Editing Stoneville, North Carolina (section)

==History==
[[File:Fountain in Friendship Park, Stoneville.jpg|thumb|left|Memorial fountain at Friendship Park in downtown Stoneville]]
Settlers came to the ridge between the [[Mayo River (Dan River)|Mayo]] and [[Dan River (Virginia)|Dan]] rivers in the northwest [[Piedmont (United States)|Piedmont]] region in the early 1800s. In 1827, the [[Deep Springs Plantation]] was built for James Madison Scales and his wife Elizabeth Lesuer in what is now Stoneville.<ref>{{cite web|title=Deep Springs Historic Home|url=http://www.themarconline.org/deep-springs-historic-home|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308070638/http://www.themarconline.org/deep-springs-historic-home/|archive-date=March 8, 2016}}</ref> In 1843 the R.H. Lewis Tobacco company was established in the south side of the land that was to become the town of Stoneville.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://library.digitalnc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ncimages/id/5760| title = R.H. Lewis Tobacco Company| date = 1976| website = DigitalNC.org| publisher = North Carolina Digital Library| access-date = May 12, 2016}}</ref> In the late 1850s, brothers Thomas and Pinkney Stone bought land in the area. On March 5, 1877, the town was officially incorporated.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stonevillenc.org/ |website=stonevillenc.org |title=Town of Stoneville, NC homepage}}</ref> A natural stop on the Norfolk-Western rail line, Stoneville became the trade hub for the surrounding localities and profited off of tobacco, cotton and grist-milling industries.<ref name= postcard>{{cite book| last = Aheron| first = Piper| title = From Avalon to Eden: A Postcard Tour of Rockingham County| publisher = Arcadia Publishing| series = Images of America| edition = illustrated| date = 1997| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MXDWud7nkPgC | isbn = 9780752408248}}</ref>

On March 20, 1998, Stoneville was struck by [[1998 Gainesville–Stoneville tornado outbreak|an F3 tornado]]. It caused severe damage to commercial structures in the town's main business district along Henry Street, destroyed the railway depot, and killed one person in the town, an elementary school teacher and dancer named [[Beth Mitchell]], and one person southwest of the town, Powell Hickman.<ref name= smith>{{cite news| last = Smith| first = Heather J.| title = Ten years on, Stoneville tornado still brings vivid memories| newspaper = The News & Advance| date = March 16, 2008| url = https://newsadvance.com/archives/ten-years-on-stoneville-tornado-still-brings-vivid-memories/article_154c6db5-c952-5191-aedc-1b3f4a34f4c3.html| access-date = August 27, 2020}}</ref><ref name= friendship/> Several buildings in the downtown were completely removed, and most cleanup and repair work was done within a year.<ref>{{cite news| last = Robiglio| first = Deborah| title = A year after tornado, Stoneville celebrates its survival| newspaper = The News & Observer| pages = 1B, 5B| date = March 21, 1999| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110825273/stoneville-tornado/}}</ref> The town later built Friendship Park and painted a mural at the site of a destroyed store to commemorate the victim killed in the town and a farmer killed further west in the county.<ref name= friendship>{{cite web| url = https://www.town.stoneville.nc.us/your-government/friendship-park/| title = Friendship Park| website = Stoneville| publisher = Town of Stoneville, North Carolina| access-date = September 28, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last = Hunt| first = Gerri| title = Mural to honor tornado victims, town history| newspaper = [[News & Record]]| date = August 29, 2018| url = https://www.greensboro.com/rockingham_now/news/mural-to-honor-tornado-victims-town-history/article_aeafdb5a-ab8a-11e8-96ac-37cbf44e3905.html| access-date = September 28, 2022}}</ref>