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Concord, North Carolina
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Concord (kän-kord) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 55,977. It is the county seat of Cabarrus County and a winner of the All-America City Award in 2004. Located near the center of Cabarrus County, it is twenty miles northeast of Charlotte.
Geography
Concord is located at (35.404340, -80.600474).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 51.6 square miles (400.6 km²), of which, 51.6 square miles (133.6 km²) of it is land and 0.02% is water.
f the census of 2000, there were 55,977 people, 20,962 households, and 14,987 families residing in the city.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
Concord (kän-kord) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 55,977. It is the county seat of Cabarrus County and a winner of the All-America City Award in 2004. Located near the center of Cabarrus County, it is twenty miles northeast of Charlotte.
Government
The current mayor of Concord is Scott Padgett, and the current city manager is W. Brian Hiatt.
Geography
Concord is located at (35.404340, -80.600474).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 51.6 square miles (400.6 km²), of which, 51.6 square miles (133.6 km²) of it is land and 0.02% is water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 55,977 people, 20,962 households, and 14,987 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,085.3 people per square mile (419.0/km²). There were 22,485 housing units at an average density of 435.9/sq mi (168.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.83% White, 15.10% African American, 0.30% Native American, 1.22% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 3.35% from other races, and 1.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.80% of the population.
There were 20,962 households out of which 35.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.5% were non-families. 23.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.2% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 33.6% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $46,094, and the median income for a family was $53,571. Males had a median income of $37,030 versus $26,044 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,523. About 5.8% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.0% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.
NASCAR
Concord is the current home to Lowe's Motor Speedway; a NASCAR Research and Development Office; several professional race teams, including Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, and Chip Ganassi Racing.
The former Charlotte Motor Speedway was opened in 1959 by owner Bruton Smith, who grew up in Oakboro, NC.
History
Until 1792 the current county was the eastern half of Mecklenburg County and its people part of the original Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence or Meck Dec in 1775 a year earlier than the 1776 Thomas Jefferson written one. As the story goes a group of Mecklenburg farmers tired of traveling all day by horse and buggie to the county seat Charlottetown 25 miles away decided to secede and went to Raleigh where a tie vote was broken by a French heritage eastern NC legislator named Cabarrus who allegedly was later hanged for horse thievery and suspected of taking bribes to break the tie vote and get his name on the county as payback.
In retrospect today many people have always believed the secession was part of a scheme to secede due to the fact that this is where gold was first discovered in America the late 17th century in a small stream called Reedy Creek. The new county was immediately flooded with thousands of gold digging miners and mining operations that produced mega millions and did not end until the 1849 northern California gold rush. Also for 50 years Charlotte minted the gold and has a historical museum today.
Today the county benefits from Charlotte Mecklenburg which has 900,000 residents and the spillover bedroom community effect that has increased the size of the rebel county to 150,000. The city of Concord has greatly benefited from NC liberal annexation laws filling its tax coffers annexing 80% of its current limits and population in the past couple decades creating ill will hostility towards the city including the owner of former Charlotte Motor Speedway Bruton Smith was was used to obtain city awards after annexing his speedway and much of former Harrisburg land doubling taxes for nothing in return. Concord population was formerly 10,000 now stands at 60,000 due to annexation hostage taking.
Mr. Smith had no problems whatsoever in Cabarrus or Harrisburg until the area was annexed and has since been jerked around by arrogant incompetent city elected officials over his ZMax Dragway that almost caused him to completely move his entire racing operation. This would have left the city/county with only the giant borderline Mills Mall built to accommodate Charlotte Mecklenburg and interstate traffic in the late 90s.
This fiasco created great outrage at these city officials who ultimately recanted and changed their attitudes although one of the 2 cup races could still be moved. The dragway was completed and has been a success. Most blame the incompetence and arrogance of the city for these problems notwithstanding most every other business of any size has vacated and Philip Morris who also had problems with the same city will exit in 2010. PM moved in the late 70s and was promised never to be taken in the city although as soon as it was built they were annexed. Later they were embarrassed by a corrupt tax office and officials that they were underpaying. This dragged out 7 yrs until a settlement was made to pay 7 million more. Also local officials are now vastly overtaxing residents with a renewed property valuation raping taxpayers for tens of millions using a diversionary 2007 year in falsely raised valuations by the tax bandits and their tax review equalization cronies bumping 80% of the county property as much as 50-75% in the worst of depression times.
The dragway story is still being written but these incompetent elected officials may end up running off half the population with the excessive property valuations. Mecklenburg may once again reclaim its vagabond rebel land after over 200 years but this is probably only a pipe dream. The discovery of gold in the new county in 1799 is believed to have actually occurred earlier or before 1792 when the new county seceded in Raleigh and this was the hidden motivating force for the split.
A story circulates about the origin of Concord in which two towns were vying to be made the county seat of the newly created Cabarrus County. Leaders in the county decided to build a new town between those other two and make this new town the county seat, in order to bring Concord to the dispute. Thus, the town of Concord was founded. This story is also used as an explanation for why the name of the North Carolina town is pronounced like the word, rather than like Concord, Massachusetts and Concord, New Hampshire ("conquered").
Concord is home to the historically black women's school, Scotia Seminary, founded in 1867. Today, Barber-Scotia College is a coeducational institution affiliated with the the Presbyterian Church (USA), and offers a four-year curriculum.
Attractions
Sister city
Killarney, Ireland
Private schools
Religion
Concord is home to several churches, and a Jewish congregation.
Notable Residents
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See also
External links
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