Settlement Patterns before 1950

Raleigh 1872.

In late 1770 Wake County was created, in 1792 the city of Raleigh was established by the state of North Caroline. The North Carolina General Assembly met for the first time in 1794 in Raleigh. The population of Raleigh at 1800 was 669 people. During the 1800’s Raleigh did not grew that much because the city was surrounded by farm land and was not known to be a major culture area with any higher learning institution till 1858 when Peace College was established, A few years later North Carolina State University (1880) opens and Meredith College (1891).

North Carolina State Capitol, 1861.

During the 1880’s Raleigh was North Carolina’s second largest city with the population of 9265 people. Not till the early part of the 20^th century Raleigh has really seen a growth in population .

The state of North Carolina passed a new constitution in 1900 that affected blacks and poor whites from voting and added to the earlier statutory restrictions. The state of North Carolina succeeded in reducing the black population of voters to zero by 1908, and not till 1965 that majority of b

lacks in North Carolina will vote again.

Raleigh’s first airport was open in 1929 it was Curtiss-Wright Flying Field and that same year the stock market crashed and from that 6 of Raleigh’s banks were closed.

Construction of the Commercial National Bank building, 1912

Martin Street business district, 1915

Intersection of Fayetteville and Martin Streets, 1908

Fayetteville Street during the 1910's

Physical Features Chapter 2

Raleigh is located in the northeast region of NC on the bottom of the Great Smoky Mountains of the Appalachian Range. The location of Raleigh is to the north of the American Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain regions meet, that area is know as the “fall line” the reasons because where an upland region like the Smoky Mountains meets with the lower region, the Coastal Plain at which area waterfalls start to appear in rivers and creeks in that area. The result of Raleigh being in that area it main physical features is rolling hills that slope toward the east side of the state fall line.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Raleigh occupies a total area of 115.6 square miles of which 144.6 square miles re dry land and 1.0 square miles is covered by water.
Raleigh is in the subtropical climate with mostly moderate temperatures during the spring, fall and winter, and very hot summer time with high humidity. The weather in the winter during the day is low60's-mid/low 50's °F, and during the night it is in the 30’s °F, during that period Raleigh receives an average of about 7 inches of snow , it also gets freezing rain and sleet and some time experiences major ice storms.


The springs and fall are usually in low to mid 70’s °F during the day and with lows at 40’s-50’s °F at night, and summer time during the day it is in the upper 80 to low to mid 90’s °F.
That regions rainiest period is during the hurricane season in the Golf of Mexico during the month of July through August.