Editing Rocky Mount, North Carolina (section)

===20th century===
[[File:RMNCPanoramicMap1907.jpg|thumb|right|Rocky Mount in 1907]]
[[File:1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - North Carolina (NC) - Nash County - Rocky Mount - ED 64-42 to 61 - NARA - 22117974.jpg|thumb|right|A map of Rocky Mount in 1950]]
At the turn of the 20th century, Rocky Mount became the northern headquarters of the [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad]], which located its major repair shops and yard facilities in the town. With it came an influx of railroad workers.<ref name="Fleming"/> In 1900, Rocky Mount's population was around 3,000.

On February 28, 1907, with a population around 7,500, Rocky Mount was officially incorporated as a city. A main railroad line, a well-established cotton mill, and productive farmland for brightleaf tobacco were major contributors to the area's growth and prosperity over the next decades.<ref name="About Rocky Mount">{{cite web |title=Information - City of Rocky Mount |url=https://www.rockymountnc.gov/government/information |website=City of Rocky Mount |access-date=November 17, 2016}}</ref> A vibrant [[central business district]] arose.<ref name="Cent0">{{cite news |last=Eckard |first=J. Eric|title=1910 - 1934: Headlines have a familiar ring |newspaper=[[Rocky Mount Telegram]] |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1910-1934-headlines-have-familiar-ring-968515 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215174648/http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1910-1934-headlines-have-familiar-ring-968515 |date=February 28, 2012 |archive-date=February 15, 2016}}</ref>

As in the rest of the [[American South|South]], North Carolina had imposed legal [[racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], including restrictions and discrimination in housing. White suburbs developed largely on the west side of town, such as [[Villa Place Historic District|Villa Place]] and [[West Haven Historic District|West Haven]]. Black neighborhoods, such as Crosstown and Around the "Y", where jazz musician [[Thelonious Monk]] was born,<ref name="Kelley">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9W9qQG04tEC |last=Kelley |first=Robin |title=Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original |publisher=Simon and Schuster |date=2009 |isbn=9781439190494}}</ref> were concentrated on the east side of town.

Several notable [[Civil Rights Movement|Civil Rights]] events occurred in Rocky Mount. In 1946, [[African American|African-American]] tobacco warehouse workers voted to organize in Rocky Mount as part of a broader nationwide movement known as [[Operation Dixie]]. It included voter registration to fight against the [[disenfranchisement]] of blacks and to take other political action against segregation.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5MOtXyGrG7IC |last=Korstad |first=Robert |title=Civil Rights Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for Democracy in the Mid-twentieth-century South |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780807854549}}</ref> On November 27, 1962, [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] gave a speech at Booker T. Washington High School; he used his refrain "[[I have a dream]]" a year before his better known delivery at the [[March on Washington]], which became famous.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article30736836.html|last=Shaffer |first=Josh |title=Martin Luther King's Rocky Mount dream speech rings out again |newspaper=News & Observer |date=August 11, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://kingsfirstdream.com/ |title=Home - King's First Dream |website=King's First Dream |access-date=March 27, 2019}}</ref> 

[[Memphis sanitation strike|Sanitation workers went on strike]] in 1978 when government sanitation workers protested their black co-worker being wrongfully arrested. He was acquitted in court on the charges. In 2018 the city council officially apologized to him for the case.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/News/2018/10/09/City-Council-apologizes-for-historic-strike.html |last=Kay |first=Lindell John |title=Council apologizes for historic strike |date=October 9, 2018 |newspaper=Rocky Mount Telegram}}</ref>

[[File:DTRockyMount 19622.jpg|thumb|right|Downtown Rocky Mount, 1962]] 
After [[WWII]], the city continued to grow. In the 1950s and 1960s the city's economy diversified to include banking, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and the headquarters of a fast food chain known as [[Hardee's]].<ref name="Cent1">{{cite news |last=Henderson |first=John |title=1935 - 1959: Bustling times in post-War era |newspaper=[[Rocky Mount Telegram]] |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1935-1959-bustling-times-post-war-era-968479 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709232752/http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1935-1959-bustling-times-post-war-era-968479 |date=February 28, 2012 |archive-date=July 9, 2015 |access-date=April 10, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

New higher education facilities were founded, including [[North Carolina Wesleyan College]] in 1956 and [[Nash Community College]] and [[Edgecombe Community College]] in 1968. In 1970, Rocky Mount received an [[All-America City Award]]. In the 1970s the city's hospitals were consolidated under [[Nash UNC Health Care|Nash General Hospital]]. That was also the period of completion of [[Rocky Mount–Wilson Regional Airport]].<ref name="Cent2">{{cite news |last=Cooper |first=Geoffrey|title=1960 - 1984: Tobacco, textiles fuel economy |newspaper=[[Rocky Mount Telegram]] |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1960-1984-tobacco-textiles-fuel-economy-968417 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901164614/http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1960-1984-tobacco-textiles-fuel-economy-968417 |date=February 28, 2012 |archive-date=September 1, 2014}}</ref><ref name="About Rocky Mount"/>

From the 1980s, the inner city suffered [[urban decay]], as businesses had moved out to suburban highway locations. Rocky Mount's downtown deteriorated as new neighborhoods and shopping malls were built, such as [[Golden East Crossing]]. The city expanded its boundaries by annexation; for instance, in 1996, annexing the town of [[Battleboro, North Carolina|Battleboro]] to the north of the city.<ref name="Cent3">{{cite news |last=Handgraaf |first=Brie |title=1985 - 2010: New dynamics drive change |newspaper=[[Rocky Mount Telegram]] |url=http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1985-2010-new-dynamics-drive-change-968363 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901173122/http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/centennial/1985-2010-new-dynamics-drive-change-968363 |date=February 28, 2012 |archive-date=September 1, 2014}}</ref><ref name="ANNEX">[http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/1995/Bills/House/PDF/H1177v1.pdf North Carolina General Assembly, Battleboro/Rocky Mount merger, House Bill 1177, 1995 Session], Retrieved Aug. 16, 2017.</ref> In 1999, the city won its second All-America City Award.<ref name="NCL">{{cite web|title=Previous Winners|url=http://www.nationalcivicleague.org/previous-all-america-city-winners/|website=[[National Civic League]]|access-date=21 November 2016}}</ref>

In the fall of 1999 two hurricanes made landfall in [[eastern North Carolina]]. Both passed over Rocky Mount: [[Hurricane Dennis]] as a tropical storm in August with {{convert|20|in|mm}} of rain and [[Hurricane Floyd]] in September with nearly {{convert|17|in|mm}} of rain. Floyd is especially memorable because most localized flooding happened quickly overnight. Many residents were not aware of the flooding until the water came into their homes, and many required rescue. The hurricane resulted in the worst flooding in history of the Tar River, which had become saturated in August. It exceeded 500-year flood levels along its lower stretches, and many homes and businesses were destroyed.<ref name="Cent3"/><ref>{{cite book |author=Friends of [[Braswell Memorial Library|Braswell Library]] |title=Flooded: Reflections of Hurricane Floyd |year=2004 |publisher=Chapel Hill Press |isbn=9781880849989}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bales |first=Jerad D. |url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri004093/summary.html |title=USGS: 1999 North Carolina Flooding: Summary |publisher=Pubs.usgs.gov |access-date=2010-12-09}}</ref>