Raleigh, North Carolina

Cities, 1794-

Raleigh, North Carolina, was the namesake of Sir Walter Raleigh, who sponsored a settlement of about 115 people on Roanoke Island, in 1587—a pioneer village in the New World that came to be known as the “Lost Colony.”

When it was named the county seat of Wake county as well as the state capital in 1792, Raleigh did not exist as a city or town, but was rather a more centrally located area for better protection against the British and for better access by the rest of the state. The first capital, New Bern, was located on the Carolina coast. The new town was built 12 miles south of a once-popular hangout for state legislators called Isaac Hunter’s Tavern, and the state capital was officially moved there, in 1794.

Noteworthy in Raleigh’s history is that Andrew Johnson, who was sworn in as president shortly after Abraham Lincoln was killed, was born there in a log cabin in 1808. Eighteen years later in 1826, Johnson left Raleigh and moved to eastern Tennessee where he opened a tailor shop and married the following year.

Growth and setbacks

Raleigh’s growth was slow despite its good fortune of surviving destruction during the Civil War. Its original size changed very little from its origins until streetcar lines were installed in the 1920s. Today it is known as the “City of Oaks,” and is part of the Raleigh-Durham metro area, the most densely populated area of the state.

Growth in the city began to take off when the Research Triangle Park opened in 1959, anchored by. RTI International, which is now the nation’s second largest independent nonprofit research organization. Located between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, the triangle ushered in a time of extensive, high-tech growth for the area.

Among the natural disasters Raleigh has been hit by, was when Hurricane Fran, a Category 3 storm, blew through the city in 1996, and causing $3 billion in damage to the Eastern Seaboard, and killing 26 people.

Notable transportation facilities

Major growth occurred within the area when 24-mile loop of I-440, also known as the Raleigh Beltline or the Cliff Benson Beltline, first opened in 1984. The freeway circumnavigates downtown Raleigh, enabling easier access to other cities within the Triangle, as well as allowing through traffic to avoid the downtown area. The loop brought together some portions of existing expressways, such as I-40, US 1, and US 64, and new construction, mainly on the south side of the city.

When it was built, the Beltline was the only U.S. interstate highway that was without compass directions (e.g. east/west), using “inner” (clockwise) loop and “outer” (counterclockwise) loop as designations. As knowledge of its baffling signage became known, compass designations were assigned, and other clarifications are continuing to be made.

Raleigh-Durham International Airport is located northwest of Raleigh on I-40, between the two cities. While the airport was being constructed in 1942, it was commandeered by the U.S. military and used during World War II. By May 1943, the Raleigh-Durham Army Air Base contained barracks, office buildings, and three airstrips. The year following the end of the war, the military returned more than 1,200 acres of the base the cities from which they came. Raleigh-Durham International Airport began regular civilian commercial flights, provided by Capital Airlines, in 1947.

Institutions of Higher Learning

Raleigh is home North Carolina State University, a public land-grant university with a student enrollment of 30,000, and the largest university in the state. It was founded in March 1887, by an act of the North Carolina General Assembly to provide education in agriculture and engineering.

Also included on Raleigh’s roster of colleges and universities are Meredith College, Shaw University, and Peace College where women have been studying liberal arts since its establishment in 1857.

The second oldest women's college in North Carolina behind Salem College in Winston-Salem, Peace College came under the ownership of the First Presbyterian Church of Raleigh in 1962, after its past owner, the Synod of North Carolina was forced to close its doors. St. Augustine's College, which was founded in 1867 to educate former slaves, has evolved from an African-American-based student body to one that is multicultural and multi-national.

Museums and places of culture

Raleigh has several interesting museums and venues for the performing arts. Included on the list is the North Carolina Museum of History, which contains the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Sports aficionados will find such interesting pieces of sports history as Richard Petty’s stock car and Meadowlark Lemon’s Harlem Globetrotters basketball uniform. Among others that call Raleigh home is the North Carolina Museum of Art and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, which is the largest such museum in the southeast United States.

Cultural activities can be found at the massive Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. This complex contains the Fletcher Opera Theater, Kennedy Theatre, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, and the Meymandi Concert Hall.

Raleigh Memorial Auditorium seats about 2,300 for such events as music concerts, dance, comedy, and Broadway productions. The Fletcher Opera Theater is a 600-seat theater that provides a more intimate venue for dance, music, and theatrical productions, with the furthest seat in the balcony located just 68 feet from the stage.

Sports

The Carolina Hurricanes, a professional ice hockey team, is the only major league sports franchise to have survived in Raleigh. Tensions regarding Raleigh’s inability to attract and keep a professional sports team were eased somewhat, upon the completion of the RBC Center. The arena's name is derived from one of its principle owners, the Royal Bank of Canada and its subsidiary Centura Bank.

Formerly known as the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena, the RBC seats more than 19,700 people for basketball and more than 18,500 people for ice hockey. The increased seating capacity is being used as part of a package that might someday lure an NBA franchise to the city.

College sports are quite popular, however, given the great number of universities in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. A tense rivalry between the Wolfpack, and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference teams such as the University of North Carolina Tar Heels (Chapel Hill), the Duke University Blue Devils (Durham), and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (Winston-Salem), exists due to the proximity of one another—about 100 miles along I-40 separate the schools farthest apart—earning that strip of highway the affectionate moniker “Tobacco Road.”