=10}} It continued to develop as a railway town until 1894 when the shops were moved.<ref name= mcknightprofile>{{cite news| last = McKnight| first = Bonnie| title = 100 County Countdown: Scotland County| newspaper = The Herald-Sun| page = A10| date = March 22, 2005| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114985394/scotland-county-profile/}}</ref>

===Creation===
[[File:N.98.2.77 Group of Red Shirts pose at the polls (5908630058).jpg|thumb|left|[[Red Shirts (United States)|Red Shirts]] at [[Old Hundred, North Carolina|Old Hundred]], November 1898]]
By the late 19th century, Richmond County had a majority black population and tended to support the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] in elections, while the state of North Carolina was typically dominated by the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. In response to this, white Democrats built up a political base in Laurinburg.<ref name= elder/> Legislator Maxey John introduced several unsuccessful bills in the [[North Carolina General Assembly]] to carve out a new county around Laurinburg between 1893 and 1897.<ref name= mcknightprofile/> During the state legislative elections of 1898, Democrats organized intensely in the area to unseat the statewide [[Fusionism in North Carolina|Fusionist coalition]] of [[North Carolina Republican Party|state Republicans]] and [[People's Party (United States)|Populists]], including the deployment of paramilitary [[Red Shirts (United States)|Red Shirts]] in Laurinburg to intimidate black residents and other opponents at the polls.{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=3}} Democrats regained their erstwhile majority in the General Assembly. In tribute to the efforts of Democrats in Laurinburg, on February 20, 1899, the assembly split off the town and the surrounding area from Richmond County and created the new Scotland County,{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=4}}{{sfn|Stewart|Stewart|2001|p=8}} named in homage to the Scottish settlers.{{sfn|Powell|1976|p=443}} Laurinburg was designated the county seat.<ref name= mcknightprofile/>

The creation of Scotland County took official effect on December 10, 1900.{{sfn|Marks|2021|p=57}} The first courthouse was erected in Laurinburg the following year.<ref name="History"/> At its creation, the county was socially and politically dominated by its resident white planter class and businessmen.{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=4}} No black citizens were allowed to register to vote again until 1928.{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=38}} The county's first cotton mill was built in 1899. In subsequent years, additional textile mills were established, as was a cotton [[oil mill]]—the largest in the state at the time, a flour mill, and a fertilizer plant.{{sfn|Marks|2021|pp=57–58}} A county road law was passed by the state in 1903, leading the county to construct its first improved roads of sand and clay. Another road law passed six years later led the county to greatly increase its road building program and erect its first concrete bridges.<ref name= anniversary/>

===Great Depression===
[[File:Cotton field and barn in Scotland County.png|thumb|Cotton field and barn in Scotland County {{circa|1923}}. County cotton production peaked in 1920.]]
Scotland's black population increased in the 1910s and early 1920s as tenant cotton farmers moved north from the [[Deep South]] to escape areas infested by the [[boll weevil]].{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=4}} County cotton production peaked in 1920 as farmers diversified their operations and began growing fruits and melons.{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=5}} Cotton nevertheless remained the dominant crop through the 1920s despite stagnating prices.{{sfn|Marks|2021|p=59}} The area suffered heavily during the [[Great Depression]], as two banks in Laurinburg failed and a state report indicated that one fourth of the local population was destitute.{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=16}} Many smallholding farmers lost their lands in foreclosures and bankruptcies. The county nonwhite population dropped, and urbanization increased as people relocated to towns.{{sfn|Marks|2021|p=59}} In May 1934, 500 workers at textile mills in [[East Laurinburg, North Carolina|East Laurinburg]] went on strike in protest of work conditions and living conditions in their company-provided housing. The strike gained state-wide media attention after the strikers engaged in a brawl with loyalist workers, with nine people wounded by gunfire, before the dispute was resolved by arbitration.{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|pp=21–22}} The United States [[Resettlement Administration]] purchased much of the low-quality land in the [[Sandhill]]s portion of the county and turned it into a recreational area. The federal [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] and [[Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936]] incentivized landowners to reduce production, and as a result, many local tenant farmers and sharecroppers were put out of work and migrated north in search of employment.{{sfn|Marks|2021|p=59}}

===World War II and aftermath===
During [[World War II]], the United States government established [[Camp Mackall]] in the Sandhills portion of Scotland County to train paratroopers{{sfn|Covington|Ellis|1999|p=64}} and the [[Laurinburg–Maxton Army Air Base]] in the east to train glider pilots.{{sfn|Stewart|Stewart|2001|p=18}} The latter facility was used to train about 30,000 personnel.{{sfn|Marks|2021|p=60}} Many local residents worked in civilian capacities at the Laurinburg–Maxton base, which provided them with a secure source of income.{{sfn|Stewart|Stewart|2001|p=18}} It closed in October 1945 and was turned into a civilian airport.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.ncpedia.org/laurinburg-maxton-army-air-base| title = Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base| last = Linville| first = Ray| date = 2019| website = NCPedia| publisher = North Carolina Government & Heritage Library| access-date = December 19, 2022}}</ref> Mechanization of agriculture in the 1950s led to depopulation in rural areas, as former farm laborers moved to Laurinburg, Wagram, and outside the county in search of new jobs;{{sfn|Marks|2021|pp=12–13}} from 1950 to 1960, the population decreased by over 1,100 people. Much agricultural land was retired through the [[Soil Bank Program]], and tenant farming and sharecropping rapidly declined. Agriculture continued to mechanize and consolidate into the 1970s.{{sfn|Marks|2021|pp=59–60}}

Faced with the decline in agricultural employment, county leaders in the postwar era appealed for state and federal grants to improve local infrastructure and attract outside industry. Funds were acquired to build low-income housing, pave roads, and support the creation of a new hospital. The first outsider-owned manufacturing plant began operations in Scotland in 1959.{{sfn|Marks|2021|p=60}} A new courthouse was built in 1964.<ref name="History">{{cite web | last =  Myers | first = Betty P. | title = History | publisher = City of Laurinburg, NC | url = http://www.laurinburg.org/history | access-date = July 27, 2017}}</ref> The county and Laurinburg school system were merged and racially integrated in the late 1960s.{{sfn|Marks|2021|pp=61, 70}}

In the 2000s, the county's economy suffered a major downturn due to the departure of textile manufacturers. The [[Great Recession]] led to the closure and shrinking of other manufacturing businesses, leading its employment rate to peak at 18.6 percent in July 2011.<ref name= ranii>{{cite news| last = Ranii| first = David| title = Recruiting industry is Scotland's goal| newspaper = The News & Observer| pages = 1A, 6A| volume = 151| issue = 214| edition = Sunday| date = August 2, 2015| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114979445/scotland-county-industrial-recruitment-2/}}</ref> In 2018, the county was heavily impacted by [[Hurricane Florence]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.wral.com/fatal-flood-waters-wash-away-chunks-of-downtown-laurinburg/17851020/| title = Fatal flood waters wash away chunks of downtown Laurinburg| last = Heffernan| first = Sloane| date = September 21, 2018| website = WRAL-TV| publisher = Capitol Broadcasting Company| access-date = December 21, 2022}}</ref>