Cabarrus County North Carolina - Local Information

Cabarrus County is a growing community located just North of Charlotte, North Carolina.  It encompasses the cities and towns of Concord, Harrisburg, Kannapolis,  Midland and Mount Pleasant.  Cabarrus County is known for its quality public school system and low property taxes.  It is home to the #1 tourist destination in the state, Concord Mills Mall, as well as Lowes Motor Speedway and Reed Gold Mine.

HISTORY

Cabarrus County occupies a triangular section of North Carolina's southwest piedmont. Settlement of this area began in the mid-eighteenth century. Early settlers were predominantly Scotch-Irish and Germans. A small group of Welsh-English families were also among the earliest settlers. Before coming to North Carolina, these groups had settled in southeast Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

In 1792, Cabarrus County separated from Mecklenburg County and became a functioning government the next year. The county was named for Stephen Cabarrus, Speaker of the House of Commons who cast the deciding vote in the county's creation.

Cabarrus has gently rolling terrain and a number of small streams which all flow southeasterly toward the Pee Dee River. The largest are Rocky River, which flows through the county's western and southern sections, Coddle Creek in the western area, Irish Buffalo and Cold Water Creeks in the central area, and Dutch Buffalo Creek in the eastern section of the county.

The spectacular growth of the county's textile industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries transformed Cabarrus from an almost exclusively rural into a predominantly urban county. Today dairy products, beef cattle, swine, poultry, wheat, soybeans, corn and milo dominate the county's agriculture. Most farms of present-day Cabarrus County are large scale, capital-intensive operations.

Concord, the county's largest city, was established in 1796 near the center of the county to serve as the seat of local government. It began as a small hamlet and became the major cotton market for an area that included parts of several surrounding counties. Concord retains its handsome neighborhoods of fine Italianate, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival residences to the north and south of the central business district. Concord was named as a symbol of harmony after much lively discussion about whether the center of trade should be in the northern or southern part of the county.

James William Cannon developed Kannapolis, the county's next largest city, when he undertook a major expansion of the Cannon Manufacturing Company in 1907. Initially, Kannapolis consisted primarily of houses erected by Cannon Manufacturing and Cabarrus Cotton Mills. This housing remains intact today, and Kannapolis has one of the largest and best-preserved mill villages in the entire South.

The town of Mt. Pleasant in the eastern part of the county had emerged by the 1830s. The North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church established a male academy there in 1853. When the school was elevated to college status in 1858, the outlook for the area looked bright, but the college failed to regain its footing after the Civil War. The town retains several mid-19th-century buidings related to its early educational institutions and a fine collection of 19th and early 20th century residences.

Harrisburg, in the county's southwest section, experienced considerable expansion at the turn of the century, but failed to outgrow its status as a small rural trading and processing center. A handful of frame commercial buildings and some late 19th and early 20th century houses are what remain of the town's early sections.

History Source: The Historic Architecture of Cabarrus County North Carolina, by Peter R. Kaplain, Historic Cabarrus, Inc., 1981

For further information about Cabarrus County North Carolina visit the following websites:  Cabarrus County, Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce, Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors  Bureau, Cabarrus County Schools and Kannapolis City Schools.

 Visit the City of Concord Website

 Visit the Town of Harrisburg Website  

 Visit the City of Kannapolis Website

 Visit the Town of Midland Website  

  Visit the Town of Mount Pleasant Website