Holly Springs, North Carolina Holly Springs, North Carolina Downtown Holly Springs, NC Downtown Holly Springs, NC Flag of Holly Springs, North Carolina Flag Official seal of Holly Springs, North Carolina Holly Springs is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States.

As of the 2010 census, the town populace was 24,661, over 2 times its populace in 2000. Holly Springs is positioned at 35 39 16 N 78 49 29 W (35.654583, 78.824624). The Tuscarora Indians used the region around Holly Springs as a hunting ground before to colonial settlement.

The town of Holly Springs interval around fresh water springs, believed to be the initial "holly springs", near the intersection of what is now Avent Ferry Road and Cass Holt Road.

Archibald Leslie, a Scottish tailor, appeared in the improve around 1817, opened a tailoring company and a store and soon began assembly of a home near the springs.

Holly Springs Baptist Church, established in 1822, was the town's first prosperous church. The Masonic Lodge #115 was formed in 1847, and in 1854 a two-story lodge building was erected.

This building also served as one of the town's first schools. Holly Springs Academy opened its doors in 1854 to prepare young men for admission to Wake Forest College.

With the men of the town gone, both schools in Holly Springs closed, and Holly Springs became a virtual ghost town.

When the Union Army receded northward, Holly Springs lay in its path.

Also amid the war, for a two-week period, a segment of the Union Army encamped near Holly Springs and set up command posts in the Leslie-Alford-Mims House.

The little improve of Holly Springs had appeared to be on its way to becoming a bustling town, but the Civil War ultimately left the improve economically devastated.

The exodus was encouraged by assembly of the Chatham Railroad through the village of Apex, giving that neighboring town a link to the outside world which Holly Springs did not have.

Amis described Holly Springs in 1871 as "a deserted village." The Town of Holly Springs was established in 1877.

In 1875, George Benton Alford moved his prosperous mercantile company from Middle Creek Township to Holly Springs and was instrumental in beginning an economic revival in the community.

Alford, a businessman and politician, started a several businesses including a mercantile store, a sawmill, a cotton gin and the Holly Springs Land and Improvement Company, and eventually, the General Assembly granted the town a charter.

During the post-war period, a several attempts were made to revive the Holly Springs Academy, but none was successful.

By this point, Alford was a wealthy man, and he had dreams of turning Holly Springs into an industrialized city of 10,000 citizens . The town's populace had not increased a great deal, holding at around 300, but the company improve and the schools were drawing outsiders.

The Bank of Holly Springs, established before the turn of the 20th century, floundered in 1924.

Holly Springs experienced difficulty amid this time, although WPA funds were used to build a school auditorium.

World War II did what World War I had done, drawing more young citizens away from Holly Springs to war and/or to metros/cities for jobs.

At the close of the war Holly Springs was faced with a depleted population.

During the early 1950s, while most Piedmont metros/cities were booming, Holly Springs was stagnant.

The town board consisted of many of its prominent black people, among them Burnis Lassiter, Cora Lassiter, James Norris (Holly Springs' first black mayor), John Mc - Neil, Edison Perkins, George Kimble, and "Preacher" Beckwith.

Later, in the 1980s other prominent black people joined the town council, among them Nancy Womble, Reverend Otis Byrd, and one who remains on the town council today, Parrish "Ham" Womble. During this reconstructionthe town hired Dessie Mae Womble, the first black female chief of police in the state of North Carolina.

As segregation gave way to integration, the Holly Springs School for Blacks was closed, and many of its students were sent to encircling communities to further their educations.

This was the beginning of an era of busing for the community, which continued until the late 1990s when Holly Springs Elementary School on Holly Springs Road was opened. It was 1992 before Holly Springs, in line for the spillover from increased populations in Cary and Apex, suddenly boomed.

Holly Springs Community Library, part of the Wake County Public Library system, and a cultural arts facility opened in early December 2006. Holly Springs Branch Library On July 18, 2006, it was announced that the pharmaceutical business Novartis would be building a manufacturing facility in Holly Springs and employing approximately 350 to produce flu vaccines using new technologies.

The manufacturing facility was assembled on 167 acres (0.68 km2) in Holly Springs Business Park off N.C.

For years, town leaders have turn into increasingly confident that Holly Springs is positioned to experience high growth, propelled by the economic engine of Research Triangle Park (RTP). At a distance of 18 miles (29 km), Holly Springs is close to RTP.

The Harrington-Dewar House, Holly Springs Masonic Lodge, and Leslie-Alford-Mims House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On April 16, 2011, a large tornado touched down close to the Holly Springs town center, uprooting trees and destroying homes and buildings. Holly Springs Elementary School Holly Springs High School Holly Springs is also home to the Holly Springs Salamanders, a baseball team which will begin play in 2015 in the Coastal Plain League.

"Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Holly Springs town, North Carolina".

"Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Holly Springs town, North Carolina".

Town History, Holly Springs, NC Holly Springs Lodge #115 | To Be, Rather than to Seem Holly Springs, NC Official Website The Civil War in Holly Springs a b Holly Springs, NC Official Website Doorways to the Past "Holly Springs seeks to balance growth".

Town of Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce: Town History Town of Holly Springs: Town History Town of Holly Springs official website Holly Springs Chamber of Commerce Holly Springs Youth Football & Cheerleading Booster Club Holly Springs Arts Council

Categories:
Towns in Wake County, North Carolina - Towns in North Carolina - Populated places established in 1800 - 1800 establishments in North Carolina