Cary North Carolina History & Facts

Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest municipality in North Carolina, and the 148th largest in the United States.In 2021, the town's population had increased to 176,987.

Cary began as a railroad village and became known as an educational center in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.In April 1907, Cary High School became the first state-funded public high school in North Carolina.The creation of the nearby Research Triangle Park in 1959 resulted in Cary's population doubling in a few years, tripling in the 1970s, and doubling in both the 1980s and 1990s. Cary is now the location of numerous technology companies, including the world's largest privately held software company.

In Cary, 68.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, which is higher than the state average.In 2021, it was identified as the safest mid-sized city in the United States, based on 2019 FBI data. It also has a median household income of $107,463, higher than the county average of $83,567 or the state average of $56,642.

Before the arrival of European settlers, the Tuscarora people lived in what is now called Cary.In the 1750s, John Bradford moved to the area and opened an ordinary or inn, giving Cary its first name—Bradford's Ordinary.However, most of the land remained in the hands of two men, both named Nathaniel Jones. Arriving around 1775, Jones of White Plains plantation owned 10,461 acres (4,233 ha) in eastern Cary, while Jones of Crabtree owned most of what is now western Cary.After the Revolutionary War, the community was on the road between the new capital in Raleigh and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In the early 19th-century, Eli Yates added a gristmill and sawmill to the community, while Rufus Jones founded the first free school in the 1840s, along with Asbury Methodist Church, the community's first church.

In 1854, Bradford's Ordinary was linked to a major transportation route when the North Carolina Railroad came through the settlement, followed by the Chatham Railroad in 1868.The railroad tracks were laid mostly by enslaved people.Wake County farmer and lumberman Allison Francis "Frank" Page also arrived in 1854 and is credited with founding the town.For $2,000, Page purchased 300 acres (121.4 ha) surrounding the planned railroad junction and built his home called Pages, a sawmill, and a general store.Page also donated 10 acres (4.0 ha) for a railroad depot.

The community was unofficially known as Page, Page's Siding, Page's Station, Page's Tavern, and Page's Turnout.In 1856, Page added a post office and became the town's first postmaster.Page named the community Cary because of his admiration for Samuel Fenton Cary, head of the Sons of Temperance in North America, who had delivered an oration in Raleigh two months prior.

The Civil War did not come to Cary until April 16, 1865—the same day Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered—when 5,000 Confederate troops under General Wade Hampton III encamped there. The next day, Raleigh surrendered to Union General William T. Sherman, and Major General Francis Preston Blair Jr. led the XVII Corps (Union Army) into Cary and established headquarters at the Nancy Jones House, the former home of Jones of Crabtree that had become a tavern and stagecoach stop on the road between Raleigh and Chapel Hill. With Blair's arrival, Cary's enslaved population was emancipated; some went to Raleigh and joined the 135th U.S. Colored Troops. Blair remained in Cary until the surrender of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston on April 27, 1865.

Famous Peoples From Cary North Carolina

Gale Adcock

Gale Adcock (born January 25, 1954) is a family nurse practitioner and American politician who has served in the North Carolina House of Representatives representing the 41st district (including constituents in Wake County) since 2015.

Adcock was raised in southwestern Virginia.She earned an undergraduate degree in nursing from East Carolina University and a master's of science in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.She has been a nurse practitioner since 1987 and was Chief Health Officer at SAS Institute before retiring in October 2020.She was elected to the North Carolina House in 2014.She lives in Cary North Carolina.She previously served on the Cary City Council from 2007 to 2014.

Adcock has served as president of the North Carolina Nurses Association, chair of the North Carolina Center for Nursing, and as a 2-term member of the North Carolina Board of Nursing. She is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She has received numerous awards and honors, including the Barbara Thoman Curtis Award for political activism from the American Nurses Association in 2018.

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