Lenoir, North Carolina, United States

🇺🇸 Lenoir is a city in and the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States. Lenoir is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. To the north-east are the Brushy Mountains, a spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hibriten Mountain, located just east of the city limits, marks the western end of the Brushy Mountains range. Lenoir is one of the principal cities in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History Lenoir was established in 1841 and incorporated in 1851. The city was named for Revolutionary War general and early North Carolina statesman William Lenoir, who settled north of present-day Lenoir. His restored home, Fort Defiance, is a tourist attraction.

Early history The original settlement of Lenoir was known as Tucker's Barn, after a Tucker family that settled on the north side of Lower Creek around 1765. The homestead eventually served as a voting precinct, a muster ground, a store, and a place for celebrations. When Caldwell County was formed in 1841, a commission was appointed to choose a location for the county seat. One member proposed the south side of Lower Creek (today, the Whitnel area) because of its view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. However, since most of the county's population was on the north side of Lower Creek, the Tucker's Barn site was chosen, where Lenoir is today.

** Historic Places** In addition to Fort Defiance, the Caldwell County Courthouse, Lenoir Downtown Historic District, Lenoir Grammar School, Lenoir High School, Mary's Grove, and Edgar Allan Poe House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography Lenoir is south-east of the centre of Caldwell County, and is bordered to the south by the towns of Hudson and Cajah's Mountain, and to the south-west by the town of Gamewell.

The city is at the intersection of U.S. Highways 64 and 321. US 64 leads east 42 miles (68 km) to Statesville and south-west 15 miles (24 km) to Morganton, while US 321 leads north 27 miles (43 km) to Boone and south-east 17 miles (27 km) to Hickory.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Lenoir has a total area of 19.7 square miles (50.9 km²), all land. The city is in the valley of Lower Creek, between the Brushy Mountains to the east and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. Lower Creek flows south-west to the Catawba River valley.

Economy The Broyhill Furniture company, one of the largest furniture companies in the United States and part of Heritage Home Group (KPS Capital Partners), recently closed its headquarters in Lenoir. Furniture in general has historically been one of the city's largest employers. The Bernhardt, Kincaid, and Fairfield furniture companies are based in or around Lenoir. In the 1990s, these companies began changing their business models to reflect consumer trends, and closed several of Lenoir's furniture factories. Recent consolidations of area furniture facilities (Thomasville, Taylorsville, North Wilkesboro, etc.) have netted modest gains in positions in the industry around Lenoir. The medical and education sectors are now the area's largest employers.

Google, Inc. has a server farm, or "data center", in Lenoir. There was controversy over the nature, amount, and potential benefits of economic development incentives that the City of Lenoir, Caldwell County, and the State of North Carolina gave Google in 2007 to induce the company to build the server farm. The less celebrated benefits of the investment have been construction employment and spending, a small-time server farm investment just outside downtown, Dacentec, as well as local charitable and educational endeavors by Google.

Wholesale nurseries, shipping large balled and burlap plants to landscapers in metropolitan areas, have been a strong source of employment in Lenoir over the last 75 years. Companies such as Roger Coffey and Sons Nursery have seen an increase in sales over the last three years. Valley View Nursery is a third-generation nursery carrying on the tradition of shipping high-quality trees and shrubs directly to high-end residential homes across the East Coast and upper Midwest. Local nurseries employ around two percent of the local population.

Parks and recreation • 5.3 mile Greenway system • Mack Cook Stadium • Mulberry Recreation Center • T. Henry Wilson Athletic Park • T.H. Broyhill Walking Park • Lenoir Rotary Soccer Complex • J.E. Broyhill Park • Martin Luther King Center • Zack's Fork Mountain Bike Trail

Teams • Lenoir Youth Soccer Association / Lenoir Force (LYSA Force), a travel soccer team in Lenoir • Caldwell County Youth Football League • Post 29 Youth Baseball • Carolina Express Basketball

Recreation • The Lenior Aquatic and Fitness Center is open to the public and features an Olympic size swimming pool, indoor junior size swimming pool, water slides, racquetball courts, exercise equipment, a steam and weight room, locker rooms, covered shelters, and a walking and mountain bike training system. • The 18-hole Lenoir Golf Club in Lenoir features 6,385 yards of golf, with a course rating of 71.3 and a slope rating of 125, on Bermuda grass. The course opened with nine holes in 1928, was redesigned by Donald Ross in 1945, and was expanded to 18 holes in 1961.

Hiking • Nearby Hibriten Mountain has a 5.4 mi (8.7 km) hiking trail, climbing 740 ft (230 m) on a gated-gravel road.

High schools • Hibriten • West Caldwell • South Caldwell; Middle schools • Gamewell Middle School • William Lenoir Middle School; K–8 schools • Happy Valley School • Kings Creek School • Oak Hill School; Elementary schools • Davenport A+ School • Gamewell Elementary School • Lower Creek Elementary School • Valmead Elementary School • West Lenoir Elementary School • Whitnel Elementary School; Alternative schools • Horizons Elementary • Gateway School.

Education: Universities • Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute is the community college serving Caldwell County

Media • WKVS, Kicks 103.3 FM, local country music radio station • WJRI, Star 94.7 FM, 100.5 FM & 1340 AM, local adult hits radio station • WKGX, 104.5 FM, 99.5 FM & AM 1080, local classic hits radio station • W218BW, FM 91.5, translator for WETS, East Tennessee State University radio station • News-Topic, local newspaper in Lenoir and Caldwell Counties • The Presbyterian Layman, a publication of the Presbyterian Lay Committee independent of the denomination, is published in Lenoir.

Transport: Road • US 321 • US 321A • US 64 • NC 18 • NC 90 • NC 268.