Greenville, North Carolina

G reenville,North Carolina is the county seat of Pitt County and,with a population of ap- proximately 92,000, the 10th most populous city in the state. It is located about 85 miles east of Raleigh and 90 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean. Greenville was originally founded in 1771 as Mar- tinsborough, named after the Royal Governor, Josiah Martin. In 1774, the town was moved to its present location on the south bank of the Tar River, three miles west of its original site. In 1786, its name was changed to Greenesville in honor of General Nathanael Greene, the American RevolutionaryWar hero. It was later shortened to Greenville. During the 19th century, cotton was the area’s lead- ing agricultural crop, and there were several estab- lished steamboat lines transporting passengers and goods on the Tar River. Late in the century, tobacco surpassed cotton as the leading money crop, and Greenville became one of the state’s principal tobacco marketing and warehouse centers. Green- ville's current economic development began in 1968,when Burroughs Wellcome, a major pharma- ceutical research and manufacturing firm, located in the city. Today, in addition to a thriving pharmaceutical sec- tor, Greenville and Pitt County have become home to many other major industries and businesses including Harper Brush; Grady-White Boats; Hyster- Yale,which designs, engineers,manufactures, sells, and services a line of lift trucks and aftermarket parts; ASMO, a producer of front wiper motor linkages, rear wiper motors, arms and blades, and radiator fan motors; and The Hammock Source, the world's largest hammockmanufacturer. Greenville is also home to Vidant Health, a regional medical facility that services 29 counties and includes a world-class heart center and a brand