Guilford County, North Carolina

Guilford County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 421,048. Its is. Since 1938, an additional county court has been located in, making Guilford one of only a handful of counties nationwide with a dual court system. High Point's courthouse is the 101st courthouse in North Carolina.

History
The county was formed in from parts of  and. It was named for, father of , from 1770 to 1782. The church played a major role in the European settlement of the county, and numerous Quakers still live in the county.

On, , the was fought in present-day Greensboro between Generals  and  during the. This battle marked a key turning point in the Revolutionary War in the South. Although General Cornwallis, the British Commander, held the field at the end of the battle, his losses were so severe that he decided to withdraw to the Carolina and Virginia coastline, where he could receive reinforcements and his battered army could be protected by the British Navy. His decision ultimately led to his defeat later in 1781 at, by a combined force of American and French troops and warships.

In the southern third of Guilford County became. In the northern half of its remaining territory became.

Due to the large number of Quakers living in Guilford, many of the county's residents were opposed to before the Civil War. The county was a stop on the famous, which provided escaped slaves with a route to freedom in the North. , one of the founders of the "railroad", was a Guilford County native. He is credited with personally helping over 2,000 slaves escape to freedom before the war.

In 1891, the county became home to the state's first and only publicly supported institution of higher learning for women, the State Normal and Industrial School. In 1932, the school became the of North Carolina when it joined with the  and  in  to form the Consolidated University of North Carolina. From the 1930's to the 1960's the Women's College was the third-largest women's university in the world. The school's name was changed a final time in 1963 when it began admitting men; it is now known as the.

In Guilford County helped spark a major development in the  when four black students from the  in Greensbboro started the first. Known afterwards as the, the four men deliberately sat at a "whites-only" lunch counter at the Woolworth's store in downtown Greensboro and asked to be served. They were arrested, but their action led to many other college students in Greensboro - including white students from and the Women's College - to sit at the lunch counter in a show of support. Within two months the sit-in movement spread to 54 cities in 9 states; Woolworth's eventually agreed to desegregate its lunch counters and other restaurants in Southern towns and cities followed suit. A darker racial incident in was called the. In this incident the predominantly African American (CWP) led a march protesting the  and other white-supremacist groups through a black neighborhood in southeastern Greensboro. They were attacked and shot at by the and members of the, several of the Communist Party marchers were killed or wounded in the attack. The case received further national publicity when the accused shooters were found "not guilty" by an all-white jury.

Prominent Guilford County Natives

 * powerful who served as the 40th  from 1903-1911.
 * , wife of President and the fourth  of the United States.
 * , short-story writer better-known as ""; his most famous story is "The Ransom of Red Chief".
 * , legendary radio and television journalist for from the 1930's to the 1960's. During the  his broadcasts from London during the  played a major role in raising sympathy for the allies. In the 1950's he played a major role in the downfall of Wisconsin Senator, thus ending his "witch hunt" for Communist spies within the U.S. government. He is often considered to be one of the founding fathers of television journalism.
 * , leader who was nicknamed the "President of the Underground Railroad" for helping escaped slaves to freedom in the North before the Civil War.

Law and government
Guilford County is a member of the regional.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,703 (658 ). 1,682 km² (649 sq mi) of it is land and 21 km² (8 sq mi) of it (1.26%) is water.

The county is drained, in part, by the and  Rivers.

Townships
The county is divided into eighteen : Bruce, Center Grove, Clay, Deep River, Fentress, Friendship, Gilmer, Greene, High Point, Jamestown, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Morehead, Oak Ridge, Rock Creek, Sumner, and Washington.

Adjacent Counties

 * (north)
 * (east)
 * (south)
 * (southwest)
 * (west)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 421,048 people, 168,667 households, and 109,802 families residing in the county. The was 250/km² (648/sq mi). There were 180,391 housing units at an average density of 107/km² (278/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 64.53%, 29.27% or , 0.46% , 2.44% , 0.03% , 1.81% from , and 1.45% from two or more races. 3.80% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 168,667 households out of which 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.00% were living together, 13.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.90% were non-families. 27.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.70% under the age of 18, 11.00% from 18 to 24, 31.40% from 25 to 44, 22.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 92.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,618, and the median income for a family was $52,638. Males had a median income of $35,940 versus $27,092 for females. The for the county was $23,340. About 7.60% of families and 10.60% of the population were below the, including 13.80% of those under age 18 and 9.90% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns
Part of is in Guilford County