<sod>Located in the [[Piedmont]] at the [[fall line]], the county became a site of industrialization with cotton mills constructed in the late 19th century. Among the owners of the new mills in the area were men of the rising black middle-class of [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], such as [[W. C. Coleman]], [[John C. Dancy]] (appointed as collector of customs at the port), and others. They organized [[Coleman Manufacturing Company]] in 1897, about two miles from Concord. They built and operated what is believed to have been the first cotton mill in the nation to be owned by blacks.<ref name="edmonds">Edmonds, Helen G. ''The Negro and Fusion Politics in North Carolina, 1894-1901'' (1951/reprint 2013) pp 89-92. Quote, p. 92: Dancy wrote: "This is the first genuine cotton mill yet built and controlled by colored men in the history of the country. It stands two miles from Concord, North Carolina, in the midst of a plot of about 140 acres of fertile soil. ...There is no good reason why there should not be a splendid town there governed by ourselves in the near future."</ref> They hoped to promote economic security for people of color. But the [[Wilmington Insurrection of 1898]], with white attacks on blacks, their homes and businesses, destroyed much of what the people had built there since the war. In 1900 Dancy was among more than 2000 blacks who left the city permanently after the riot, resulting in its becoming majority white. He moved to Washington, DC, appointed as the federal Recorder of Deeds.<ref>Edmonds (1951/2013), "The Negro and Fusion Politics," p. 92</ref><eod>
<sod>Located in the [[Piedmont]] at the [[fall line]], the county became a site of industrialization with cotton mills constructed in the late 19th century. Among the owners of the new mills in the area were men of the rising black middle-class of [[Wilmington, North Carolina]], such as [[W. C. Coleman]], [[John C. Dancy]] (appointed as collector of customs at the port), and others. They organized [[Coleman Manufacturing Company]] in 1897, on a site about two miles from Concord. They built and operated what is believed to have been the first cotton mill in the nation to be owned by blacks.<ref name="edmonds">Edmonds, Helen G. ''The Negro and Fusion Politics in North Carolina, 1894-1901'' (1951/reprint 2013) pp 89-92. Quote, p. 92: Dancy wrote: "This is the first genuine cotton mill yet built and controlled by colored men in the history of the country. It stands two miles from Concord, North Carolina, in the midst of a plot of about 140 acres of fertile soil. ...There is no good reason why there should not be a splendid town there governed by ourselves in the near future."</ref> They hoped to promote economic security for people of color. [[Richard B. Fitzgerald]] was its first president. But the [[Wilmington Insurrection of 1898]], with white attacks on blacks, their homes and businesses, destroyed much of what the people had built there since the war. In 1900 Dancy was among more than 2000 blacks who left the city permanently after the riot, resulting in its becoming majority white. He moved to Washington, DC, appointed as the federal Recorder of Deeds.<ref>Edmonds (1951/2013), "The Negro and Fusion Politics," p. 92</ref><eod>