Forsyth County

23 September 2009

FORSYTH COUNTY

Forsyth county

Forsyth was formed in 1849 from Stokes. It was named in honor of Colonel Benjamin Forsyth, a native of Stokes County who fell on the northern frontier in the second war with England. It is in the central section of the State and is bounded by Guilford, Davidson, Davie, Yadkin, and Stokes counties. The present land area is 409.60 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 350,670. Of that population, 218,517 were white, 91,227 were black or African American, 1,457 were American Indian, 6,495 were Asian, 223 were Pacific Islander and 25,167 were of a different race. Another 7,584 were reported to be of two or more races and 41,775 were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The act establishing the county ordered the first court to be held at the town hall of Salem, at which time the justices were to select a place for future courts until a courthouse could be erected. Commissioners were named to select a place for the public buildings, acquire the land, and lay out a town. In 1851 an act was passed naming the county seat Winston. In 1879 an act was passed authorizing that Winston and Salem be combined, provided the people voted for the same. In 1913 Winston and Salem were incorporated as one town and Winston-Salem became the county seat.

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Parts of Forsyth County are located in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin, parts are in the Roanoke River Basin and a few select areas in the eastern part of the county fall in the Cape Fear River Basin. Forsyth County is in the Piedmont region of the state.

References:

"American Factfinder." 2011. U. S. Census Bureau. Online at http://factfinder2.census.gov/. Accessed 3/3/2011.

Corbitt, David L. 2000. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943. Sixth printing. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History.

Powell, William Stevens, and Michael R. Hill. 2010. The North Carolina gazetteer: a dictionary of Tar Heel places and their history. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Additional resources:

Digital Forsyth

North Carolina Digital Collections (Government & Heritage Library and NC State Archives)