Editing Ahoskie, North Carolina

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name            = Ahoskie, North Carolina
| settlement_type          = [[Town]]
| nickname                 = 
| motto                    = "The Only One"

<!-- Images -->| image_skyline            = Ahoskie, NC 2.jpg
| imagesize                = 
| image_caption            = View down Main Street in Ahoskie, facing west
| image_flag               = 
| image_seal               = Ahoskie, NC Town Seal.png
| image_map                = NCMap-doton-Ahoskie.PNG
| mapsize                  = 250x200px
| map_caption              = Location of Ahoskie, North Carolina
| image_map1               = 
| mapsize1                 = 
| map_caption1             = <!-- Location -->
| subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name         = United States
| subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
| subdivision_name1        = [[North Carolina]]
| subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in North Carolina|County]]
| subdivision_name2        = [[Hertford County, North Carolina|Hertford]]
| government_footnotes     = 
| government_type          = 
| leader_title             = Mayor
| leader_name              = Weyling White
| leader_title1            = 
| leader_name1             = 
| established_title        = 
| established_date         = <!-- Area -->
| area_footnotes           = <ref name="TigerWebMapServer">{{cite web|title=ArcGIS REST Services Directory|url=https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=September 20, 2022}}</ref>
| area_magnitude           = 
| area_total_km2           = 11.40
| area_land_km2            = 11.40
| area_water_km2           = 0.00
| area_total_sq_mi         = 4.40
| area_land_sq_mi          = 4.40
| area_water_sq_mi         = 0.00

<!-- Population -->| population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
| population_footnotes     = 
| population_total         = 4891
| population_density_km2   = 429.09
| population_density_sq_mi = 1111.34

<!-- General information -->| timezone                 = [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]]
| utc_offset               = -5
| timezone_DST             = EDT
| utc_offset_DST           = -4
| elevation_footnotes      = <ref name=gnis/>
| elevation_ft             = 52
| coordinates              = {{coord|36|17|03|N|76|59|24|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}

<!-- Area/postal codes & others -->| postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
| postal_code              = 27910
| area_code                = [[Area code 252|252]]
| blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
| blank_info               = 37-00500<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref>
| blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
| blank1_info              = 2405124<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2405124}}</ref>
| website                  = {{URL|https://www.ahoskienc.gov}}
| footnotes                = 
| pop_est_as_of            = 
| pop_est_footnotes        = 
| population_est           = 
| unit_pref                = Imperial
| name                     = 
}}
'''Ahoskie''' ({{respelling|ah|HOSS|kee}} {{IPAc-en|audio=US English pronunciation of the name of Ahoskie, North Carolina.ogg|ɑː|'|h|ɒ|s|k|i}})<ref name="North Carolina Collection">[http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/resources/tlth.html Talk Like A Tarheel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622041633/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/resources/tlth.html |date=June 22, 2013}}, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]. Retrieved September 18, 2012.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=NC Pronunciation Guide|url=https://www.wral.com/lifestyles/travel/blogpost/10331495/|publisher=WRAL|accessdate=August 15, 2022}}</ref> is a town in [[Hertford County, North Carolina|Hertford County]], [[North Carolina]], United States. The population was 4,891 at the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]]. Ahoskie is located in North Carolina's [[Inner Banks]] region. Its nickname is "The Only One" because no other town in the world is known by the same name. The etymology of the word Ahoskie, which was originally spelled "Ahotsky", was from [[Eno people|the Wyanoke Indians]], who entered the Hertford County area at the beginning of European settlement.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}

==History==
Ahoskie began as a railroad siding for log trains hauling timber from the forests of Bertie and [[Hertford County, North Carolina|Hertford counties]] to [[History of the lumber industry in the United States|a sawmill]] at [[Cofield, North Carolina|Tunis]] on the [[Norfolk—Rocky Mount Line|Chowan and Southern Railroad line]] beginning in 1885. The town grew out of [[Goods station|a loading station and commissaries]] to supply the community workers who cut, hauled and loaded the logs. Ahoskie's post office was established in 1889. The first passenger train passed through town on the newly opened tracks of the [[Norfolk and Western Railway|Norfolk and Carolina line]] in 1890.

By the time of its incorporation on January 24, 1893, Ahoskie had grown to include several stores, [[saw mill|a saw mill]] and gin, a one-room school and [[Baptists|a Baptist church]]. Other industries that flourished in the town's early days included an ice plant, [[History of Chinese Americans|a laundry operated by a wandering Chinese man]], and a number of [[pony express|horse and mule exchanges and sales stables]]. Since few of the smaller towns in Hertford and Bertie counties were located on passenger lines, [[Door-to-door|traveling salesman or "drummers"]] would use the town as a base to make sales trips to outlying community stores by horse and buggy.

The town's first bank, the [[Bank of Ahoskie]], was chartered in 1905.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The Ahoskie Era of Hertford County |publisher=Parker Bros., Inc. |year=1939}}</ref>

This area's economy was initially based on the cultivation of [[tobacco industry#Industry outlook in the United States|tobacco]] and [[Cotton production in the United States|cotton]]. It has continued to be largely rural with small towns.

[[File:Ahoskie Town Hall.jpg|thumb|Town hall]]
The town has both [[historic districts]] and individual buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the [[Ahoskie Historic District]], [[Ahoskie Downtown Historic District]], and [[East End Historic District (Ahoskie, North Carolina)|East End Historic District]]; and [[Ahoskie School]], [[Roberts H. Jernigan House]], [[King-Casper-Ward-Bazemore House]], [[William Mitchell House]], [[Mulberry Grove (Ahoskie, North Carolina)|Mulberry Grove]], and [[James Newsome House]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> The town has highlighted these resources to encourage heritage tourism.

The county gave an acre of land on which [[History of African-American education|the first Black school]] in Ahoskie was built, three years after [[American Civil War|the Civil War]]. The one-room schoolhouse at Hayes Street and Catherine Creek Road remained about 35 years. The first teacher at the school was Van Butler, and the school term was four months.

Through years of untiring efforts by [[African-Americans|the Black community]], by 1939 the Ahoskie Graded School consisted of two brick buildings, with fourteen elementary teachers, five high school teachers and an enrollment of some 800 boys and girls.

The first Black church, the [[New Ahoskie Baptist Church]], was organized in 1866. Other early churches in the Black community were the Methodist Church and Calvary Baptist Church.

The first charity organized in the Black community was Love and Charity, a mutual help group that met in members' homes under the slogan "Love to All, True to each Other, Mercy to all Mankind." Other early organizations included [[Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks|the Elks]], [[Freemasons|Masons]] and [[Independent Order of Rechabites|Tents]]. The [[United Order of the Queens of the Orient]] had its origins in Ahoskie in 1923.

By 1939, the town had grown to include a number of Black-owned businesses including five grocery stores, three barber shops, three cafes, a dry goods store, a millinery shop, three hairdressers, three seamstresses, a doctor, a stenographer, two funeral homes and a garage. The Atlantic District Fair Association represented the economic interests of the town's Black community.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Eleanor |title=The Ahoskie Era of Hertford County |publisher=Parker Bros., Inc. |year=1939 |pages=279–285}}</ref>

Perhaps the largest show seen in the town was a visit by [[Buffalo Bill#Buffalo Bill's Wild West|Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show]] in October 1916, an event that drew an estimated 12,000 people and required three shows to accommodate everybody. The leading citizens of the town hosted a breakfast at the Manhattan hotel for [[Buffalo Bill|Col. William F. Cody]], who expressed his deep appreciation for the hospitality accorded to him. Cody's visit came about through the personal solicitation of a kinsman of the show's business manager.

[[History of street lighting in the United States|Electric lights were first turned on]] in Ahoskie around [[Christmas]] in 1915. The power was generated by a gasoline engine and within two years was providing electricity day and night.<ref name=":0" />

Ahoskie was the first stop in North Carolina for [[First Lady of the United States|first lady]] [[Lady Bird Johnson|Claudia Alta Johnson]] during her whistle-stop tour of the South aboard the Lady Bird Express, on October 6, 1964.

==Geography==

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of 4.35 square miles, all land.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
| 1900 = 302
| 1910 = 924
| 1920 = 1429
| 1930 = 1940
| 1940 = 2313
| 1950 = 3579
| 1960 = 4583
| 1970 = 5105
| 1980 = 4887
| 1990 = 4391
| 2000 = 4523
| 2010 = 5039
| 2020 = 4891
| estyear = 2022
| estimate = 4657
| estref = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/tables/2020-2022/cities/totals/SUB-IP-EST2022-POP-37.xlsx |title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in North Carolina: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>
| footnote = U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Ahoskie racial composition<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Census Data|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US3700500&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=data.census.gov}}</ref>
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| [[White (U.S. Census)|White]] (non-Hispanic)
| 1,158
| 23.68%
|-
!scope="row"| [[African American (U.S. Census)|Black or African American]] (non-Hispanic)
| 3,334
| 68.17%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]]
| 57
| 1.17%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]]
| 68
| 1.39%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]]
| 1
| 0.02%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Race (United States Census)|Other/Mixed]]
| 165
| 3.37%
|-
!scope="row"| [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]]
| 108
| 2.21%
|}
As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 4,891 people, 1,895 households, and 1,044 families residing in the town.

===2010 census===
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2" /> of 2010, there were 5,039 people, 2,062 households, and 1,263 families residing in the town. The [[population density]] was 1,169 inhabitants per square mile. There were 2,309 housing units at an average density of 536 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 66.6% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 28.5% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 1.50% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 1.3% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], and 1.1% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 1.6% of the population.

There were 2,062 households, out of which 20.9% had children under the age of 18, 43.0% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 25.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% were non-families. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 3.01.

The population ages were distributed with 28.1% under the age of 20, 5.7% from 20 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 19.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.5 years.

The median income for a household in the town was $28,438, and the median income for a family was $37,833. Males had a median income of $36,711 versus $27,398 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $17,648. About 19.8% of families and 26.4% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 36.8% of those under age 18 and 22.4% of those age 65 or over.

== Business and college ==
Ahoskie is home to the ''[[Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald]]'' newspaper.
In nearby Cofield there is a steel rolling mill owned and operated by Nucor Steel.
Roanoke-Chowan Community College is located just outside Ahoskie in Union.

In the late 1990s, the town of Ahoskie donated a former elementary school to [[Shaw University]], based in Raleigh. It established a Continuing and Professional Education (C.A.P.E.) center, to help improve and enhance the vocational and educational skills of individuals in lower-class communities in the surrounding area.

==Notable people==
* [[Kentwan Balmer]] – defensive end in the [[NFL]]
* [[Edward L. Fike]] – journalist and publisher in California, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia
* [[Bobby Futrell]] – cornerback in the NFL for the [[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]] from 1986 to 1990<ref>[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/F/FutrBo20.htm Bobby Futrell Profile]. Pro Football Reference. Retrieved February 17, 2019.</ref>
* [[Sam Harrell]] – running back in the NFL for the [[Minnesota Vikings]]<ref>[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HarrSa20.htm Sam Harrell Profile]. Pro football Reference. Retrieved February 17, 2019.</ref>
* [[Robert Lee Holloman]] – Democratic member of the [[North Carolina General Assembly]] 
* [[Jason Horton]] – former [[NFL]], [[Canadian Football League|CFL]] and [[Arena Football League]] cornerback
* [[Howard J. Hunter Jr.]] – Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly
* [[Toran James]] – former [[NFL]], [[XFL (2001)|XFL]] and [[Arena Football League]] fullback/linebacker
* [[Ella Mitchell]] – soul singer and actress
* [[Dick Newsome]] – [[pitcher]] for the [[Boston Red Sox]]
* [[Timmy Newsome]] – fullback in the NFL for the [[Dallas Cowboys]] from 1980 to 1988
* [[Amber O'Neal]] – professional wrestler
* [[Graham Smith (Pilot)|Graham Smith]] – Tuskegee Airman
* [[Robert Lee Vann]] – newspaper publisher and editor
* [[Tom Umphlett]] – [[MLB]] player for the Boston Red Sox and [[History of the Washington Senators (1901–60)|Washington Senators]]
* [[Oshane Ximines]] – outside linebacker in the NFL for the [[New York Giants]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}

{{Hertford County, North Carolina}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in North Carolina]]
[[Category:Towns in Hertford County, North Carolina]]