Kittrell is a town in Vance County,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, United States.

History

Kittrell was chartered in 1885, with its first mayor David Outlaw, a merchant and bachelor. In 1860, one census district in Granville County the primary of the three parent counties (73% of the land area of Vance County was taken from Granville County) of Vance County, was called Kittrell's Depot. Kittrell's Depot was a railroad depot named for George Kittrell and his wife, Elizabeth Boswell Kittrell, who donated the land for a

Raleigh and Gaston Railroad The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was a Raleigh, North Carolina, based railroad opened in April 1840 between Raleigh and the town of Gaston, North Carolina, on the Roanoke River. It was North Carolina's second railroad (the Wilmington and Weldon Ra ...

station. The first post office for the Kittrell area, with Elisha Overton as its first postmaster, was established in 1854, replacing one in neighboring Stanton in the Epping Forest area which lacked direct railroad access, this establishment occurring shortly after Kittrell's Depot became operational. An 1868 state law required county governments to divide counties into smaller units of townships. Kittrell Township, including the depot station that is the likely basis for the choice of name, was one of Granville County's creations. George Kittrell was a grandson of Captain Jonathan Kittrell, commander of a company of Granville County colonial militia during the 1760s and early 1770s, and was a large landholder in Granville County. His holdings included the land upon which the Kittrell Springs Hotel was located. His grandfather Captain Kittrell was also one of the justices (or magistrates) for this county, and was an early Granville pioneer, who immigrated as a young adult to that area, attracted by its cheap, abundant and readily available land, along with two younger brothers Samuel and Isaac, from northeastern North Carolina. Their elder brothers George and John remained in their home area on farms in what is now known as Bertie and Gates County. Kittrell was the location of

Kittrell College Kittrell College was a two-year private historically black college from 1886 until 1975, in Kittrell, North Carolina. It was founded in association with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. After the college closed, many of its facilities b ...

, the campus of which later became the Kittrell

Job Corps Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to young people ages 16 to 24.

Center. Ashburn Hall, Thomas Capehart House, Josiah Crudup House, Concord School a Rosenwald School from 1922-1955 (now Kittrell Community Center), and St. James Episcopal Church and Rectory 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 ...

. Kittrell was also home to two famous luxury health hotels during North Carolina's '"Golden Age" of spas, healing springs, and health resorts', the Davis Hotel and Kittrell Springs Hotel.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the village has a total area of , all of it land.

Demographics

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 148 people, 59 households, and 47 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 68 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 70.95%

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 ...

, 27.70%

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 ...

, 0.68% Asian, and 0.68% 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 2.70% of the population. There were 59 households, out of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.5% 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, 25.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.3% were non-families. 18.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.79. In the township the population was spread out, with 23.0% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 20.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.0 males. The median income for a household in the village was $41,250, and the median income for a family was $48,125. Males had a median income of $35,000 versus $23,750 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 village was $17,799. There were 7.3% of families and 8.3% of the population living 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 26.9% of under eighteens and none of those over 64. The township is currently governed by three council members led by a mayor. The current mayor is Gene Pulley, a lifelong resident of Kittrell, elected in November 2023.

Notable people

Charity Adams Earley Charity Adams Earley ( Adams; December 5, 1918 – January 13, 2002) was a United States Army officer. She was the first African-American woman to become an officer in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later WACs) and was the commanding officer ...

, first African American woman to be an officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. * Mary Hinton, American academic and university president

References

{{authority control Towns in North Carolina Towns in Vance County, North Carolina Populated places established in 1854 1854 establishments in North Carolina