Cherryville

History

During the last half of the 18th century, German, Dutch, and Scots-Irish families from the Colony of Pennsylvania migrated south and settled in the Cherryville area. Land grants made by King George III of Great Britain date back to 1768, and as early as 1792 Governor Samuel Ashe of North Carolina made grants in and around "White Pine", as the settlement was known at the time. A village began to develop at a crossroads of the Morganton-to-Charleston road, closely followed by modern Highway 274 / Mountain Street, and the Old Post Road, a main thoroughfare between Salisbury, North Carolina, and Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1862, the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad (later known as the Carolina Central Railroad) reached White Pine. Construction of the railroad westward from Cherryville was interrupted by the Civil War, so that throughout the war Cherryville was a western terminus of the railroads in North Carolina. When construction resumed and the railroad extended beyond Cherryville, the town served as a water and coal stop. Along the railroad, a local resident planted cherry trees, and the train engineers soon began calling the settlement "Cherryville". The town was incorporated under this name in 1881. Agriculture was Cherryville's main economic base for many years. However, during the late 19th century, the textile industry became established in the town. Cherryville's first cotton mill, the Cherryville Manufacturing Plant, was incorporated in 1891. It was soon followed by the opening of three other mills. By the start of the 20th century, the rural village had become an industrial community of a thousand people. All of these plants have since closed. In 1932, a trucking company began operating in Cherryville with one truck hauling produce from…

Geography

Cherryville is located in Cherryville Township at an elevation of . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city covers a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.21%, is water. The small Cherryville City Reservoir is located just southeast of the city limits. Cherryville is located along a divide among three watersheds. The western end of Cherryville is in the watershed of Muddy Creek, a right tributary of Buffalo Creek and part of the Broad River catchment basin. The north side of Cherryville is in the Indian Creek watershed, drained by Lick Fork Creek and an unnamed tributary of Indian Creek. The south side of Cherryville Township is in the Beaverdam Creek watershed, drained by unnamed right-hand tributaries of Beaverdam Creek. Indian Creek and Beaverdam Creek are tributaries of the South Fork Catawba River.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Bessemer City High
  High · Bessemer City · 566 students · 18.3:1 ratio
• Bessemer City Middle
  Middle · Bessemer City · 500 students · 19.2:1 ratio
• Cherryville High
  High · Cherryville · 492 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• Costner Elementary
  Elementary · Dallas · 485 students · 17.3:1 ratio
• Bessemer City Primary
  Elementary · Bessemer City · 445 students · 16.5:1 ratio
• John Chavis Middle School
  Middle · Cherryville · 413 students · 14.8:1 ratio
• Bessemer City Central Elem
  Elementary · Bessemer City · 407 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• Cherryville Elementary
  Elementary · Cherryville · 383 students · 15.3:1 ratio