Siler City is a town in western

Chatham County, North Carolina Chatham County ( )
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Car ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 7,702.

History

Siler City began when Plikard Dederic Siler and his wife, Elizabeth Hartsoe Siler, settled about four miles north of the town's current location. The couple briefly lived in Pennsylvania, then Virginia, and then settled near Lacy's Creek (the location near today's Siler City). They had 10 children. In recent years, Siler City has become a suburb of

Greensboro Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...

and the

Research Triangle Park Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States; it occupies in North Carolina and hosts more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. It is owned and managed by the Research Triangle Foundation, a private non-profi ...

. The Bowen-Jordan Farm, Cadmus N. Bray House, Bray-Paschal House, East Raleigh Street Historic District, Gregson-Hadley House, Former High Point Bending and Chair Company, Hotel Hadley, North Third Avenue Historic District, Siler City City Hall, Siler City Commercial Historic District, Siler City High School, Snipes-Fox House, William Teague House, and Burdett Woody House 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 ...

Geography

Siler City is located in western Chatham County. U.S. Route 64 passes through the northern part of the town as 11th Street, leading east to Pittsboro, the Chatham County seat, and west to Asheboro.

U.S. Route 421 U.S. Route 421 (also U.S. Highway 421, US 421) is a diagonal northwest–southeast United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. The highwa ...

bypasses Siler City to the northeast, with access from Exits 168, 171, and 174. US 421 leads northwest to

and southeast to Sanford. 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 town has a total area of , of which , or 0.37%, is water. Loves Creek, a tributary to the Rocky River is the main watershed that drains Siler City.

Demographics

The population has increased by 75% from 1990 to the 2016 estimate, as workers have been attracted to new jobs in the poultry processing industry.

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 7,702 people, 2,735 households, and 1,773 families residing in the town.

2010 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 2010, there were 7,887 people, 2,603 households, and 1,802 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 2,890 housing units (2,603 of which were occupied) at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 44.0%

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 ...

, 19.1%

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 ...

, 1.7% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.2%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 31.1% some other race, and 3.4% 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 ethnicity comprised 49.8% of the population. There were 2,603 households, out of which 43.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were headed by

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, 18.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.1% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94, and the average family size was 3.50. In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.8% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.1 years. For every 100 females there were 96.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.5 males. For the period 2009–13, the estimated median annual income for a household in the town was $30,676, and the median income for a family was $34,838. Male full-time workers had a median income of $27,732 versus $24,877 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 $14,234. About 15.5% of families and 22.2% 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 34.4% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety (formerly the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention) operates the Chatham Youth Development Center juvenile correctional facility in the Central Carolina Business Park in Siler City. The facility, which opened in 2008, serves both boys and girls.

Education

Siler City is part of the Chatham County Public Schools District, with Jordan-Matthews High School, One Academy, Chatham Early College, Chatham Middle School, Siler City Elementary School and Virginia Cross Elementary School serving the town. Chatham Charter High School is also located in Siler City, as well as Chatham Charter School.

Media

Print

Siler City and the rest of Chatham County is served by The Chatham News, a weekly newspaper based in Siler City.

Radio

Siler City is home to WNCA, which broadcasts on AM 1570. The station went on the air in 1952. WNCA airs a variety of programming, including local news, local sports, and a swap shop program. The station also airs

Adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

and

beach music Beach music, also known as Carolina beach music, and to a lesser extent, beach pop, is a regional genre of music in the United States which developed from rock/ R&B and pop music of the 1950s and 1960s. Beach music is most closely associate ...

Airport

Siler City Municipal Airport (5W8) is a single-runway airport located southwest of downtown Siler City. The airport is used both by local residents and as a refueling stop for transiting military and

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

aircraft.

In popular culture

*Siler City was featured in episode 140 (season 5, episode 13) of ''

The Andy Griffith Show ''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American sitcom television series that was aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color. The series ...

'' (December 14, 1964) as the place where Andy and Helen were taken by a game warden for fishing without a license. The city was featured again on The Andy Griffith Show (11 January 1965) in episode 143, (season 5, episode 17) as the home of Sheriff Jackson, who visits Andy to see how Mayberry does traffic safety, and once more (January 1, 1968) in a cooking show on the local TV station. In this episode, Andy described the city as only a 25-minute drive from Mayberry. *The town was the setting for Paul Cuadros' book, ''A Home on the Field: How One Championship Soccer Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America'' (2006), a non-fiction account of his experience coaching a majority- Latino soccer team at the high school to a state championship in spite of adversity faced by the students.

Notable people

* Lowell Bailey (born 1981),

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

coach and former Olympic biathlon athlete *

Frances Bavier Frances Elizabeth Bavier (December 14, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American stage and television actress. Originally from New York theatre, she worked in film and television from the 1950s until the 1970s. She is best known for her role a ...

(1902–1989), actress best remembered for her role as

Aunt Bee Aunt Bee is a fictional character from the 1960 American television sitcom ''The Andy Griffith Show'' played by Frances Bavier. The character migrated to the spinoff ''Mayberry R.F.D.'' (1968–1971) when ''The Andy Griffith Show'' ended its run ...

on ''

'', a 1960s television

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

set in North Carolina, lived here in retirement and is buried here * George Edwards (born 1967), NFL coachBeane, Don. (January 21, 2020)
NFL’s Cowboys know what they are getting in Siler City’s Edwards
''Chatham News & Record''. Retrieved January 14, 2021.

References

External links

Town website

Siler City Merchants Association
{{Authority control Towns in Chatham County, North Carolina Hispanic and Latino American culture in North Carolina