Raleigh of Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow

By Ms Jheri Worldwide

Staff Writer

The year was 1788, a new capital city was born in North Carolina: Raleigh. Uniquely, its location was selected with military strategy in mind - far from the vulnerable coast line. Raleigh blossomed in its early years, with the population soaring from under a thousand to over 2,600 between 1810 and 1820. The Civil War, largely spared the city from property destruction. Following the war, Raleigh, with its already established free Black community, saw an influx of freedmen migrating from rural areas. Shaw University was founded in 1865, the first African American college in the South. Yet, an invisible battle was still being lost. Despite the progress marked by Shaw University and the growing Black community, Raleigh’s dependence on farming meant that in the decades after the war, while other cities rebuilt and industrialized, it remained rooted in an agricultural past, that couldn’t keep pace with the changing times. Furthermore, the advancements made by Black citizens during the 19th century were tragically reversed when new voter registration laws, enacted in 1900, effectively disenfranchised Black voters by 1908. It would take another six decades, and the passage of federal civil rights legislation in the 1960s, for the majority of Black citizens in North Carolina to regain their fundamental rights to vote, serve on juries, and hold local office. This dark chapter serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of progress and the enduring struggle for equality.

U.S. Census Bureau announced that the 2020 Census shows the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2020, was 331,449,281. North Carolina’s official population in the 2020 Census was 10,453,948. This is an increase of 903,905 or 9.5% since 2010. Wake County is North Carolina’s most populated county with over 1,129,410 Residents, a 25.4% increase from 2010 to 2020. According to Wake.gov, The county continues to grow by approximately 51 people per day and added 225,000 people in the last decade alone. 

In May of 2024 Axios reported, “Raleigh is America’s third fastest-growing big city as of 2023, behind Atlanta and Fort Worth. Raleigh grew by 1.87% between 2022 and 2023 and now has 482,295 residents. Durham ranked 12th among the cities, growing 1.23% to 296,186 residents in 2023. Charlotte was 5th, growing 1.74% to 911,311 residents. Southern cities dominate the list of the fastest-growing big metros, with Florida and Texas alone accounting for eight of the top 20. That trend is seen in the Triangle, too, with Johnston, Franklin and Chatham counties all growing faster than Wake County now.”

World Population Review.com highlights, “Raleigh is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States with a growth rate of about 3.4% per year. A Forbes study last year found the Raleigh metropolitan area was the fastest growing in the United States, increasing 47% from 2000 to 2012. Between 2000 and 2009, the Raleigh-Durham-Cary metropolitan area grew 40%, leading the nation.” It is predicted that Raleigh will remain the fastest-growing metro area through 2025. 

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