Local History

A FoLoByLo collection · Guilford, Forsyth, Alamance & Randolph

## The people and places behind home

A familiar skyline. A mill where someone in the family worked. A campus bell. A yellow bus at the corner. Our local history lives in places we pass every day—and in the people who remember them. Start with a story below, follow its sources, and look at the neighborhood again.

## Elm Street: architecture and civil rights

### Jefferson Standard Building · Greensboro

Completed in 1923 at Elm and Market streets, the Jefferson Standard Building was designed by Charles C. Hartmann. Its prominent place in Greensboro’s skyline tells a story of the city’s growth and insurance business. Look up from the sidewalk to appreciate the building’s form and architectural detail, then compare the streetscape with older downtown photographs.

[Explore the architectural history](https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/buildings/B001206)

### Woolworth’s and the Greensboro Four · Greensboro

On February 1, 1960, four Black students from North Carolina A&T—Ezell Blair Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan), Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond—sat at Woolworth’s segregated lunch counter and asked to be served. Their nonviolent protest helped inspire a wave of sit-ins across the South. The story connects downtown Greensboro to student activism and the national struggle for civil rights.

The former store now houses the International Civil Rights Center & Museum at 134 South Elm Street. Make time for the museum’s interpretation of this history; check its own tour information before visiting.

[Read the Smithsonian’s account](https://www.si.edu/object/nmah_1425301)
[Plan a museum visit](https://sitinmovement.org/)

## Working lives: tobacco and textiles

### R.J. Reynolds · Winston-Salem

R.J. Reynolds established his tobacco factory in Winston in 1875. The company’s growth became intertwined with the city’s development, while the Reynolds family’s story also leads to Reynolda. The most revealing questions reach beyond the company name: who worked in the factories, what was daily work like, and how did that work shape life at home?

Reynolda’s historical interpretation offers a starting point for exploring the family and estate. Factory labor and the consequences of the tobacco industry belong alongside the architecture and business milestones in understanding this legacy.

[Explore Reynolda’s Reynolds-era history](https://reynolda.org/about/history-timeline/the-reynolds-era/)

### Cone Mills · Greensboro

Moses and Ceasar Cone helped make Greensboro a textile center. White Oak opened in 1905, and names such as Proximity and Revolution became part of the city’s industrial landscape. Mill history extends into the surrounding villages, where housing, schools, stores and community life were connected to the workplace.

The buildings and company records tell one part of the story. Workers’ photographs, memories of a first shift, and accounts of neighborhood life can help us understand the skills and everyday experiences behind the cloth.

[Read NC State’s Cone Mills history](https://history.textiles.ncsu.edu/textile-companies/cone-mills/)
[Explore Greensboro’s mill-village history](https://www.hpo.nc.gov/media/565/open)

### Guilford Mills · Greensboro

Founded in Greensboro in 1946, Guilford Mills adds a later chapter to the region’s textile story. It was a separate company from Cone Mills. Its development in knitted fabrics and varied fabric markets offers another way to explore how local manufacturing changed during the twentieth century.

Did someone in your family work there? A department name, a dated photograph or a description of the work can give this history a human scale.

[Read the Guilford Mills company history](https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/guilford-mills-inc-history/)

## High Point: skilled hands, furniture and transportation

### Furniture and the people who made it

High Point’s furniture story includes the craftspeople, factory workers and families behind the finished pieces. The High Point Museum’s Furniture Heritage exhibit examines the relationship between the industry and the community. It is a useful place to begin before looking more closely at individual makers, factories and family collections.

A maker’s label, an old catalog or a photograph of a workshop can turn a familiar household object into a local history discovery.

[Explore High Point Museum’s exhibits](https://www.highpointnc.gov/695/Exhibits-Historical-Park)

### From streetcars to Thomas Built Buses

The story of Thomas Built Buses begins with streetcars. In 1916, after Southern Car Works closed, former chief engineer Perley A. Thomas assembled a crew of former coworkers and opened Perley A. Thomas Car Works in High Point. Streetcar work grew into a business serving cities across North America.

High Point’s work traveled to New Orleans, too. The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority dates the introduction of its historic Perley A. Thomas streetcars to 1923–1924. Seashore Trolley Museum’s record for New Orleans car No. 966 identifies its builder as Perley-Thomas and its construction year as 1924, and describes the company’s High Point base. It is a tangible connection between North Carolina craftsmanship and New Orleans street life.

[Explore New Orleans RTA’s streetcar centennial](https://www.norta.com/news-list/rta-celebrates-a-century-of-the-perley-a-thomas-streetcar-with-block-party-at-carrollton-streetcar)
[Meet New Orleans streetcar No. 966](https://collections.trolleymuseum.org/items/124)

In 1936, the company ended streetcar production and began building school buses. That transition connects High Point’s skilled manufacturing workforce with a vehicle generations of students would come to know. Memories from the shop floor can help explain how those vehicles were actually made.

[Read Thomas Built Buses’ company history](https://thomasbuiltbuses.com/about-us/company-history/)

## Campuses that shaped our communities

College history is also community history: the opening of educational opportunities, the preparation of teachers and skilled workers, and the traditions students carry into later life. These short introductions lead to the institutions’ own historical accounts.

### Guilford County

Guilford College began in 1837 as a Quaker coeducational boarding school. Greensboro College was founded in 1838, adding another early chapter in the city’s educational history.

[Guilford College’s Quaker roots](https://www.guilford.edu/who-we-are/friends-center/history)
[Greensboro College’s history](https://www.greensboro.edu/about/history-mission-vision/)

Bennett College began in 1873 and became a college for women in 1926. Its history opens a window onto Black education and women’s leadership. North Carolina A&T dates to 1891; the Greensboro Four connect its campus story directly to the Elm Street sit-ins.

[Bennett’s history](https://www.bennett.edu/herstory/)
[The story of North Carolina A&T](https://ncat.edu/installation/history.php)

UNC Greensboro was established in 1891 and opened in 1892, with the education of women central to its founding. High Point College opened in 1924 through cooperation between the Methodist Protestant Church and the City of High Point; it later became High Point University.

[UNCG’s history](https://www.uncg.edu/about-uncg/why-uncg/history-of-uncg/)
[High Point University’s beginnings](https://www.highpoint.edu/visitorinformation/history-of-the-university/)

### Forsyth County

Salem’s educational story reaches back to a school for girls founded in 1772. Winston-Salem State traces its origins to Simon Green Atkins and 1892. Wake Forest began in Wake Forest, North Carolina, in 1834; its Winston-Salem campus opened in 1956. Each institution offers a different perspective on the area’s growth.

[Salem College’s milestones](https://www.salem.edu/about/milestones/)
[Winston-Salem State’s history](https://www.wssu.edu/about/points-of-pride/our-history.html)
[Wake Forest’s history](https://about.wfu.edu/history/)

### Alamance County

Elon College was chartered in 1889 as a coeducational institution. The university’s timeline connects its early buildings, students and traditions with the development of the surrounding community.

[Explore Elon’s timeline](https://www.elon.edu/u/about/history/)

### Community colleges across our four counties

Technical education belongs in this story, too. Guilford Technical Community College and Alamance Community College trace their beginnings to 1958. Forsyth Tech opened in 1960. Randolph’s industrial education center received state approval in 1958 and opened its doors in 1962. These schools connect education directly to the needs and ambitions of local workers.

[GTCC’s history](https://gtcc.edu/about/history.php)
[Alamance Community College’s story](https://www.alamancecc.edu/about-acc/our-story/index.php)
[Forsyth Tech’s historical account (PDF)](https://www.forsythtech.edu/files/e-publications/Student%20Handbook.pdf)
[Randolph Community College’s beginnings](https://www.randolph.edu/about-us/founders-week.aspx)

## Keep exploring: Oak Ridge Military Academy

ORMA’s history reaches back to 1852, and its campus remains an active school. Our community spotlight introduces its buildings, selected milestones and school life today.

[Read FoLoByLo’s ORMA spotlight](https://www.folobylo.com/folobylo-discoveries/oak-ridge-military-academy)
[Explore the Greensboro History Museum](https://www.folobylo.com/folobylo-discoveries/greensboro-history-museum)

## Your memories belong in the story

Did you work in one of these factories, attend one of these schools, or remember these streets in another era? Join the conversation on FoLoByLo’s Facebook page. Tell us which place your memory belongs to and an approximate year, if you know it.

Older photographs are welcome as this collection grows. Please identify the photographer or owner when known and share only images you have permission to contribute. We welcome corrections and additional context, too.

[Visit FoLoByLo on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/Folobylo)

## Before you explore

Follow the museum or institution links for current visitor arrangements. Active schools, workplaces and historic buildings may have restricted interior access. This collection introduces their histories; it does not imply that every location offers public tours.

Sources are linked beside each story. Researched September 13, 2026. This is an opening collection of local stories, with room for more voices, photographs and places.