Rutherford County, North Carolina: History
In the region's earliest history, it was inhabited by the Cherokee. It was a part of Mecklenburg County before being incorporated into Tryon County in 1768. Tryon County was divided into Rutherford County and Lincoln County in 1779. The first county seat was Gilbert Town. Rutherford Town (now Rutherfordton) was founded in 1787 to be the new county seat. The county and town are named for Griffith Rutherford, leader of an expedition against the Cherokee in 1776 and a general in the American Revolutionary War.
In 1791 parts of Rutherford County and Burke County were combined to form Buncombe County. In 1841 parts of Rutherford and Lincoln counties were combined to form Cleveland County. In 1842, additional parts of Rutherford and Burke counties were combined to form McDowell County. Finally, in 1855, parts of Rutherford and Henderson counties were combined to form Polk County.
In 1790, the county had 7,775 residents, including 164 families and 611 enslaved people. Many areas of the county were agriculturally productive or lay on important crossroads. The number of unincorporated communities in the county steadily increased, and the population reached had nearly doubled by 1810. The most important crops in the county during the 1800s were corn, wheat, oats, rye, cotton, wool and tobacco.
The county existed at the crossroads of stagecoach routes that connected places like Asheville, Salisbury and Charlotte. The Hickory Nut Turnpike was completed in 1847 to help make the route even safer and more appealing to travelers.
Rutherford County was the most important gold-producing region in America from 1790 until the California gold rush of the 1840s. The town of Rutherfordton was at the center of this. German goldsmith Christopher Bechtler and his sons set up a mint just north of Rutherfordton, where they produced millions of dollars' worth of US coins. The Bechtlers produced the first gold dollars in the United States.
The county has a strong militia tradition, stretching back to the 18th century when it had the most well organized militia in North Carolina. Its militiamen served in the Battle of Kings Mountain and Battle of Cowpens. During the Civil War, Rutherfordton and Burnt Chimney (now Forest City) competed to raise militias to serve in the Confederate States Army.
After the Civil War ended, many farmers in the region were forced to tenant farming, as they owned no land of their own. This meant that many Rutherford County residents were trapped in debt by predatory crop liens and other economic imbalances. The Rutherford Farmer's Alliance was established by D.N. Caviness in June 1888 to fight for farmer's rights, and had 300 members by 1891. The Alliance's first president was Colonel John L. McDowell. The underlying economic and racial tensions led to events like the Forest City lynching.
During this period of upheaval, when family and political feuds had been recently inflamed by the Civil War, Rutherford County experienced a rash of violence wreaked by the KKK, but local investigations in Rutherford County led to the prosecution of over 300 Klan members and by 1872, the KKK had begun to "disappear".
The construction of railroads and cotton mills in Rutherford County during the 1880s and 1890s invigorated the county's communities, none more so than Forest City. …