Gaston County History: Cities & Towns: Cherryville

See TopoQuest map.

See current census information.

Official city website.

The city of Cherryville was incorporated on February 2, 1872 and again on February 19, 1881, but a settlement known as White Pine had been on the site since the 1850s on the post road from Lincolnton to Spartanburg. The name was changed to Cherryville in 1865, reputedly for a planting of cherry trees along the road. The Wilmington, Charlotte & Rutherford railroad built a line from Lincolnton in 1862, but Cherryville remained the end of the line for some time.

No name has been found for a mayor in 1872 although the incorporation act specifically calls for one. The incorporation act of 1881 named F. Z. Sides as mayor until an election could be held. James Carson Elliott became the first elected mayor in May of that year.

A cotton mill, the Cherryville Manufacturing Company, opened in 1891 to be followed by six other mills. In 1931 the Beam brothers started Carolina Freight Carriers Corporation; it grew to be a major national firm, closing only in 1995.

There are no census population figures for the town of Cherryville until 1900. Other sources give the population as around 68 in 1881 and the 1890 Branson's Directory says it was 145 then.

• 1890 -- no count; 1900 -- 1,008; 1910 -- 1,153;
• 1920 -- 1,844; 1930 -- 2,756; 1940 -- 3,225;
• 1950 -- 3,402; 1960 -- 3,607; 1970 -- 5,258;
• 1980 -- 4,844; 1990 -- 4,756; 2000 -- 5,361;
• 2010- -- 5,760.

In Cherryville: parks and museums; C. Grier Beam Truck Museum.

Cherryville Historical Resources in North Carolina Collection:

• Cherryville (Images of America), by Rita Wehunt-Black.=, (pub. 2009), call #: 975.6 Weh NCC
• Cherryville: past & present. by W.T. Robinson; prepared by the History Committee appointed by the Mayor and City Council, (pub. 1996), call #: 975.677 Rob NCC
• Cherryville, N.C. : a history by W. Tabor Robinson, (pub. 1976), call #: 975.677 R NCC
• History of Gastonia and Gaston County, by Robert Allison Ragan (pub. 2010), call #: 975.677 Rag NCC, particularly p. 550-553.
• Gaston County Heritage, Volume 1 – 2002, p. 283 and p. 296-314, a collection of articles by David P. Dellinger, originally published in The Cherryville Eagle in the 1950s. Call #: 975.677 Gas NCC v. 1.
• Our State article on the New Year Shooters

• For a detailed list of city directories, see our guide City Directories.

Land use survey and analysis, land development plan, Cherryville, North Carolina, 1967, 174 p., http://cdm16062.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p249901coll22/id/642647
Community facilities plan and public improvements program, Cherryville, North Carolina, 1967, 210 p., http://cdm16062.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p249901coll22/id/55290
Population and economy, Cherryville, North Carolina, 1966, 96 p., http://cdm16062.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p249901coll22/id/55782
Cherryville thoroughfare plan, 2003, 111 p., http://cdm16062.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p249901coll22/id/187285