Greensboro Plan2Play Parks and Recreation Master Plan 2019

GREENSBORO PLAN2PLAY MASTER PLAN - 23

A Quilt of Communities Founded as the geographic center of Guilford County in 1808, Greensboro was originally comprised of only 42 acres and 14 city blocks with limited access to public park space. As the city grew, it both annexed into its boundaries and attracted a variety of manufacturing, educational, and religious based communities. The annexation of villages and towns like Cone Mill Villages, the Town of Guilford College, Historic Warnersville, and Hamilton Lakes have contributed to the cultural heritage and urban fabric of the city by providing the first spaces for public gathering and leisure activities. As Greensboro expanded it became part of a growing railroad network and earned the nickname, “Gate City.” By the mid-1800s the textile, insurance, and transportation industries were the foundations of a thriving regional economy. Education also flourished in the late 1800s. The majority of the City's seven higher education institutions were founded between 1837 to 1891.

Other historical contributors to economic prosperity in the city include Blue Bell, which manufactured buttoned overalls, and Burlington Mills, a diversified textile and fabric maker. In 1943, a U.S. Air Force Overseas Replacement Depot moved to Greensboro, creating thousands of jobs and contributing to a population spike of almost 170% within the same decade. During the Civil Rights Movement, Greensboro was at the epicenter of the 1960 sit-in protests which occurred downtown at the Woolworth’s counter. These protests gained national attention as part of the broader Civil Rights Movement and further defined Greensboro’s cultural and social legacy. Annexations continued into the early parts of the twenty first century. From 2000 to 2016, Greensboro annexed 25 square miles of land into the city limits, an expansion of 22.9% in total land area. Going forward, growth for Greensboro will likely not occur through land annexation, and certainly not at this pace. Recent state laws (2011) have made it difficult to annex additional land into city limits. As a result, Greensboro’s

boundaries will most likely remain fixed; but the city’s population will continue to increase yielding greater density, infill, and reinvestment. From a modest town of 53,390 residents in 1930 to a booming metropolis of almost 287,030 people in 2018, Greensboro’s humble beginnings have evolved into a quilt of diverse communities and industries.