Editing Robeson County, North Carolina (section)

===Economic development and Great Depression===
[[File:Taking tobacco to market in Fairmont.jpg|thumb|right|Farmers taking tobacco to market in [[Fairmont, North Carolina|Fairmont]] in the early 1900s]]
Following the stagnation of cotton prices in the 1890s, farmers in Robeson County began rapidly adopting tobacco as a regular crop.{{sfn|Tyner|2005|p=37}}{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|p=146}} Many tobacco warehouses were built, and the town of Fairmont became the county's primary market town for the crop.{{sfn|Tyner|2005|pp=22, 37}} Significant tobacco markets were also established in Rowland and Lumberton.{{sfn|Sider|2015|p=205}}{{sfn|Tyner|2014|p=9}} The county's first cotton mill opened in 1897,{{sfn|Sharpe|1952|p=5}} and St. Pauls subsequently developed as the county's primary textile center.{{sfn|Quinterno|2006|p=7}} In the early 1900s, farmers organized a trade association and convinced the county government to appoint a local commissioner for agriculture.{{sfn|Land potential study, Robeson County|1969|p=7}}

In 1909, Robeson County's third courthouse was constructed.{{sfn|Tyner|2003|p=68}} Two years later a portion of the county was split off and combined with a section of [[Cumberland County, North Carolina|Cumberland County]] to form [[Hoke County, North Carolina|Hoke County]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.ncpedia.org/geography/hoke| title = Hoke County| last = Vocci| first = Robert Blair| date = 2006| website = NCPedia| publisher = North Carolina Government & Heritage Library| access-date = December 4, 2022}}</ref> Bouts of typhoid, hookworm, smallpox, and a high infant mortality rate led Robeson's government to organize the first county-level public health department in the United States in 1912.{{sfn|Tyner|2003|p=69}} Following the passage of a state drainage law in 1909, many swamps in the county were drained to increase usable farmland, improve transportation,<ref name= wetmore>{{cite news|last=Wetmore|first=E. F.| title = Drained Lands of Robeson County offer Opportunity Unexcelled for Capitalist Or Sturdy Pioneer| newspaper = The Robesonian| page = 25| date = May 6, 1915| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113443819/draining-robeson-county-swamps/}}</ref><ref name= dreilinger/> and reduce malaria cases.{{sfn|Maxwell|2017|p=25}} Work on the drainage of the nearly 22,000-acre Back Swamp was completed in 1918.{{sfn|Maxwell|2017|pp=10, 17}} Most major roads in the county were paved with state support between the 1920s and 1947.{{sfn|Land potential study, Robeson County|1969|pp=6–7}} In 1929, Robeson became the first county in the United States to appoint a [[County administrator|county manager]].{{sfn|Jenne|1998|p=13}}

Like the rest of the country, local agriculture suffered throughout the 1920s following [[World War I]] due to decreased demand and limited crop market opportunities.{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|p=151}} The [[Great Depression]] led to a severe decline in tobacco prices.{{sfn|Tyner|2005|p=22}} Area farmers responded by increasing their output, but the expanded agricultural supply only lowered crop prices.{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|p=152}} Robesonians dubbed the time period the "[[Herbert Hoover|Hoover]] Days".{{sfn|Wolfram|Reaser|2014|p=234}} In response to the downturn, in 1936, the federal government created Pembroke Farms, a resettlement community for struggling Indian farmers.{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|p=152}}{{sfn|Sider|2003|pp=138–139}} In 1938, the government offered loans for the establishment of a second project, the Red Banks Mutual Association.{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|p=153}}{{sfn|Sider|2003|p=139}} The association served as a cooperative with multiple Indian households farming common land from which profits would be attained and then divided among the members.{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|p=153}} Neither project proved successful, and by the 1940s, both faced neglect from the government, though the mutual association persisted into the 1960s before it finally collapsed.{{sfn|Sider|2003|p=138}}{{sfn|Dial|Eliades|1996|pp=154–155}}