Hickory, North Carolina

S itting picture perfect in Catawba County, North Carolina, the City of Hickory offers the scenic beauty of parks and trails, lakes, and mountain views in all four seasons. The community traces its roots back to 1850, when Henry Robinson built a log tavern under a hickory tree in the area. The town was first known as Hickory Tavern, officially becoming the city of Hickory in 1889. A forward- thinking community, Hickory would go on to be the first city in North Carolina to have a council-manager government in 1913. The city was also ahead of the times by installing electric lights in 1888 and a complete sewer system in 1904. In 1944, during a major polio outbreak, the town of Hickory joined forces with the March of Dimes to build a hospital which could adequately care for the region’s affected children. Within 54 hours of making the agreement to build the hospital, doctors were already inside, with equipment, treating patients. Hickory’s population of 41,000 swells to over 80,000 during the day. As City Manager Warren Wood explains, “We are the hub of the greater Hickory metro area, which is a four-county region, encompassing about 365,000 people. We are the geographic center of that region, the employment hub. We abut the Charlotte metro area and refer to ourselves as Charlotte’s great northwest, although we are our AT A GLANCE HICKORY, NORTH CAROLINA WHAT: A scenic progressive city; population 40,000 WHERE: At the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, an hour from Charlotte, NC WEBSITE: www.hickorync.gov Hickory, N O R T H C A R O L I N A Life. Well Crafted