Hickory is a city in western North Carolina. Most of it is in Catawba County. It's the 25th largest city in North Carolina, about 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Charlotte.

In 2022, about 44,084 people lived in Hickory. Hickory is the main city of a larger area called the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area. This area had about 368,347 people in 2022. It's also part of the even bigger Charlotte-Concord, NC Combined Statistical Area.

Reader's Digest magazine said in 2014 that the Hickory area was the 10th best place in the U.S. to live and raise a family. In the same year, Forbes magazine ranked the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton area as the third best in the country for business costs. In 2023, Travel and Leisure magazine called Hickory the most beautiful and affordable place to live in the U.S.

History of Hickory

Hickory got its name from the Hickory Tavern, a log building put up in the 1850s. It was built under a large hickory tree.

Henry Link bought the first piece of land here for $45 in 1858. The house he built later became a restaurant called The 1859 Cafe, which closed in 2011.

The first train ran near Hickory Tavern in 1859. In 1868, Dr. Jeremiah Ingold started the Free Academy, which was the first school in the area. Hickory Tavern became an official town in 1870. Three years later, its name was changed to Hickory. In 1889, it became the City of Hickory.

Hickory grew quickly in the 1880s. Electric lights were put in place in 1888. A year later, the Elliott Opera House opened. This opera house was beautifully decorated and could seat 750 people. It hosted traveling shows, local acting groups, and the Hickory Symphony Band. A fire destroyed the building in 1902, and it was never rebuilt. A new building was built in 1921 across the street. It is now home to the Hickory Community Theatre.

In 1891, four Lutheran pastors started Highland Academy with 12 students. This school grew over the years and is now Lenoir–Rhyne University.

Hickory built a sewage system in 1904. In 1913, the city started using a council-manager form of government.

Hickory is home to one of the oldest furniture makers in the U.S. that is still in its original location. Hickory White, which used to be called Hickory Manufacturing Company, was built in 1902. It has been making furniture ever since. During World War II, the factory made ammunition boxes for the U.S. military instead of furniture.

After World War II, Hickory became famous for the "Miracle of Hickory". In 1944, the area around Hickory had one of the worst outbreaks of polio ever. People who were children then remember not being allowed to play outside or visit friends because they were afraid of getting sick.

Local hospitals were not big enough to treat all the sick children. So, the people of Hickory and the March of Dimes decided to build a hospital. It took less than 54 hours from the decision to have a new hospital ready with equipment, doctors, and patients. More buildings were added quickly. An official from the Red Cross called it "the most outstanding example of cooperative effort he has ever seen."

The city also gained national attention because of a sad event. The remains of a young girl, Zahra Baker, were found. After a police investigation, Zahra's stepmother was found guilty of murder. The Zahra Baker All Children's playground in Kiwanis Park is named in her honor.

Historic Places in Hickory

Many places in Hickory are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These include the Claremont High School Historic District, Elliott–Carnegie Library, First Presbyterian Church, and the Hickory Municipal Building. Other important sites are the Hickory Southwest Downtown Historic District, Highland School, and the Oakwood Historic District.

Geography and Location

Hickory is mostly in western Catawba County. It also reaches into Burke County and Caldwell County. Interstate 40 goes through the southern part of the city. It leads east 68 miles (109 km) to Winston-Salem and west 75 miles (121 km) to Asheville.

U.S. Route 70 (Conover Boulevard) is an older road that runs east–west through the city. U.S. Route 321 goes through the western part of Hickory. It leads northwest 43 miles (69 km) to Boone and south 36 miles (58 km) to Gastonia.

The city covers about 31.14 square miles (80.66 km2). Most of this area is land, with a small amount of water.

Lake Hickory

Lake Hickory was made on the Catawba River in 1927. This happened when the Oxford Dam was finished 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Hickory. The dam is 122 feet (37 m) high and 1,200 feet (366 m) long.

Lake Hickory is named after the city and runs along its northern edge. The lake covers almost 4,223 acres (17.09 km2) and has 105 miles (169 km) of shoreline. It provides water for Hickory, Conover, and Long View. It's also a popular spot for boating, fishing, and other water activities.

Duke Energy has created five public areas around the lake for people to use.

Hickory's Metropolitan Area

Hickory is the biggest city in the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton metropolitan area. This area includes Catawba County, Burke County, Caldwell County, and Alexander County. In 2020, about 365,276 people lived in this combined area.

Besides Hickory, this area also includes the cities of Lenoir, Morganton, Conover, and Newton. There are also many smaller towns and communities nearby.

Climate in Hickory

Hickory has a humid subtropical climate. This means it has hot, humid summers and mild winters. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Hickory was 105 °F (41 °C) in July 1952. The coldest temperature was -8 °F (-22 °C) in January 1985.

Getting Around Hickory

Air Travel

The Hickory Regional Airport is in the western part of the city. It offers services for private planes. There are no commercial airlines here because bigger airports like Charlotte-Douglas International Airport are close by.

Public Transportation

Greenway Public Transportation runs six bus routes in Hickory, Conover, and Newton. They also offer special services for people who need extra help getting around. Greenway provides over 250,000 rides each year to people in the Hickory area.

Major Roads

I-40 Interstate 40
U.S. Highway 321
U.S. Highway 321 Business
U.S. Highway 70
North Carolina Highway 16
North Carolina Highway 127

Population of Hickory

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1890	2,023	—
1900	2,535	25.3%
1910	3,716	46.6%
1920	5,076	36.6%
1930	7,363	45.1%
1940	13,487	83.2%
1950	14,755	9.4%
1960	19,328	31.0%
1970	20,569	6.4%
1980	20,757	0.9%
1990	28,301	36.3%
2000	37,222	31.5%
2010	40,010	7.5%
2020	43,490	8.7%
U.S. Decennial Census

In 2020, there were 43,490 people living in Hickory. There were 16,690 households and 9,834 families.

Most people in Hickory are White (64.61%). About 13.61% are Black or African American, and 12.81% are Hispanic or Latino. There are also smaller groups of Asian, Native American, and other races.

Education in Hickory

Lenoir–Rhyne University

Elementary Schools

Clyde Campbell Elementary School
Jenkins Elementary School
Longview Elementary School
Oakwood Elementary School
Snow Creek Elementary School
Southwest Primary School
Viewmont Elementary School
Webb A. Murray Elementary School
St. Stephens Elementary School

Middle Schools

Grandview Middle School
Northview Middle School
H. M. Arndt Middle School

High Schools

Hickory High School
Challenger Early College High School
Hickory Career and Arts Magnet High School
St. Stephens High School

Private Schools

St. Stephens Lutheran School
University Christian High School
Hickory Christian Academy
Hickory Day School
Tabernacle Christian School
Christian Family Academy
Cornerstone Christian Academy (for students with learning differences)

Colleges and Universities

Catawba Valley Community College
Lenoir–Rhyne University
North Carolina Center for Engineering Technologies
Appalachian State University Hickory Campus

Hickory's Economy

Intersection of 1st Avenue NE and NC 127 near Downtown Hickory

Hickory's early industries, like making wagons, and its location near forests and railroads helped the furniture industry grow. Also, experience with making textiles led to new industries like fiber-optic cable and tape. About 40% of the world's fiber optic cable is made in the Hickory area.

Shurtape Technologies, a company that makes adhesive tape, is based in Hickory. CommScope, a large company that provides network equipment, is based nearby in Claremont.

The furniture industry in Hickory is not as big as it used to be, but it's still a main part of the local economy. HSM (company) (formerly Hickory Springs), started in 1944, is a top maker of mattress coils. It's thought that 60% of the nation's furniture used to be made within 200 miles (320 km) of Hickory.

The Hickory area is also known as a data-center hub. Large data centers for companies like Apple and Google are located here. Apple's data center campus south of Hickory is one of the biggest in the world.

Transportation Insight, a company that helps manage shipping and logistics, has its main office in Hickory. In 2015, they moved their headquarters to the historic Lyerly Full Fashioned Mill in downtown Hickory.

Main Industries

Manufacturing (making things)
Education (schools and colleges)
Healthcare (hospitals and clinics)
Retail Trade (stores)
Professional, scientific, and management services
Public Administration (city and county government)
Transportation (moving goods and people)
Construction (building things)

Major Employers

Catawba Valley Medical Center
Frye Regional Medical Center/Duke LifePoint
MDI
Hickory Springs Manufacturing
Corning Inc.
CommScope
Convergys
Century Furniture
City of Hickory
Catawba Valley Community College
Performance Food Group
Hickory Public Schools
Sherrill Furniture Company
Fiserv
Transportation Insight
Catawba County
Catawba County Schools
ITM
Cataler North America

Things to Do in Hickory

Sports and Recreation

L.P. Frans Stadium, home of the Hickory Crawdads

Hickory is home to the Hickory Crawdads. This is a Single-A Minor League Baseball team that is part of the Texas Rangers club. The Crawdads play at L.P. Frans Stadium, which is near the Hickory Regional Airport.

Hickory also has the Hickory Motor Speedway. This race track opened in 1951. It's a 1/2-mile (0.8 km) track with seats for about 5,000 fans.

Lenoir-Rhyne University has sports teams called the "Bears". They play in NCAA Division II and are part of the South Atlantic Conference. Their sports include baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and many more.

Hickory Aviation Museum

The Hickory Aviation Museum is at the Hickory Regional Airport. It started with a group called the Sabre Society. The museum has old airplanes in a hangar and outside. It also has a museum inside the old airport building with cool artifacts.

Arts and Culture

Hickory Museum of Art

Hickory is home to the second oldest art museum in North Carolina. The Hickory Museum of Art was started in 1944. It is located at the SALT Block, a place that also has the Catawba Science Center and other arts groups. The museum shows American art from the 1800s to today. It also has a special exhibit of folk art from self-taught artists in the region.

Western Piedmont Symphony

The Western Piedmont Symphony puts on many concerts. They have free outdoor concerts called Foothills Pops in Downtown Hickory every year.

Local Media

The Hickory Daily Record is a newspaper published every day.
Focus Newspaper is a free weekly paper that shares local news, events, and movie reviews.
WHKY, 1290 AM, is a radio station that plays news and talk shows.
WAIZ, "63 Big Ways", 630 AM, is a radio station that plays music from the 1950s and 1960s.
The local TV station is WWJS, channel 14.
The Claremont Courier is a free newspaper given out every month in Catawba County.

Famous People from Hickory

Athletes

Jeff Barkley, MLB baseball player
Rick Barnes, college basketball coach
Madison Bumgarner, MLB pitcher, won 3 World Series with the San Francisco Giants
Landon Dickerson, NFL football player, 2-time Pro Bowl player
Dale Jarrett, 1999 NASCAR champion, in the NASCAR Hall of Fame
Ryan Succop, NFL kicker, won Super Bowl LV with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Entertainers

James Best, actor and musician
Tom Constanten, musician, used to be in the Grateful Dead
Jon Reep, comedian
Matthew Settle, actor

Sister City

Hickory has one sister city:

Altenburg, Germany

Hickory, North Carolina facts for kids

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