A Town Built By A Railroad


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"…elevated, healthful, and in the midst of a fruitful region where the large mechanical working force…can have pleasant homes, pure water, and abundant supplies at a cheap rate, remote from all the disturbing influences of even a village residence."
President Charles Fisher, 1856.

The center point of the road fell in a newly formed county called Alamance. The county, formed in 1849 from portions of Orange County, consisted of approximately 430 square miles of farmland and forest drained by Haw River, Cane Creek, and Great and Little Alamance Creeks. Small communities existed along the streams, but the only major settlement was the Town of Graham. In Alamance, the Company Officials had a chance to build more than a repair facility. They had a chance to create a full-fledged company town, the Town of Company Shops.
The exact location for the Shops was chosen when Benjamin Trollinger, a founder of Alamance County and early manufacturer, made an offer that the Company could not refuse. Trollinger used his family and business connections to assemble and sell 631 _ acres of land to the railroad for the price of $6,748.37 _. To entice the Company to buy the land, Trollinger raised close to $3500 and donated it as a refund on the purchase price. The NCRR Company quickly accepted the offer and began construction of the Shops in the summer of 1855.

By 1859 fifty-seven buildings had been constructed and a town atmosphere was starting to develop. The NCRR established its headquarters at Company Shops and the repair complex employed many men. Houses were constructed for officers and employees and their families. Private individuals constructed additional homes, stores, and structures for their own use. Formally chartered in 1866, the town limits formed one and a half square mile in each direction. The first documented mayor in 1869 was B. E. Sergeant, foreman of the Carpenter Shop.

Company Shops Academy

In 1866 NCRR began a school for the children of their employees. A committee made up of NCRR Superintendent Wilkes, Foreman Sergeant, Secretary Stagg, and Master Machinist Wade established the first academy at Company Shops. T. S. Whittington, the first teacher, began holding classes later that same year.

Union Church

Ministers of different faiths regularly visited the Shops and conducted services in various buildings. In 1868-1869 the NCRR helped to subsidize the creation of an interdenominational church with donations of a sizeable lot and at least $1,100. Union Church opened for services in the early part of 1870. The new church was long referred to by local residents as the "only church in the United States built by a railroad." In 1869 NCRR also donated land for the creation of a freedmen’s church.

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