Editing Albemarle, North Carolina (section)

===Establishment of Stanly County and Albemarle===
[[File:Albemarle, North Carolina (c. 1915).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Albemarle, circa 1915]]
[[File:Stanly County Courthouse, North Carolina.jpg|thumb|right|Stanly County Courthouse]]
[[File:Albemarle City Hall, North Carolina.jpg|thumb|right|Albemarle City Hall]]
The Albemarle region's first post office was established in 1826; it was then known as Smith's Store. The nearby crossroads of the Old Turnpike Road from [[Fayetteville, North Carolina|Fayetteville]] to [[Salisbury, North Carolina|Salisbury]] and the Old Stage Road connecting [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] and [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] emerged as an important hub for regional commerce and trade. The region remained part of [[Montgomery County, North Carolina|Montgomery County]] until 1841, when after years of attempted separation, prominent residents of the increasingly populous areas west of the [[Yadkin River|Yadkin]]/[[Pee Dee River]] system successfully petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly for the establishment of [[Stanly County, North Carolina|Stanly County]] as an independent entity.  	 
			
Soon after the new county was formed, its Board of Commissioners was tasked with establishing a permanent county seat within {{convert|8|mi|km|spell=in}} of the home of Eben Hearne (the county's first sheriff), and with laying out a new town, in which a courthouse would be erected.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stanlysheriff.org/history02.htm |title=Stanly Sheriff |access-date=April 8, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050205232426/http://stanlysheriff.org/history02.htm |archive-date=February 5, 2005 }}</ref> Nehemiah Hearne's heirs donated {{convert|51|acre|m2}} from his plantation near the intersection of the Old Turnpike and Old Stage Roads for the construction of the new County Seat. The County Commissioners established the town's boundaries, laid out streets and surveyed and marked parcels of property within Hearne's donated land. The first land lot sale financed the new town's public buildings and paid some part of the elected officials' salaries. The courthouse was erected in 1842 and used for 50 years. The City of Albemarle was formally incorporated in 1857. The town was named for Albemarle County, the first county established in North Carolina, which was in turn named for the Duke of Albemarle, [[George Monck]], one of the [[Lords Proprietors]] granted the province of Carolina in 1663 by [[Charles II of England|King Charles II]].