Raleigh

Raleigh was founded in 1792 as North Carolina's capital city. It was named for Sir Walter Raleigh, who attempted to establish the first English colony on the shores of the new world in the 1580s. The only state capital to have been planned and established by a state as the seat of state government.

Durham

In 1854 Dr. Bartlett Durham sold four acres of land to the North Carolina Railroad Company to build a new station between Hillsborough and Raleigh and before long a small settlement grew there which was to become the city of Durham. The first tobacco factory had opened in Durham in 1854 by R. F. Morris. Ten years later, In 1865 the armies of Union and Confederate forces gathered around Durham Station as General Joseph E. Johnston negotiated his surrender to General William T. Sherman at Bennett Place at the end of the Civil War. Union troops liked the taste of the local bright leaf tobacco. This began the growth of Durham's tobacco industry and led the city to prosperity. In the 1950's-60's, what is now the world's largest university-related research park and namesake for the vast Triangle region was carved from Durham pinelands as a special Durham County tax district. Research Triangle Park is encompassed on three sides by the City of Durham, with a small portion now spilling into Wake County toward Cary and Morrisville. RTP scientists have developed everything from Astroturf® to AZT and won Nobel Prizes in the process. Now, nearly 140 major research and development companies, including Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Underwriters Laboratories, and agencies such as the EPA, employ more than 45,000.

 

Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, or at least the town center, indeed sits atop a hill which was originally occupied by a small Anglican "chapel of ease", built in 1752, known as New Hope Chapel. The Carolina Inn now occupies the site of the original chapel. In 1819, the town was founded to serve the University of North Carolina and grew up around it. The town was chartered in 1851, and its main street, Franklin Street, was named in memory of Benjamin Franklin.

Cary

Cary began in 1750 as a settlement called Bradford's Ordinary.Located almost entirely in Wake County, it is the second largest municipality in that county and the third largest municipality in The Triangle after Raleigh and Durham. Cary is a suburb of Raleigh. The town's population was 94,536 at the 2000 census, but the Census Bureau estimates that its population had grown to 134,000 by 2009, making it the largest town and seventh largest municipality statewide. According to the US Census Bureau, Cary was the 5th fastest growing municipality in the United States between September 1, 2006, and September 1, 2007.

 

Hillsborough

Hillsborough was founded in 1754, and was first owned, surveyed, and mapped by William Churton (a surveyor for Earl Granville). Originally to be named Orange, it was named Corbin Town (for Francis Corbin, a member of the governor's council and one of Granville's land agents), and renamed Childsburgh (in honor of Thomas Child, the attorney general for North Carolina from 1751–1760 and another one of Granville's land agents) in 1759. It was not until 1766 that it was named Hillsborough, after the Earl of Hillsborough, the British secretary of state for the colonies and a relative of royal Governor William Tryon.

Morrisville

Morrisville was named for Jeremiah Morris who donated three acres of land to the North Carolina Railroad in 1852 for a water station, woodshed, and other buildings in support of the railroad. The deed transaction is believed to be on November 30, 1852, which references Crabtree Creek. Morrisville is located in Wake County, in central North Carolina equal distance from Raleigh and Durham. The population is about 15,000, with easy access to I-40, I-540, US-1 and are adjacent to Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Research Triangle Park. It is the home to the Global Headquarters of Lenovo.