The Town of Cary,
located in Wake and Chatham
Counties,
is in North Carolina’s
Piedmont region. The Town is located
just southwest of the City of Raleigh,
which serves as both the state capital and Wake
County
seat. Cary
is a major hub of residential development for employees of the State of North
Carolina, North Carolina State University and the Research
Triangle
Park—an
industrial, governmental and scientific research area adjacent to the northwest
Town limits. Cary
also boasts a substantial mix of non-residential development including several
major office parks and retail centers.
Cary
began as a settlement called Bradford's
Ordinary in 1750. In 1854, a farmer and
lumber man named Frank Page bought three hundred acres of land and established
several enterprises, including a sawmill, general store, inn and Post
Office. Page named his development Cary
after Mr. Samuel Fenton Cary, a prohibition leader from Ohio
whom he admired. The extension of the
railroad through Cary
enabled the Town to flourish, and on April 6, 1871, the Town of Cary
was incorporated.
A prestigious, private boarding school developed
in Cary
during the late 1800's. This school
later became famous as the first public high school in North
Carolina. The school was located on the site currently
occupied by Cary
Elementary School. In 2002, the Wake County School System began
building a new elementary school on the same site. The Town reached an agreement with the school
system to purchase the former Cary
Elementary School
building and has plans to renovate it for use within Cary’s
Cultural Arts program.
In 1963, the State Legislature amended the
Town’s charter to provide for a Council-Manager form of Government. One council member is elected from each of
four voting districts, and two council members and the mayor are elected
at-large.
The
1990 Decennial Census reported the Town's population to be 44,276. The 2000 Decennial Census reported a
population of 94,536, indicating a growth rate of 114% since 1990, which was an
average of 11.3% per year. The Town of Cary's
Planning Department estimates Cary’s
July 1, 2008
population at 130,716 representing an average annual growth rate of 4.16% since
2003.
