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Canton is the second largest town in
Haywood County, North Carolina Haywood County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 62,089. The county seat and its largest community is Waynesville, North Carolina, Waynesville. Haywood ...
, United States. It is located about west of Asheville and is part of that city's
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
. The town is named after the city of
Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, eighth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 70,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Canton–Massillo ...
. The population was 4,422 at the 2020 census.


History

This area was long settled by succeeding indigenous cultures. What is known as the archeological Garden Creek site, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
, is located on the south side of the Pigeon River, approximately seven miles west of Canton. It was inhabited from 8000 BCE by successive cultures of indigenous peoples. Villages were developed in the Middle Woodland (200-600 CE) and The Southeast Appalachian Mississippian culture (1000 to 1450/1500 CE) periods. The Cherokee people are the most recent Native Americans to occupy this area, which is part of their homelands in the western Carolinas, southeastern Tennessee, and northeastern Georgia. The Cherokee in Western North Carolina are known as the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᏱ ᏕᏣᏓᏂᎸᎩ, ''Tsalagiyi Detsadanilvgi'') is a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States, federally recognized Indian Tribe, ...
, a federally recognized tribe. The prehistoric peoples built a total of four earthwork mounds at the site. Three have been excavated, the last two platform mounds in the 1960s prior to residential development. European Americans did not begin to settle here until the late 1780s, following the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, United States independence, and gaining cessions of land to the US by the Cherokee. By 1790, Jonathan McPeters was farming the banks of the Pigeon River at the site where Canton developed. Around 1815 the first church was built in what was to become Canton; it was called the Locust Old Field Baptist Church. "Old Field" often referred to areas cultivated or occupied by the Cherokee people, as this was known to be part of their traditional homelands. Canton was founded in 1889 as "Buford". Later that same year, the name was changed to "Vinson". The name was changed to "Pigeon Ford" in 1891, and to "Canton" in 1893. The town was named for Canton, Ohio, the source of the steel for the bridge that was built across the Pigeon River. Canton's river location enabled the development of industry that used water power. Peter G. Thomson had built Champion Coated Paper Company of
Hamilton, Ohio Hamilton is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Cincinnati along the Great Miami River, Hamilton is the second-most populous city in the Cincinnati metropolitan area and the List of municipaliti ...
into one of largest manufacturers of paper in the United States. He visited Western North Carolina in 1905 looking for a location for a pulp mill to supply his company. The area had large forests that would supply timber. Leaders of communities farther to the west tried to convince Thomson to choose their areas. While the timber supplies were greater to the west, Thomson wanted areas with more
spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...
and settled on Canton, which had the type trees Thomson wanted, enough land for a mill, and the Pigeon River to move logs to the mill (Thomson later realized the river did not decline sufficiently, so railroads were used to move logs instead). Construction on the mill began in 1906. Many of the workers also had farms that they had to return to, so immigrants were hired to do much of the work. Canton had 350 people when work began. When the Champion Fibre Company mill opened in 1908, it had about 1000 employees and resulted in other related jobs being created, including construction of neighborhoods such as Fibreville, with 60 homes for employees. Thomson had great respect for the workers, believing those who had wealth should provide jobs for those who needed them, and began an annual
Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...
celebration in 1906, which continued a hundred years later. When Champion owners decided to close the plant in 1997 because of environmental issues, the employees purchased the plant and formed Blue Ridge Paper Company. Under an ESOP, the employees owned a 45% stake in the new company. The plant was sold to Evergreen Packaging, which in 2020 became Pactiv Evergreen. The Blue Ridge Southern Railroad served the plant and has a small railyard next to it. On March 6, 2023, Pactiv Evergreen announced the mill would close in the summer, affecting 1,100 workers. The Canton Main Street Historic District and Colonial Theater are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. On August 17, 2021,
Tropical Storm Fred The name Fred has been used for a total of six tropical cyclones worldwide, three in the Atlantic Ocean, two in the Western Pacific Ocean, and one in the Australian region of the Indian Ocean. In the Atlantic: * Hurricane Fred (2009) – Category& ...
flooded the town near the Pigeon River. As of June 2022, many buildings surrounding the river were still not usable as a result of the storm. In nearby Cruso, six people died as a result from the
flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
ing, many of which at Laurel Bank Campground. Flooding from
Hurricane Helene Hurricane Helene ( ) was a deadly and devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the Southeastern United States in late September 2024. It was the strongest hurricane on record to ...
in September 2024 was even worse.


Geography

Canton is in east-central Haywood County, on both sides of the Pigeon River. U.S. Routes 19 and 23 pass through the center of town as Park Street and Main Street. The highways lead east to Asheville and west to Lake Junaluska.
Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...
passes through the northernmost part of Canton, with access from Exits 31 and 33. I-40 leads east to Asheville and northwest through the Pigeon River Gorge into
Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
, the town of Canton has a total area of , all land.


Demographics


2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,422 people, 1,775 households, and 1,072 families residing in the town.


2000 census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 4,029 people, 1,819 households, and 1,118 families residing in the town. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 2,003 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.13%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 1.59%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.57% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.94% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 2.41% of the population. There were 1,819 households, out of which 22.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.7% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.5% were non-families. 35.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.78. In the town, the population was spread out, with 19.6% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 24.1% from 45 to 64, and 23.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $28,775, and the median income for a family was $38,191. Males had a median income of $28,792 versus $22,143 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $17,995. About 9.5% of families and 13.3% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 24.6% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.


Schools

* Pisgah High School * Canton Middle School * North Canton Elementary * Bethel Middle School * Bethel Elementary School * Meadowbrook Elementary * Bethel Christian Academy


Scouting

* Camp Daniel Boone,
Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...


References


External links


Town of Canton official website

Haywood County visitors' website
{{authority control Towns in North Carolina Towns in Haywood County, North Carolina Populated places established in 1889 Asheville metropolitan area