Columbus County, North Carolina
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Columbus County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its county seat is Whiteville.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> At the 2020 census, the population was 50,623.<ref name="2020CensusQuickFacts"/>
History
[edit]Early history
[edit]The area comprising Columbus County was originally inhabited by the Waccamaw people. Historically, the "eastern Siouans" had territories extending through the area of Columbus County prior to any European exploration or settlement in the 16th century.
English colonial settlement in what was known as Carolina did not increase until the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Following epidemics of new infectious diseases, to which indigenous peoples were exposed in trading and other contact, the Waccamaw and other Native Americans often suffered disruption and fatalities when caught between larger tribes and colonists in the Tuscarora and Yamasee wars. Afterward most of the Tuscarora people migrated north, joining other Iroquoian-speaking peoples of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in New York State by 1722. At that point the leaders declared their migration ended and the tribe officially relocated to that area.
The Waccamaw Siouan ancestors retreated for safety to an area of Green Swamp near Lake Waccamaw.<ref>William S. Powell, Encyclopedia of North Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 1170.</ref> Throughout the 19th century, the Waccamaw Siouan were seldom mentioned in the historical record. If descendants intermarried with whites and/or African Americans, their children were assumed to lose their Indian status, although they were often reared in Indian culture. Since North Carolina was a slave society, whites classified anyone with visible African features as slaves and blacks first.
Colonial settlement
[edit]As America was colonized by the British, the area encompassing Columbus County was first organized part of the Bath Precinct of North Carolina, established by the British Crown in 1696. In 1729 a southern portion was split off by the General Assembly to create New Hanover County, and five years later Bladen was formed out of part of New Hanover. In 1764 Brunswick County was formed out of Bladen and New Hanover. Throughout this time the area was largely forested and had few white settlers, though the General Assembly established two roads through the area in 1764. William Bartram, a botanist from Pennsylvania, journeyed to Lake Waccamaw to study the flora and fauna of the region in the 1730s, creating the first detailed written account of the area.Template:Sfn At least two skirmishes of the American Revolutionary War were fought on Columbus soil: one near Pireway and another at Brown Marsh.Template:Sfn
Creation
[edit]Columbus County was created by the General Assembly on December 15, 1808, to make it easier for local residents to conduct official business without having to travel to the seat of Brunswick County.Template:Sfn Columbus was formed from parts of Bladen and Brunswick counties and named in honor of Christopher Columbus.Template:Sfn The county's borders were modified several times by legislative act between 1809 and 1821.Template:Sfn In 1810, a community was platted on land owned by James B. White for the purpose of creating a county seat.Template:Sfn It was originally known as White's Crossing before being incorporated as Whiteville in 1832.Template:Sfn The first courthouse and jail, made of wood, were built there in 1809.Template:Sfn
Development
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At the time of its creation, Columbus County was sparsely populated.Template:Sfn A new brick courthouse and jail were erected in 1852.Template:Sfn The construction of a railroad along the Bladen-Columbus border in the 1860s spurred growth. The laying of the Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad later in the decade connected Whiteville with Wilmington and supported the development of strong lumber and naval stores industries.Template:Sfn The county also produced corn, wheat, cotton, and wool.Template:Sfn
Most white men in the county fought during the American Civil War, while most free blacks and mulattoes were exempted from service. The county was spared direct fighting, but the war demands stressed the local labor and food markets, and severe rains in 1863 diminished grain yields. Most residents resorted to trade via the barter system. After Wilmington fell to Union troops in February 1865, Union marauders sacked Whiteville.Template:Sfn After the war Columbus' economy grew more heavily reliant on corn and cotton production.Template:Sfn In 1877, part of Brunswick County was annexed to Columbus.Template:Sfn
In the post-Reconstruction period, after white Democrats regained dominance in politics, they emphasized white supremacy and classified all non-whites as black. For instance, Native Americans could not attend schools for white children. Toward the end of the century, the U.S. Census recorded common Waccamaw surnames among individuals in the small isolated communities of this area.<ref name="Powell, 1170">Powell, Encyclopedia of North Carolina, 1170.</ref>
Tobacco was introduced as a crop in Columbus in 1896, and that year a tobacco warehouse was established in Fair Bluff. It remained a marginal crop until 1914, and at the conclusion of World War I overtook cotton as the county's major cash crop.Template:Sfn The county's first bank was opened in 1903.Template:Sfn Strawberries were introduced at Chadbourn in 1895, and by 1907 Chadbourn had become one of the leading strawberry producers in the world.Template:Sfn Another courthouse and jail were built in 1914.Template:Sfn
Ku Klux Klan
[edit]In 1950 Thomas Hamilton, a South Carolina leader of a white supremacist Ku Klux Klan chapter, began a recruiting campaign to expand his organization's reach into Columbus County, focusing on the towns of Chadbourn, Fair Bluff, Tabor City, and Whiteville.<ref name=carterklan>Template:Cite web</ref> In late July they paraded through Tabor City, passing out handbills which exhorted white men to join them in resisting "Jews, nigger, and integrationist quacks".Template:Sfn W. Horace Carter, the publisher of the Tabor City Tribune, issued an editorial the following day denouncing the Klan as a violent group and urging local residents to ignore them, leading to a threatening note being placed on his car the following day.Template:Sfn The county hosted many Klan sympathizers and a Klavern was organized later that year in Whiteville.<ref name=carterklan/> The News Reporter of Whiteville, led by editor Willard Cole, joined the Tabor City Tribune in reporting on Klan activities and denouncing the organization, leading to threats against Cole.Template:Sfn
The following January the Klansmen began night raids on homes, abducting and flogging residents who they felt had violated traditional mores.<ref name=carterklan/>Template:Sfn Over the following months the Klan continued to conduct raids, heightening local tensions.Template:Sfn In early October 1951 Klansmen from Fair Bluff abducted a couple and transported them into South Carolina.<ref name=carterklan/> Abduction crossing state lines was a federal crime, and as a result the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) became involved.Template:Sfn In February 1952 the FBI, state agents, and county sheriff's deputies initiated a crackdown and arrested 11 Klansmen responsible for the October abduction.<ref name=carterklan/> Law enforcement made additional arrests over subsequent months. Of the near 100 Klansmen arrested, 63 including Hamilton were convicted of various crimes.Template:Sfn For their efforts against the Klan, in 1953 the Tabor City Tribune and The News Reporter won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.Template:Sfn
Colcor
[edit]Template:Main By the early 1980s, Columbus County had a reputation for intense political competition marked by accusations of fraud and impropriety.<ref name= whiteallen/><ref name= gilkeson>Template:Cite news</ref> The FBI had received several complaints from local police officers and residents about alleged protection rackets run by public officials and election fraud. In early 1980, a former FBI informant moved to the county and reported that he was being told to pay bribes to ensure the smooth operation of his business.<ref name= alston3>Template:Cite news</ref> Taking into account the previous complaints they had received, upon being informed, the FBI initiated an undercover investigation into corruption in Columbus County, codenamed "Colcor".<ref name= alston3/><ref name= mcadams>Template:Cite web</ref>
FBI agents posed as corrupt businessmen with connections to the Detroit Mafia. They set up an illegal gambling club in Lake Waccamaw to make connections with locals<ref name= mcadams/> and paid bribes to a local judge and the town's police chief to protect their operation.<ref name= alston3/> The agents also paid bribes to county commission chairman Ed Walton Williamson in exchange for political influence.<ref name= mcadams/> With Williamson's help, the agents devised a scheme to investigate election fraud by instigating a referendum in the town of Bolton to legalize liquor-by-the-drink and supplying a local political leader with funds to buy votes to achieve their desired outcome,<ref name= alston4>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name= alston2>Template:Cite news</ref> the first time the FBI had ever tried to manipulate a public election.<ref name= mcadams/><ref name= alston2/> The town ultimately voted in favor of legalizing liquor-by-the-drink.<ref name= alston2/> The agents were also asked by State Representative G. Ronald Taylor to burn down a business competitor's property, though Taylor eventually enlisted other men to commit the arson.<ref name= mcadams/>
The FBI publicly revealed the Colcor operation on July 29, 1982.<ref name= alston1/><ref name= alston2/> A total of 40 people were indicted for crimes observed during the course of the investigation. Of those indicted, 38 were convicted of crimes, with many reaching plea bargains with prosecutors.<ref name= alston1>Template:Cite news</ref> The U.S. House of Representatives and the North Carolina State Board of Elections were critical of the FBI's involvement in the vote-buying sting surrounding the liquor referendum in Bolton, with the Board of Elections ultimately nullifying the referendum.Template:Sfn
Economic stagnation
[edit]The manufacturing sector in Columbus County began a decline in the 1990s. Between 1999 and 2014, the county lost about 2,000 manufacturing jobs. The number of local farmers also declined.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The county was heavily impacted by Hurricane Florence in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Geography
[edit]Template:Maplink Columbus County is located in southeastern North Carolina. It is bordered by Bladen County, Pender County, Brunswick County, and Robeson County in North Carolina and Horry County and Dillon County in South Carolina. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total land area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (1.77%) is water.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is the third-largest county in North Carolina by land area.<ref name= censusprofile/> Columbus is drained by the Lumber River and Waccamaw River.Template:Sfn There are several large lakes within the county, including Lake Tabor and Lake Waccamaw.
One of the most significant geographic features is the Green Swamp, a 15,907-acre area in the north-eastern portion of the county. Highway 211 passes alongside it. The swamp contains several unique and endangered species, such as the venus flytrap. The area contains the Brown Marsh Swamp, and has a remnant of the giant longleaf pine forest that once stretched across the Southeast from Virginia to Texas.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
State and local protected areas
[edit]- Columbus County Game Land (part)<ref name="NCWRC Game Lands">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Green Swamp Preserve (part)
- Honey Hill Hunting Preserve
- Juniper Creek Game Land (part)<ref name="NCWRC Game Lands"/>
- Lake Waccamaw State Park
- Lumber River State Park (part)
- North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences at Whiteville
Major water bodies
[edit]Climate
[edit]Columbus County is located in the humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) zone, with mostly moderate temperatures year round. Winters are mild across Columbus, with the warmest winter temperatures found in the eastern and southeastern portions of the county due to the influence of the nearby Atlantic Ocean. The average high temperature in January is around 55 °F (13 °C). Summers are hot and humid, with the hottest summer temperatures found in the northern and western areas of Columbus County. The average high temperature in July is around 90 °F (32 °C).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The USDA hardiness zone for Columbus County is Zone 8B.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demographics
[edit]2020 census
[edit]As of the 2020 census, there were 50,623 people residing in the county.<ref name= censusprofile/> The 2020 census showed a loss of 12.9% of the population from that of 2010. In proportions, the county was racially/ethnically 59.3 percent white, 28.6 percent black, 5.8 percent Hispanic, 3.4 percent American Indian, 0.3 percent Asian, 0.2 percent Pacific Islander, 3 percent two or more races, and 0.3 percent other. Compared to state averages, the county reported higher proportions of black and American Indian residents and lower proportions of white, Asian, and Hispanic residents.<ref name= schofield2/> Whiteville is the largest municipality.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Inclusion of inmate population
[edit]Unlike the 2010 census, the population of incarcerated persons were included in the 2020 census. In 2020, Columbus County had an inmate prison population of approximately 2,500.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Demographic change
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Between 2010 and 2020, Columbus County lost 7,475 residents, a population decline of 12.9 percent. The U.S. Census Bureau recorded declines in 12 of 14 reported communities.<ref name= schofield2>Template:Cite news</ref> Census experts anticipate a further population decline between 2020 and 2030.<ref name= schofield3>Template:Cite news</ref>
Government and politics
[edit]Government
[edit]Columbus County is governed by a seven-member Board of Commissioners.<ref name= nagem1>Template:Cite news</ref> The county is represented in the North Carolina Senate in district 8 and in the North Carolina House of Representatives in district 46.<ref name= nagem2/> The county is a member of the regional Cape Fear Council of Governments, where it participates in area planning on a variety of issues.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Judicial system and law enforcement
[edit]Columbus County lies within the bounds of North Carolina's 15th Prosecutorial District, the 13A Superior Court District, and the 13th District Court District.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Columbus County Sheriff's Office provides law enforcement services for the county as well as operating the Columbus County Detention Center.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There are two state prisons within Columbus County:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2022 Columbus County Sheriff controversy
[edit]In November 2022, Sheriff Jody Greene was re-elected to office after resigning several weeks prior due to allegations of obstructing justice and racism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Immediately after his re-election, District Attorney Jon David filed a new petition for Greene's removal from office, including a request to permanently disqualify him from elected office in Columbus County.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Greene would later resign from office for the second time in January 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of January 2024, a federal investigation into the actions of Sheriff Jody Greene and the Columbus County Sheriff's Office was pending.
Politics
[edit]After the Reconstruction era, Columbus County's politics fell under the domination of the Democratic Party. Through much of the 20th century, local primaries were the preeminent political contests, marked by intense intraparty competition. General elections often displayed low turnout.<ref name= whiteallen>Template:Cite news</ref> Throughout much of the 2000s, the county electorate regularly supported Republican presidential candidates and Democratic local and state candidates. Following the election of Democrat Barack Obama as U.S. president in 2008, Republicans' performance in local races markedly improved.<ref name= nagem1/> As of 2022, the county hosts about 36,200 registered voters, comprising about 15,344 registered Democrats, 10,100 registered Republicans and 10,700 unaffiliated.<ref name= nagem2>Template:Cite news</ref> Despite Democrats' registration advantage, only one unopposed Democrat was elected to a county office in the 2022 local general elections.<ref name= schofield/> In 2024, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won the county with 67 percent of its vote.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Economy
[edit]The economy of Columbus County centers on agriculture and manufacturing. Columbus farmers produce crops such as pecans and peanuts, along with soybeans, potatoes, and corn. Cattle, poultry, and catfish are other agricultural products in the county. Factories in the region produce textiles, tools, and plywood. Household products such as doors, furniture, and windows are also manufactured in Columbus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The county hosts two industrial parks and shares a third with Brunswick County.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> International Paper is the largest employer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to census figures, over 14,000 Columbus residents commute to other counties for work, while about 7,600 residents work within the county.<ref name= williams>Template:Cite news</ref> The North Carolina Department of Commerce classifies the county as economically distressed<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and it has regularly suffered from a higher unemployment rate than the state average.<ref name= williams/>
Transportation
[edit]Airplane facilities are provided by the Columbus County Municipal Airport in Whiteville.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The R.J. Corman Railroad Group operates a shortline railroad in the county.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Major highways
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Education
[edit]Columbus is one of the few counties in North Carolina that has two public school systems: one for the county, which mostly serves rural areas, and one for the city of Whiteville. Both are led by elected school boards.<ref name= schofield>Template:Cite news</ref> The county government maintains a system of six libraries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The county also hosts Southeastern Community College.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to the 2021 American Community Survey, an estimated 14.1 percent of county residents have attained a bachelor's degree or higher level of education.<ref name= censusprofile>Template:Cite web</ref>
Healthcare
[edit]Columbus County is served by a single hospital, Columbus Regional Healthcare System, based in Whiteville.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to the 2022 County Health Rankings produced by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, Columbus County ranked 91st in health outcomes of North Carolina's 100 counties, an improvement over recent years, as it was ranked last from 2010 to 2015. Per the ranking, 26 percent of adults say they are in poor or fair health, the average life expectancy is 74 years, and 17 percent of people under the age of 65 lack health insurance.<ref name=nagemhealth>Template:Cite news</ref> Columbus County has been heavily impacted by the opioid epidemic<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and led the state in opioid pills per person from 2006 to 2012 averaging 113.5 pills per person per year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Communities
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Cities
[edit]- Whiteville (named county seat in 1832 and the largest community)<ref name="ncagr.gov">Template:Cite web</ref>
Towns
[edit]- Boardman
- Bolton
- Brunswick
- Cerro Gordo
- Chadbourn
- Fair Bluff
- Lake Waccamaw
- Sandyfield
- Tabor City (Incorporated as a town 1904)
Townships
[edit]- Bogue
- Bolton
- Bug Hill
- Cerro Gordo
- Chadbourn
- Fair Bluff
- Lees
- Ransom
- South Williams
- Tatums
- Waccamaw
- Welch Creek
- Western Prong
- Williams
- Whiteville
Census-designated places
[edit]Unincorporated communities
[edit]- Acme
- Cherry Grove
- Evergreen
- Nakina
- Olyphic
- Pireway
- Riverview
- Sellerstown
- Williamson's Crossroads
See also
[edit]- List of counties in North Carolina
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Columbus County, North Carolina
- Waccamaw Siouan Indians, state-recognized tribe that resides in the county
References
[edit]Works cited
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External links
[edit]Template:Geographic Location Template:Columbus County, North Carolina Template:North Carolina Template:Authority control