In the 1960s and 1970s Greensboro/Winston-Salem was the premiere region of NC

[Atlside]

In the 1960s and 1970s Greensboro/Winston-Salem was the premier region of NC

What were the critical mistakes The Triad made to move to NC's 3 spot?

Here's a start. You help tie in some historic points that tell the story of how the transition happened.

Greensboro population

Greensboro 1950: 74,389

Greensboro 1960: 119,574

Greensboro 1970: 144,076

Guilford County population

Winston-Salem population

Winston-Salem 1950: 87,811

Winston-Salem 1960:

Winston-Salem 1970:

Forsyth County population

Metro Greensboro/Winston-Salem population:

1960: 724,458

1970: 839,486

--------------------------------

Metro Charlotte population:

1960: 702,383

1970: 840,347

Charlotte 1950: 134,042

Charlotte 1960: 201,564

Charlotte 1970: 241,178

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Metro Raleigh-Durham population:

1960: 442,523

1970: 537,365

Raleigh 1950: 65,679

Raleigh 1960: 93,931

Raleigh 1970: 122,830

Durham 1950: 71,311

Durham 1960: 84,642

Durham 1970: 100,768

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In 1923, High Point surprised Greensboro by an annexation that expanded its population to 21,000 and made it the state's 6th largest city.

Greensboro was number 8 in ranking. The city later annexed land and its population more than doubled. Greensboro became NC's 3rd largest city.

The 1950s also brought additional annexations to the City of Greensboro.

In 1956 the creation of the Coliseum bond proposed locating the facility at the old fairground passes. The original Greensboro Coliseum was completed and dedicated in 1959 as a memorial to the soldiers who died in WWII and Korea.

The annexation of 1957 brought the towns of Hamilton Lakes into the city, as well as Bessemer.

In 1957 following a massive annexation the size of the city increased from 21 to 49 square miles. The population jumped to more than twice its former size, reaching 122,000 citizens.

By 1960, the city's had grown to 52 square miles.

In the 1960s Greensboro's transportation network was greatly improved by the Wendover Avenue project that cost $12.5 million and was the most expensive road project in NC

[nowensone]

I am guessing this is in response to another thread (Heart of the Triad?), but is unnecessary, all it proves is vague metro/regional population differences, nothing really of substance or enough to make the claim of "premier". Sorry man.

[DigitalSky]

textiles, tobacco and furniture went out of style. banking and medicine are in style.

[suburban george3]

This would be much better addressed by a thesis paper. You could never fit all the reasoning behind this in a thread. There are so many factors ranging from local mismanagement, to state laws, private investment, and national trends. I would also say the by the 60/70's era the Triad was starting to suffer some from the start of the erosion of the US manufacturing base and the government's attack on Tobacco. The 60/70's was really the Triangles/Metrolina's emergence as the more prominent regions of NC.

[cityboi]

textiles, tobacco and furniture went out of style. banking and medicine are in style.

[StevenRocks]

Downtown Greensboro declined with the Civil Rights sit-ins of 1960 and protests in 1963 and 1968-1969.

[basket1058]

All in all I think part of the supposed decline of the Triad has to do less with any dip in economic performance as it has to do with the meteoric rise of both the Triangle and Charlotte. Charlotte for one always has been preening itself to position itself as a key distribution even in the early 20th century something which I don't think the Triad was doing until it was apparent that the traditional industries were not going to be enough. Also, while Wachoiva was a premiere southeastern bank it did not have some aggressive desire to merge and acquire other banks something which BofA and First Union excelled so I can't say that the Triad could really have been the kind of finance center Charlotte is now. As for the Triangle it managed to recruit high-tech early with the advent of the RTP in the 50's, meaning that it got a fair share of High-Tech Industry early in an industry which has given real dividends to the cities who enter in early. Also when compared to other comparable areas such as Richmond or some of the Tennesse cities the Triad seems to perform comparably if not a little bit better in terms of growth. While as a Triad resident I can't help but think what could have happened if couple more things went the right way I think that some of the decline in status is natural given the surge in the prominence of the other two metro areas. So while there may be some criticims to be made of the Triad's growth policy over the years it must also be taken into account that Charlotte and the Triangle are arguably two of the better success stories in the South.

[monsoon]

I don't understand this thread and you didn't give a definition of what premier means. Please clarify what you want to accomplish with this topic, or it risks being closed.

[nowensone]

... some of the decline in status is natural given the surge in the prominence of the other two metro areas. So while there may be some criticims to be made of the Triad's growth policy over the years it must also be taken into account that Charlotte and the Triangle are arguably two of the better success stories in the South.

[cityboi]

You make a good point, CLT and Raleigh aren't just success stories at the state level but nationally as well. The Triad is in fact doing well on it's own despite the severe hits on textiles and furniture, but is going to look mediocre in comparison until either CLT and RDU slow down a bit or it manages to jump start something itself. But I don't see a major growth spurt the likes of CLT or Raleigh happening any time soon, mainly because GSO and WS are separated by too much distance, both physically and culturally (for lack of a better term) to be a cohesive unit and share in the benefits of a true combined metro. I think there will need to be at least another 20 years of separate growth before they begin blending together and thinking/behaving at a new level.

[nowensone]

They are more than 9 miles apart, and the perceived distance is even greater. 15 miles of real distance is significant between urban areas, even more so when it is not filled with much of anything. It would take an additional solid ring of urbanized area growth around both GSO and WS to get there, which I am arguing will take another 20 years if not more to accomplish. Kernersville, even if it added 50K people is not adequate to this task, and would probably be more divisive in this role than supportive anyway.

[cityboi]

They are more than 9 miles apart, and the perceived distance is even greater. 15 miles of real distance is significant between urban areas, even more so when it is not filled with much of anything. It would take an additional solid ring of urbanized area growth around both GSO and WS to get there, which I am arguing will take another 20 years if not more to accomplish. Kernersville, even if it added 50K people is not adequate to this task, and would probably be more divisive in this role than supportive anyway.