Rich Square, North Carolina

Rich Square (also known as Richsquare)<ref name="1985 Payne" /><ref name="United States Geological Survey" /> is an American town of 894 people in Northampton County, North Carolina.

History

Quakers were some of the earliest settlers in Northampton County, being established there by the early 1750s. The congregation in Rich Square was established in 1760, and was once a center for the Religious Society of Friends in North Carolina. By 1832, they were a minority in Rich Square, though they continued working to relocate former slaves into free states.<ref name="2022-03 Southern Friend" />

In 1947, Godwin Bush was a black man in Northampton County who escaped a lynching by a white mob; two all-white grand juries refused to indict the seven white kidnappers. In response, local pastor and businessman Paul A. Bishop promoted a black-led boycott of white-owned businesses in Rich Square (contemporaneously described by a black community leader as "a town that didn't like black folk.") Many of the boycotted stores went out of business.<ref name="2020-01 North Carolina Historical Review" />

On July 26, 1959, Lieutenant Colonel William Rankin was flying his US Marine Corps F8U Crusader from Naval Air Station South Weymouth in Massachusetts to Naval Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina. When he lost all power at an altitude of Template:Convert, he ejected into the Template:Convert air and began uncontrolled decompression through an intense thunderstorm and hail for the next 40 minutes. After "the most prolonged and fantastic parachute descent in history", he eventually landed near Rich Square, from where he was rescued by a local farmer and eventually taken to Ahoskie, North Carolina for triage. (The plane came down near Scotland Neck, North Carolina.)<ref name="1960-10-15 Saturday Evening Post" />

In 1968, the federal government of the United States established the Family Development Training Project in Rich Square, an effort up uplift families in poverty by simultaneously educating all members thereof at government expense. On a Template:Convert parcel of town, twelve training and support buildings were constructed to support the 50 families living in 50 colocated mobile homes. Eligible families must have been employed by two or more employers in the preceding year, and annually earn less than Template:US$. In 1974, The Family Coordinator called the five-year program "one of the most unique and successful programs ever developed in the United States".<ref name="1974-04 Family Coordinator" />

The Duke-Lawrence House is a recognized example of Georgian architecture in Rich Square, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in October 1980.<ref name="National Park Service: Duke-Lawrence House" /> The local Holoman-Outland House was recognized for its Colonial Revival architecture and listed on the register in October 2001.<ref name="National Park Service: Holoman-Outland House" />

Geography

The town of Rich Square<ref name="United States Census Bureau" /> is located in Northampton County, North Carolina, at Template:Coord, with an elevation of Template:Convert.<ref name="United States Geological Survey" />

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Rich Square was 894 people in 337 of the town's 414 housing units. The median age was 62.2 (± 7.4), with 44.5 percent (± 10.7%) of the town aged 65 or older, and only 9.1 percent (± 4.8%) under 18.<ref name="United States Census Bureau" />

In Rich Square, 4.4 percent (± 4.1%) of residents were foreign-born (all of whom were naturalized citizens), and only 5.0 percent (± 4.4%) spoke a language other than English at home. Four residents (Template:Percentage) were Native Americans, one (Template:Percentage) was Asian, 578 (Template:Percentage) were Black or African American, 26 (Template:Percentage) were Hispanic or Latino, 270 (Template:Percentage) were White people, nine (Template:Percentage) were of another race or ethnicity, and 24 (Template:Percentage) were multiracial people.<ref name="United States Census Bureau" />

In town, 18.0 percent (± 9.3%) of residents had at least a bachelor's degree, while seven percent had a graduate degree or higher. The employment rate was 38.7 percent (± 13.1%), and 5.5 percent (± 5.7%) of the men were veterans. The town's median household income was $29,375 (± $15,623), as compared to the state's rate of $61,972 (± $541), which left 34.0 percent (± 16.6%) of locals living in poverty.<ref name="United States Census Bureau" />

Located in the Eastern Time Zone and area code 252, Rich Square's ZIP Code is 27869.<ref name="UnitedStatesZipCodes.org" />

Government

In the 1960s, Rich Square was governed by a town council. Local funeral home director Joseph Gordon was the first African American elected to the body, in 1967.<ref name="1967-05-27 Norfolk Journal and Guide" />

Education

In the 1950s, Rich Square had two high schools: Rich Square High School<ref name="1965-01-27 Daily Times-News" /><ref name="2004-09-01 FEER" /> and W. S. Creecy High School.<ref name="2020-01 North Carolina Historical Review" />

Notable people

• Template:Annotated link<ref name="1977-03-16 Rocky Mount Telegram" />
• Template:Annotated link<ref name="2024-04-06 WalesOnline" />
• Template:Annotated link<ref name="2018-05-28 Our State" />
• Template:Annotated link<ref name="1944-03-25 Saturday Evening Post" />
• Template:Annotated link<ref name="2017-12-12 NYT" />
• Template:Annotated link<ref name="Baseball-Reference: Martin" />
• Template:Annotated link<ref name="DeKalb County Public Library: Moses" />
• Template:Annotated link<ref name="2001-05–06 Library Talk" />
• Template:Annotated link<ref name="2021 Deihl" />

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:Commons category-inline