oct-2017

232 233 S anford,North Carolina,located in the cen- tral Piedmont area of the state,is a cityof approximately30,000,and the county seat of Lee County.It began life as the state’s western frontier,home toNativeAmerican hunters and farmers,with settlers pushing into the region decades before theAmerican Revolution-migrating colonists fromPennsylvania,Maryland,Virginia,and coastal regions of North Carolina,as well as Scot- tish immigrants arriving inAmerica.The citywas incorporated in 1874,and named after C.O.Sanford, a railroad engineer whowas instru- mental in the building of the rail lines through the area. Because Sanford sits wherewhite beach sand from the coast meets the Piedmont clay,the cityhas the right ingredients to be a large producer of clay bricks.In fact,at one time,Sanford produced almost 10 percent of the bricks in the United States and was named“BrickCapital of the USA.”Other indus- tries which contributed to the city’s economy includ- ed textiles,furniture,and tobacco,all of which began suffering a severe decline in the 1990s–a decline that was further exacerbated by the Great Reces- sion of the early2000s.Lately,though, SANFORD, NORTH CAROLINA LEVERAGING ITS ASSETS SANFORD North Carolina