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Statesville Now: Changes in The City of Progress
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Published: June 7, 2009
Last week we looked at Statesville through 1937 eyes, from an article published in The State magazine, titled, "Statesville: A Really Progressive City." The article examined seven areas of interest to a family considering of moving here or to a business thinking of relocating in our fair city.
The seven areas were: transportation, businesses, availability of electric power, water supply, education, industry and city government.
Today we'll see how those areas have changed in Statesville in 72 years.
First of all, the 1937 population was about 12,000. The 2009 population of Statesville, within city limits, is about 26,000.
The highways mentioned in the 1937 article are still with us, though some have had name changes.
Route 10, from the Atlantic Coast to the Tennessee-Georgia line, is now known as U.S. Highway 64. Route 26, a Great Lakes-to-Florida highway, is now U.S. Highway 21.
While these were distinct highways in 1937, they weave in and out and share signs with other highways to such an extent that they are difficult to trace now as separate roads.
Two major highways that were not dreamed of in 1937 are Iredell's two interstates, highways, U.S. interstates 77 and 40.
Also, since 1937 Statesville had acquired a city-owned regional airport with a 7,000-foot runway handling an average of 90 operations (flights in or out) a day.
There no longer is passenger rail service in Statesville, although there has been serious talk of bringing it back.
According to City Manager Rob Hites, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has long-range plans to re-establish rail service from Salisbury, through Statesville, to Asheville — eventually to go all the way from Asheville to Wilmington — and the NCDOT recently repurchased the old Statesville depot to preserve it for future passenger service.
Currently Statesville has representatives from eight banks. In 1937 it was served by two state banks and an industrial bank.
The banks with locations within the city limits are: Branch Banking and Trust Company, West Bank; Yadkin Valley Bank and Trust Company; Wachovia Bank, National Association; Bank of America, National Association; First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company; Bank of Granite, Statesville Branch; First National Bank and Trust Company; and RBC Centura Bank. Assets are $1,871,923.10 and deposits are $1,225,950.20.
There are presently 242 retail establishments within the city and 68 wholesale houses. In 1937 there were 250 retail establishments and "several wholesale houses."
The number of retail stores today seems too small, but perhaps giant retailers, such as Wal-Mart, are counted as a single retailer, taking the places of a dozen or more small "mom and pop" stores of the 1930s.
There are three suppliers of electricity to Statesville residents: Statesville Electric Utility, EnergyUnited and Duke Energy.
Electric power is purchased from the North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 of which Statesville is one of 19 members. In July of 2008 a high of 46,608,906 kWh were distributed, while the average for calendar year 2008 was 39,831,488 kWh per month. This electricity is brought into Statesville over Duke Energy transmission lines to five Statesville delivery stations.
In 1937 the city's light and power department handled 100,000 kWh per month.
The city's primary water source is the Catawba River, at Lookout Shoals, the South Yadkin River being a secondary source. In 1937 the city pulled water out of the stream by the museum, which was the water plant. The city built the present day water plant in the late 1940s and pulled water from Fourth Creek. Then later the city built an intake on the South Yadkin River.
The Statesville Water Department is permitted to withdraw and treat up to 15 million gallons per 24-hour day. The 1937 water capacity was "more than 2 million gallons in 24 hours."
Within the present-day Statesville city limits there are five elementary, one middle and one high school, all of them integrated, public schools and part of the Iredell-Statesville School system.
According to school spokesperson Susie Wiberg, if these seven schools were a separate system, as was the case in 1937, the system would serve more than 3,600 students, with an educational staff (not all of them classroom teachers) of about 570.
For comparison, the total enrollment of the Statesville City Schools in 1937 was 2,728 with a teaching staff staff of 70.
Today there are also a number of private and charter schools in operation in Statesville.
In 1937 Mitchell College was still affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. the article did not give the college's total enrollment number but stated that there were 92 boarding students. Mitchell became part of the North Carolina Community College System as Mitchell Community College in 1973 and currently serves 1,033 full-time and 1,609 part-time students.
In 2001 Gardner-Webb University opened a branch campus on the Wilkesboro Highway. According to Director Dr. John Karriker, the facility serves a combined total of about 300 students in graduate and undergraduate programs.
There are 112 industrial plants (there were 70 in 1937) within the city, manufacturing fabric, apparel, plastics, machinery, electrical equipment, motor and generator manufacturing, transportation equipment and motor vehicle parts.
In 1937 Statesville produced many products intended for use in the home: silk, sweaters, flour, furniture, underwear, hosiery, dowel pins, juvenile furniture, medicine, personal leather accessories, mill work, screens and doors, chairs, bread, cotton yarns, cotton seed oil, clay working machinery, saw mills, wood saws, cigarettes, candy, smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco, red cedar chests, harnesses, marble and granite, lumber, showcases, veneer and panels and venetian blinds.
According to Hites, the City of Statesville held a referendum in 1946 and adopted the council/manager form of government.
The charter adopted by the General Assembly March 11, 1881, provided for four wards whose boundaries are Broad and Center streets. Two aldermen are elected to two-year terms. A total of eight aldermen and a mayor form the government.
There was also some interesting miscellaneous information to be found in the 1937 article. Readers were told that the city then had 320 fire hydrants and 30 miles of city-maintained paved streets, complete with sidewalks, and that "a modern sewage disposal plant is employed."
The city currently has 1,405 fire hydrants within the city limits, 142.21 miles of city-maintained paved streets, 79.2 miles of sidewalks, 274 miles of maintained water lines and 279.2 miles of sanitary sewer lines.
So, Statesville is still a "City of Progress," as used to be on the city license plates.
The population has a little more than doubled and except for slightly smaller number of retail stores in the city limits and the demise of passenger rail transportation, Statesville has progressed in all seven areas.
The 1937 article did not count the number of churches or mention recreational facilities or other factors that might figure in to a "quality of life" score. Still, it does allow for some comparisons to be made.
I wonder what will figures and changes be 72 years hence, in the year 2081?
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