Greensboro tourist information

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.

Textile Headquarters
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).

Freight Hub
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.

Slave Smuggling
Greensboro has been known for being on the forefront of racial equality issues, 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.

Blandford Mansion
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.

Buildings and Stuff
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.

Woolworths ... Come on in, Take a Seat!
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.

Greensboro Massacre
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 protestors 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.