ROBESON COUNTY

Robeson was formed in 1787 from Bladen. It was named in honor of Colonel Thomas Robeson, a soldier of the Revolution. He was one of the leaders at the battle of Elizabethtown which was fought in September 1781. It is in the southeastern section of the State and is bounded by the state of South Carolina and Scotland, Hoke, Cumberland, Bladen and Columbus counties. The present land area is 948.84 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 134,168. Of that population, 38,877 were white, 32,637 were black or African American, 51,502 were American Indian, 993 were Asian, 86 were Pacific Islander and 6,672 were of a different race. Another 3,401 were reported to be of two or more races and 10,932 were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The courthouse was erected on land which formerly belonged to John Willis. A lottery was used to dispose of the lots and to establish the town. In 1788, Lumberton was established and is the county seat.

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Robeson County is primarily in the Lumber River Basin and is considered a part of the Coastal Plain 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:

North Carolina Digital Collections

NC LIVE resources

NC Natural Heritage Program database

WorldCat (Searches numerous library catalogs)