Editing Wendell, North Carolina (section)

==History==
Incorporated in 1903, Wendell was settled in the 1850s, when farmers in [[Granville County, North Carolina|Granville County]] were victims of a [[blight]] that came to be known as the Granville County Wilt. Their [[tobacco]] crops failed, and they chose to move to a new location with more fertile land for their crops.

As settlement increased, a small village took form. The villagers asked the local schoolteacher, M.A. Griffin, to choose a name. Griffin suggested they call it Wendell, in honor of his favorite poet, [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]]. However, the townspeople pronounce each syllable with equal emphasis, not as the poet's middle name is said. The Town seal was adopted on April 4, 1963.<ref>Pleasants, George S. Building a Town: Wendell, North Carolina. Virginia Beach, VA: Donning, 2003. Print.</ref>

The first [[post office]] was built in 1891, and has been restored by the Wendell Historical Society.  The oldest institution in Wendell is Hephzibah Baptist Church, founded in 1809.  The first newspaper was the ''Wendell Clarion'', founded in 1911, which was succeeded by the ''Gold Leaf Farmer'' and currently the ''Eastern Wake News''.<ref>[http://townofwendell.com/wendell/AboutWendell/tabid/67/Default.aspx About Wendell<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Wendell has four buildings and two districts that are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. These are the [[Dr. Thomas H. Avera House]], [[Harmony Plantation]], [[Riley Hill School]], [[Sunnyside (Wendell, North Carolina)|Sunnyside]], [[Wendell Boulevard Historic District]], and the [[Wendell Commercial Historic District]]:.