![]() During the 1840's and 1850s, North Carolina shared the nation's increasing economic well being. The development of the Western North Carolina Railroad, a manifestation of North Carolina's antebellum prosperity and interest in internal improvements, led to the establishment of Catawba Station. Development continued during the first quarter of the twentieth century, but the remarkably intact Catawba Historic District, composed chiefly of early twentieth century commercial buildings and dwellings that span a half century of the town's history, reflects Catawba's lack of significant change during the last fifty years. Spurred by the railroad, farmers' need of a commercial outlet, and, to a lesser extent, by the textile and tobacco industries, Catawba Station grew during the nineteenth century into an incorporated town bearing its present name. Although some industry, including a tobacco factory and small textile mills, at times provided employment for the several hundred inhabitants of Catawba, the condition of local cotton and grain farms had a greater impact on the town's development.Ĭatawba originated about 1858 as a station along the Western North Carolina Railroad and developed primarily as a center of trade for the east-central section of Catawba County. ![]() In 1893, the town of Catawba Station acquired its present name, an indication of the community's increasing importance as a center of trade. The Western North Carolina Railroad constructed the station at Catawba in 1858 as part of an important link between Salisbury, in the western Piedmont, and Asheville, in the mountains. The Catawba Historic District in the town of Catawba is significant as a remarkably intact example of a small railroad and commercial center of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, composed chiefly of commercial buildings, residences, and churches dating from the 1870s through the 1920s. Portions of the content on this web page were adapted from a copy of the original nomination document. The Catawba Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
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