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Greensboro, North Carolina (IPA: ), is a city in Guilford County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the largest city in the Piedmont Triad region.
As of the 2000 census, the city population was 223,891, making it the third most populous city in North Carolina. Its estimated 2006 population is 240,955.
It is located at the intersection of two interstate highways (I-85 and I-40) in the Piedmont ("foot of the mountains") region in central North Carolina.
In 1808, Greensborough (as it was spelled before 1895) was planned around a central courthouse square to replace Guilford Court House as the county seat. This act moved the county courts closer to the geographical center of the county, a location more easily reached by a greater number of the county's citizens.
In 2004, the previous Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was broken up by the U.S. Census Bureau, resulting in the formation of the Greensboro-High Point MSA and the Winston-Salem MSA. The 2004 Greensboro-High Point MSA estimate was 667,542. The Greensboro - Winston-Salem - High Point combined statistical area, popularly referred to as the Piedmont Triad, had an estimated population of 1,490,886 in 2005. Source: US Bureau of the Census, Released April 2006
The town is home to several universities and colleges. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T), Guilford College, Bennett College, and Greensboro College all call Greensboro home. In addition, the state community college system has several campuses for Guilford Technical Community College. In August of 2006, the Elon University School of Law opened a campus in downtown Greensboro.
The city is the home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball club of the South Atlantic League and the Carolina Dynamo of the USL Premier Development League. The Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, one of the oldest national PGA Tour golf events, is held in Greensboro every fall at Forest Oaks Country Club.
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History
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The city was named for Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the American forces at the Battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, 1781. The Americans lost that battle but the Pyrrhic victory slowed Cornwallis' British forces enough to allow the Americans to prepare to defeat them at the Battle of Yorktown, where the British were forced to surrender on October 19, 1781, after a 20-day siege, thus ending the American Revolution.
In the early 1840s, Greensboro was selected by the state government at the request of then Governor Morehead whose estate, Blandwood, is located in Greensboro, to become a railroad hub and substantially grew in size. It soon became known as the Gateway City. The railroads transported goods to and from the textile industries, which grew up around Greensboro due to its location. Many of these businesses remained in the city until the 21st century, when many of them went bankrupt, reorganized, and/or merged with other companies. Greensboro remains as a major textile headquarters city with the main offices of International Textile Group (Cone, Burlington Industries), Galey & Lord, Unifi, and VF Corporation (Wrangler, Lee, North Face, Vanity Fair). Rail traffic continues as Greensboro is a major North Carolina freight hub, and four Amtrak passenger trains stop in Greensboro daily on the main Norfolk & Western line between Washington and New Orleans by way of Atlanta. FedEx is scheduled to open a major hub near Piedmont Triad Airport.
Greensboro has been known for being on the forefront of issues involving racial and ethnic equality, sometimes resulting in nationally known events. During the 19th century, with its large concentration of anti-slavery Quakers near Guilford College (now part of Greensboro), the town was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The Railroad helped to smuggle runaway slaves to freedom in the North. In the 1861 Secession Convention Vote, Guilford County voted against secession from the Union by a margin of 2771-to-112, the fourth largest "no" margin in the state. Later, in the 1890s, the city caught the attention of a number of Jews, who established a thriving business community headed by Moses and Ceasar Cone.
Though the city developed slowly, early wealth generated from cotton trade and merchandising led to the construction of several notable buildings. The earliest building, later named Blandwood Mansion and Gardens, built in 1795. Additions to this residence in 1846 designed by A. J. Davis of New York City made the house an influential landmark in the nation as America's earliest Tuscan Villa. Other significant estates followed, including "Dunleith" designed by Samuel Sloan, Bellemeade, and the Bumpass-Troy House (now operated as an inn). Early civic architecture included the Guilford County Courthouse, West Market Street Methodist Church by S. W. Faulk, several buildings designed by Frank A. Weston, and UNCG's Main Building designed by Orlo Epps. During the twentieth century, Greensboro expanded in wealth and population due to profitable textile and tobacco interests. Rapid growth led to construction of grand commercial and civic buildings many of which remain standing today, designed by hometown architects Charles Hartmann, Harry Barton, Ed Loewenstein, and nationally prominent designers such as Walter Gropius, Eduardo Catalano, and George Matsumoto.
On February 1, 1960, four black college students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat down at an all-white Woolworths lunch counter, and refused to leave when they were denied service. Hundreds of others soon joined in this sit-in, which lasted for several months. Such protests quickly spread across the South, ultimately leading to the desegregation of Woolworths and other chains. The original Woolworths counter and stools now sit in the Smithsonian, but a Sit-In Museum is being built in the old Woolworths building where the event actually occurred.
On November 3, 1979, members of the Communist Workers Party were holding an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally, when a group of KKK and neo-Nazis caravanned into the Morningside Heights neighborhood in which the rally was being convened and ambushed the protest. Four local TV stations filmed the event as it happened. The Klansmen/Nazis (members of the recently created United Racist Front) allegedly were given directions and a parade permit by an undercover agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who attended Klan meetings and, it is believed, acted as the final impetus toward a showdown. The alleged actions of the BATF agent, as well as the evidence of other government informers who worked with the Klan at the time, have led to allegations of city/state/federal wrongdoing by members of the CWP. Although a pistol was probably fired by a CWP organizer (allegedly into the air) and the Klan caravan was beaten with sticks prior to stopping, only anti-Klan protesters were hurt. Five CWP members were killed and seven were wounded and television footage of the event was shown across the nation. This event is known as the Greensboro massacre. The Klansmen/Nazis were all acquitted by an all-white jury in two separate criminal trials. A civil suit found the five police and two individuals liable for $350,000 in damages, to be paid to the Greensboro Justice Fund. In 2005, some Greensboro residents, inspired by post-apartheid South Africa, initiated a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to take public testimony and examine the causes and consequences of the massacre. It is the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission convened in the United States.
A 2006 Greensboro City Manager's investigation of the Police Department and subsequent investigative reporting by nationally known crime novelist, Jerry Bledsoe, once again brought charges of racism from both sides to the public's attention in Greensboro.
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Neighborhoods
Greensboro's early neighborhoods include College Hill, Bellemeade, Fisher Park,Sunset Hills and Aycock. These were the first neighborhoods to develop outside the central historical core of the city. Other historical neighborhoods developed after automobile use, including Starmount, Irving Park, Lake Daniel Park, Lindley Park, Hamilton Lakes, Rankin, O'Henry Oaks, and Glenwood. Recent additions to the city include the Southside neighborhood redevelopment, Adams Farm, Lake Jeanette, The Cardinal and Reedy Fork Ranch.
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Sister cities
Greensboro enjoys "sister city" status with two cities to foster international friendship and cooperation.
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Geography and climate
Greensboro is located at (36.079868, -79.819416).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 283.0 km² (109.2 mi²). 271.2 km² (104.7 mi²) of it is land and 11.8 km² (4.5 mi²) of it (4.16%) is water.
Greensboro enjoys gently rolling hills and is midway between the mountains of North Carolina and its beaches to the east. A view of the city from its highest building—the Lincoln Financial tower—reveals that the town is populated with large numbers of green trees, giving perhaps another dimension to its name. The town is well-situated in terms of travel, with Interstates 40, 85, and the soon-to-be-built I-73 passing through its borders.
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Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 223,891 people, 92,394 households, and 53,958 families residing in the city. The population density was 825.6/km² (2,138.3/mi²). There were 99,305 housing units at an average density of 366.2/km² (948.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 55.49% White, 37.40% Black or African American, 0.44% Native American, 2.84% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.08% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. 4.35% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 92,394 households out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 14.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.6% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.94.
The age distribution is 22.3% under the age of 18, 14.1% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $39,661, and the median income for a family was $50,192. Males had a median income of $34,681 versus $26,797 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,986. About 8.6% of families and 12.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.8% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.
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Demographic Diversity
Greensboro has become home to many diverse ethnic groups, due to its strong economy, helpful religious groups, and some sense of community tolerance.
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Asians
Perhaps the greatest number of immigrants have arrived from Asia. The Vietnamese are the largest single refugee population to be resettled in the US in the last 30 years. About 4,000 have resettled in the Greensboro area since 1979 as refugees or secondary migrants. They are a diverse population culturally, ethnically, and religiously, and not organized through any broad based structure. The Montagnards (French for "mountain people") are people from a number of different tribes from the Highlands of Vietnam. They had been isolated mountain farmers and hunter-gatherers until the Vietnam War when the US government recruited them as front line soldiers for the US Army Special Forces. About 5,000 have now settled in Guilford County making it the largest Montagnard community outside Vietnam. Over 1000 live in the Charlotte and Raleigh areas combined. A few hundred Nung, a tribal group from northern Vietnam, have been resettled here too and are often grouped with the Montagnard tribes. The total Montagnard population for the state is approaching 7,000 people. In the early 1980's, the first Cambodian refugees were resettled in Greensboro. A stable community of about 60 large families representing about 500 people are closely affiliated with the Greensboro Buddhist Center. An additional 800 Cambodians live around the Triad including a large concentration in nearby Davidson County. Greensboro was not an initial resettlement site for Laotians. However, since the mid 1980's many families came as secondary migrants from other states, and now the Laotian population is stabilized at about 1000 people. North Carolina has a few thousand hill tribe refugees from Laos, mostly Hmong, who migrated from other states to rural areas of North Carolina plus new arrivals who came in 2005. A few families live in Guilford County plus over 50 college students at UNCG, but over 15,000 have resettled in the state, mostly in the western Piedmont areas. Other hill tribe populations from Laos in Guilford include approximately 200 Khmu refugees as well as small groups of other tribes. About 2,000 Korean immigrants, many well established, are represented in Guilford County. An additional 2,000 live in the extended Triad area. Ethnic Chinese are part of many Asian countries. The local Chinese Association, comprised primarily of mainland Chinese, has a few hundred members. Ethnic Chinese here are in the thousands.
An Indian immigrant population estimated at 2000 is well established in the Guilford area and has a long history here. Many are connected with university and medical communities and have multiple community organizations. There are an estimated 600 Pakistanis living in Guilford County. There are estimates of over 1,000 Palestinians in the Guilford County area, and additional thousands in the greater Triad. Many came after the war in 1967. A few hundred Israeli nationals have also come to the Triad, particularly in international business positions.
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Africans
There are close to 15,000 people from many of the 54 African nations living in Guilford County, but no official population numbers are available because the census categorizes these people as African-American or Black. They come from Christian, Muslim, and traditional religious orientations and represent numerous tribal affiliations. About 10 percent of Guilford County's African population are refugees. The African Services Coalition, a nonprofit organization composed of representatives from different African communities, seeks to foster cooperation between the various communities. Some communities have roots at NC A&T State University that go back to the sixties when the university was recognized as a valuable educational resource by developing countries. The Nigerian population is an older, well-established community believed to be the largest African community in Guilford County with about 3,500 people, including second and third generations. This group reflects a variety of religious and tribal traditions. Many of the Nigerians in Guilford County first lived in New York, New Jersey or Washington D.C, and settled in Guilford County after obtaining official status. Guilford County has a long-term, multigenerational Ghanaian population consisting of approximately 450 people. The few new arrivals are mostly international students at area universities, or friends and family members of previous residents. A well established population of 800 people of Sierra Leonese ancestry has made Guilford County their home. This population has either stayed the same or decreased because the temporary protective status that used to be available to some immigrants from this area has been ended.
The Sudanese population is a diverse population. Most Sudanese have come to Guilford County within the last five years and are currently more than 2,700 people. Many are fleeing the long-standing war in this largest country of Africa. A group of young Sudanese from the south, commonly referred to as the "Lost Boys," have been recently resettled as refugees. Most Sudanese, however, are Muslims from the north. In the last year, many have become citizens, which has allowed people to bring family members from Sudan, leading to a population increase of several hundred in the last year.
An estimated 3,000 people from Niger have arrived in the last few years. This is one of the newest and fastest growing African populations. There are approximately 400 refugees from Somalia who have arrived in the last six years, including Benadir from the city of Mogadishu and newly arriving refugees from the Bantu tribe. There are an estimated 1,200 Liberians settled in Guilford County. This population includes some refugees who are recent arrivals, and others who have lived in Guilford County for many years. In the last couple of years, a few hundred Liberian refugees who had been living in refugee camps in the Ivory Coast and Ghana have been resettled in Guilford County.
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Eastern Europeans
Settlers have also arrived from Eastern Europe. From the former Yugoslavia (including Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia are Bosnians, and others from former Yugoslavia that have been arriving since 1994 as refugees. There are around 2,000 people who have been resettled here. Greensboro has been a resettlement site in the last few years for approximately 250 Russian and Ukrainian refugees, most of them Jewish. In the last few years a few families totaling less than 200 people have been resettled in Guilford as refugees. Some others have come as secondary migrants.
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Latin Americans
The Hispanic/Latino population poses some of the greatest opportunities and challenges for acculturation. They are at the core of the North Carolina economic boom of the nineties as farm, factory, and construction workers. Their taxes finance many of the state's services and resources but those who are not citizens are barred from using many of these services. They now have young children born here who are US citizens, growing up as bilingual and bicultural North Carolinians. These youth will be the state's investment in the future as we move further toward being a global economy and a bicultural state. According to the 2002 and 2003 estimates of Latino population in Guilford County published by Faith Action Inc, there was a 4% increase in Latino population between those years, and in 2003 the population was 26,981. Though there were not follow up studies using this method, we can estimate that if population continued to increase by 4% annually, the current Latino population would be approximately 29,182. Other studies indicate the rate of increase may be even more. This dramatic Hispanic/Latino increase is sufficient to move Guilford County and much of North Carolina into becoming a bilingual and bicultural state.
The predominant immigrant population across North Carolina is a growing and diverse Hispanic/Latino population. Over two thirds of these immigrants are from Mexico, though it is thought that all 26 countries are represented. Most Hispanic/Latinos have arrived since 1990. Growth is expected to continue as long as economic opportunities prevail. Poverty in Latin America, family and home village connections, and the availability of jobs in North Carolina affect migration patterns.
For more information on the diversity of Greensboro, visit The Center for New North Carolinians
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Institutes of higher education
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For Profit universities
ECPI College of Technology
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Boarding schools
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Private education
An independent, non-sectarian school established in 1970. It enrolls students in transitional-kindergarten through twelfth grade and is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and by the Southern Association of Independent Schools.
Greensboro Montessori School (website)
An independent Montessori school established in 1974. It enrolls students aged four months to eighth grade and is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and by the American Montessori Society.
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Public education
High Schools and Middle Colleges
Opened in 1958, taking its name from Walter Hines Page, a North Carolina journalist and former ambassador to Britain. Page High School has a student body of nearly 1800 students.
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Attractions
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The Bog Garden is accessed by an elevated boardwalk that comprises a half-mile of the 1.06 miles of trails that wind through the Bog Garden. Along the Bog Garden trails are found an array of wetland flora, including trees, shrubs, wildflowers and fern species that thrive in wetland ecosystems. The Bog Garden also provides a place for viewing wetland wildlife, such as migratory and indigenous birds.
Bicentennial Garden was developed in 1976 to commemorate our the national bicentennial. It contains 1.25 miles of paved trails that showcase scenic vistas and a variety of seasonal and annual plants, flowers, and shrubs. Outdoor sculptures provides aesthetic and historic interest. There is also a pavilion available for outdoor weddings.
Greensboro Center City Park Center City Park, a new park set to open in October 2006, will occupy a full city block adjacent to the Greensboro Cultural Center. Sponsored by Action Greensboro, and designed by Halvorson Design Partnership, the park features a fountain as well as works by several North Carolina artists. It will be open to the public for day-to-day use and for events and performances.
Greensboro Arboretum was completed as a partnership between Greensboro Beautiful and the Greensboro Parks & Recreation Department. It provides citizens with a broad selection of plants for study and enjoyment. This 17-acre site features 12 permanent plant collections and special display gardens, structural features including a fountain, overlook, arbor, gazebo, bridges, and benches.
Blandwood Mansion and Gardens was the home of former North Carolina Governor John Motley Morehead. Today it stands as a museum of national architectural and historical significance. It is the earliest example of Tuscan Italianate architecture in the nation, and was designed by New York architect A. J. Davis.
World War Memorial Stadium was one of the nation's oldest continuously used baseball venues before it was abandoned for First Horizon Stadium in 2005. The stadium was constructed in 1926 as a perpetual memorial to lives lost during the first World War. It anchors the Aycock Historic District, and remains used by college ball clubs, amateur leagues, and other special events throughout the year.
First Horizon Park is home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball club. Completed in 2005, it hosts other outdoor events during the summer.
Greensboro Coliseum Complex The Greensboro Coliseum Complex was conceived as, and continues to be a multi-building facility to serve the Citizens of Greensboro and the surrounding area through a broad range of activities, including athletic events, cultural arts, concerts, theater, and other entertainment, educational activities, fairs, exhibits, and public and private events of all kinds, such as conventions, convocations, trade and consumer shows. It is both a primary center of activity for the community as well as one of many resources central to community-wide events. The Greensboro Coliseum Complex has hosted such prestigious events as the ACC Tournament, ECHL and AHL hockey, and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The NHL Carolina Hurricanes hockey team called Greensboro home while a new coliseum as being constructed in Raleigh. Since 1959, the Coliseum has featured superstars from Elvis to Usher. It will host the 2010 ACC Basketball Tournaments (men's and women's). The Complex has undergone several major renovations, the latest in 1994, bringing the maximum arena capacity to its current 23,500.
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park This memorial site commemorates the Battle of Guilford Court House, fought on March 15, 1781. This battle opened the campaign that led to American victory in the Revolutionary War. The British lost a substantial number of troops at the battle, a factor in their surrender at Yorktown seven months later. The site remains largely undeveloped with large stone memorials erected early in the twentieth century to honor the event.
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Arts
Greensboro is home to an active and diverse arts community for a city of its size. Venues range for the nationally acclaimed Eastern Music Festival and Weatherspoon Art Museum, to the cutting edge performances of Triad Stage and The Flying Anvil.
Carolina Theatre The Carolina Theatre is a performing arts facility located in downtown Greensboro since 1927. The facility has been home to the Greensboro Ballet, Community Theatre of Greensboro, the Livestock Players Musical Theatre, Greensboro Youth Symphony and other local performing arts groups since the historic theater was refurbished in the 1990s. Civic groups, businesses and individuals rent the facility for seminars, meetings, receptions and even for weddings. The Carolina Theatre also presents a variety of live performances by celebrity entertainers. Since it opened, Amos and Andy, Vincent Price, Miles Davis, Judy Collins, Chet Atkins, Tony Bennett, Gordon Lightfoot, Ben Vereen, Emmy Lou Harris, The Chieftains, Doc Watson, Garrison Keillor, Allison Kraus and Union Station and Gregory Hines have appeared on its stage.
City Arts City Arts showcases a variety of musical and theatrical productions by The Livestock Players, Greensboro Children's Theatre, Razz-Ma-Tazz Musical Revue Company, the Music Center, Greensboro Concert Band, Philharmonia of Greensboro, Choral Society of Greensboro, Greensboro Youth Chorus and We Are One Youth Choir. Each group can be heard as part of the OPUS Concert Series and the summer "Music for a Sunday Evening in the Park" series.
Community Theatre of Greensboro With over 45 years of experience in presenting Broadway plays and musicals, the CTG features its Studio Theatre in the Greensboro Cultural Center. See non-traditional and original works make their Greensboro debut.
Eastern Music Festival Enjoy over 100 summer concerts from symphonic works to chamber music and recitals by professional and talented students from around the world. Venue also includes the Fringe Festival, highlighting alternative music and performances.
The Flying Anvil A live music venue in a former 12,000-square-foot automotive garage that attracts noteworthy talent as diverse as Southern Culture on the Skids, Johnny Winter, The Spam Allstars, and Chicago Afrobeat Project. The music club and bar has a stage for larger acts, and a small stage for local acts. Aside from live music, the venue is used for storytelling, poetry reading or screening independent films.
Greensboro Ballet and School of Greensboro Ballet A traditional December production of "The Nutcracker" is just one of the many artistic and educational activities offered. The School of Greensboro Ballet is one of a relative few non-profit ballet schools in the country.
Cultural Center The Greensboro Cultural Center provides four levels housing 25 visual and performing arts organizations, five art galleries, rehearsal halls, a sculpture garden, privately operated restaurant with outdoor cafe-style seating, and an outdoor amphitheater. Art galleries include African American Atelier, Green Hill Center for NC Art, Greensboro Artists' League Gallery and Gift Shop, Guilford Native American Art Gallery and Mattye Reed African Heritage Center Satellite Gallery.
Greensboro Opera Company This well-regarded opera company, founded in October 1981, has experienced solid growth and expansion. Beginning with a very respectable production of Verdi's La traviata featuring June Anderson, then a rising young New York City Opera soprano, they cautiously expanded from a single fall production of a major opera in the years 1981-89 to adding Sunday matinee performances from 1990-99 when, in response to successive sold out productions of Madama Butterfly and Carmen in 1997 and 1998, a second spring opera with two performances was added, beginning in 1999-2000. The pattern has successfully blended outside and local singers with a full orchestra, manned by members of the Greensboro Symphony, in the pit at their home in Greensboro's War Memorial Auditorium.
Greensboro Symphony Orchestra Led by conductor Dmitri Sitkovetski, the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra has developed a strong reputation among national musical organizations, including continued exposure on NPR's Performance Today. Sitkovetsky began his career as a violin soloist. He focused on the chamber orchestra repertoire when starting out with the European String Orchestra, a superb group of musicians pulled together by Sitkovetsky. GSO performs classical and pops concerts and holds educational programs for young listeners throughout the year.
Reed African American Heritage Museum Located at NC A&T State University, the museum houses one of the best collections of African culture in the country. The museum houses over 3,500 art and craft items from more than 30 African nations, New Guinea and Haiti.
Triad Stage Triad Stage is a not-for-profit regional theatre company based in Greensboro's downtown historic district. All productions are created in Greensboro using a combination of local and national talent. The theater company has been recognized as ‘One of the 50 Best Regional Theatres in America!’ by New York‘s Drama League, ‘Best Live Theatre’ in Go Triad/News & Record The Rhino Times, and was voted ‘2003 Professional Theater of the Year’ by the North Carolina Theatre Conference.
Weatherspoon Art Museum The Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro has one of the foremost collections of modern and contemporary art in the Southeast. With six galleries, the museum is nationally recognized for its collection of 20th century American art. The permanent collection also includes lithographs and bronzes by Henri Matisse, and art by celebrated masters such as Willem de Kooning, Henry Ossawa Tanner, John Graham, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol.
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Famous natives and residents
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First Lady Dolley Madison and short-story writer William Sydney Porter (also known as O. Henry) were born in Greensboro. One of the luxury hotels in town is named after O. Henry and a statue stands downtown in his honor. The US 29 expressway through Greensboro was also given the (incorrect) name "O'Henry Boulevard."
Edward R. Murrow, famed World War II CBS radio broadcaster, one of the pioneers of TV news and a five-time Emmy winning journalist, was born just outside of the city. Nationally acclaimed poet Randall Jarrell lived in Greensboro, where he was a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro until his death in 1965 in Chapel Hill. He is buried near the Guilford College campus. Rick Dees, a famous radio personality who hosts an internationally syndicated radio show and who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, also grew up in Greensboro. Thomas Berry, born in Greensboro in 1914, and a resident in his retirement, is an internationally noted spokesperson for ecology and care of the earth. His most famous book is The Dream of the Earth. The rotunda at the new Kathleen Clay Edwards Library in the woods is a tribute to Thomas.
Greensboro native George Preddy, was credited with 26.83 enemy air-to-air kills, ranking him as the top P-51 Mustang ace of World War II and sixth on the list of all-time highest scoring American aces. Business Interstate 85 through Greensboro has been given the street name "Preddy Boulevard" in George's and his brother, William's, honor. His brother was also a high-ranking ace in World War II.
Science fiction/fantasy author, journalist and professor Orson Scott Card is a current resident. His books, including Ender's Game and The Lost Boys have sold millions of copies and won the prestigious Hugo and Nebula Awards.
Respected journalist and true crime author Jerry Bledsoe (Bltter Blood, Blood Games) lives in nearby Asheboro.
Olympic Gold Medal Speed Skater Joey Cheek was born and raised in Greensboro.
Singer Cat Power (Chan Marshall) lived in Greensboro with her mother as a teenager in the late 1980s.
Spencer Chamberlain, current lead vocalist of the band Underoath, was raised in Greensboro.
American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry is a resident of nearby McLeansville, North Carolina.
Tooth and Nail recording artists Sullivan formed and lived in Greensboro before relocating to Chapel Hill.
Soccer star Eddie Pope of Real Salt Lake and the US National Soccer Team born and raised in Greensboro.
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Transportation
Greensboro is served by Piedmont Triad International Airport, which also serves High Point, North Carolina and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Amtrak's Crescent and Carolinian and Piedmont trains connect Greensboro with the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans.
Amtrak trains, taxis, local and long distance buses arrive and depart from the Amtrak station and Depot located at 236-C East Washington Street, originally constructed during the early 1920s with interior modernization completed 2004.
Interstate 40 and Interstate 85 join together/split in the Greensboro area. The former fork, which is now the Interstate 40/Business 85 junction is just south of downtown; it forms the western end of a stretch of freeway known as Death Valley, where six federal routes concur.
A construction project is currently underway to build the Greensboro Urban Loop, a freeway that when complete will encircle the majority of the city. Sections of this beltway may form the future alignment of Interstate 73.
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Citizens media
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Newspapers
The Greensboro News & Record is the main daily newspaper in Greensboro. The Business Journal, a member of the American City Business Journals chain of business weeklies, is based in Greensboro and covers business across the Triad region.
The free Rhinoceros Times is a local conservative alternative newspaper.
Yes Weekly is a fairly new alternative newspaper that is owned by Womack Newspapers and is available free downtown.
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Television stations
Greensboro makes up part of the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point television designated market area. These stations are listed by call letters, channel number, network and city of license.
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See also
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City websites
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Documentaries
88 Seconds in Greensboro PBS Frontline transcript. Reported by James Reston, Jr. Directed by William Cran. Original Airdate: January 24, 1983. Accessed on April 2, 2005.
"Greensboro's Child" Documentary about the 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the shadow that it cast on the survivors.
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Maps
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