Happy TravellerWelcome to Hickory, North Carolina, a charming city located approximately 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Charlotte. With a population of 43,490 in the 2020 census, Hickory is primarily located in Catawba County, but its formal boundaries extend into Burke and Caldwell counties. Hickory is the principal city of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 365,276 in the 2020 census. In 2014, Readers Digest named the Hickory metro area as the 10th best place to live and raise a family in the United States. Forbes named the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton MSA the third best MSA in the country for business cost. Smart Growth America, however, identified the Hickory MSA as being the country’s most sprawling metro area in 2014.
History
Hickory owes its name to the Hickory Tavern, a log structure built in the 1850s underneath a hickory tree. Henry Link bought the first lot in the area for $45 in 1858. The house he built became The 1859 Cafe, a restaurant which closed in 2011. The first train operated near Hickory Tavern in 1859. Nine years later in 1868, Dr. Jeremiah Ingold, pastor of Corinth Reformed Church (then German Reformed Grace Church), established the Free Academy, the first school in the area. Two years later, in 1870 Hickory Tavern was established as a town. Three years later, its name was officially changed to Hickory. In 1889, it became the City of Hickory.
Hickory experienced rapid growth in the 1880s. Befitting a growing community, electric lights were installed in 1888. A year later, the Elliott Opera House opened. Decorated in French renaissance style with mythology motifs, the opera house auditorium sat 750 and the parquet balcony fit another 350. The opera house hosted touring out of town shows, the Hickory Amateurs, the city’s first acting troupe, and The Hickory Symphony Band. Tragically, a fire destroyed the entire building in 1902, and it was never rebuilt. A municipal auditorium was constructed across the street in 1921, now housing the Hickory Community Theatre. In 1891, four Lutheran pastors founded Highland Academy, now Lenoir–Rhyne University, with then Highland Academy) with 12 students.
Hickory built a sewage system in 1904, and adopted the council-manager form of government in 1913. Hickory is home to one of the oldest furniture manufacturers in the United States that is still located and operated on the original site. Hickory White, formerly known as Hickory Manufacturing Company, was built in 1902 and has been in continuous operation ever since. During World War II, the factory made ammunition boxes for the U.S. military instead of furniture. Hickory was known in the years after World War II for the Miracle of Hickory. In 1944 the area around Hickory (the Catawba Valley) became the center of one of the worst outbreaks of polio ever recorded. Residents who were then children recall summers of not being allowed to play outside or visit friends for fear of contracting the disease. Since local facilities were inadequate to treat the victims, the citizens of Hickory and the March of Dimes decided to build a hospital to care for the children of the region. From the time the decision was made until equipment, doctors, and patients were in a new facility, took less than 54 hours. Several more buildings were quickly added. A Red Cross official on the scene praised the project as the most outstanding example of cooperative effort he has ever seen.
National Register of Historic Places
The Claremont High School Historic District, Elliott–Carnegie Library, First Presbyterian Church, Dr. Glenn R. Frye House, Clement Geitner House, Lee & Helen George House, Harris Arcade, Hickory Municipal Building, Hickory Southwest Downtown Historic District, Highland School, Hollar H
