Cabarrus County: Gold Rush to New Economy.

• Position: Brief Article

People may think of Cabarrus County as Charlotte-Mecklenburg's sleepy neighbor, but radical change is nothing new for the county north of the Queen City.

In 1799, 12-year-old Conrad Reed made the first documented discovery of gold in the United States in the quiet, rural southern tip of Cabarrus County. Reed Gold Mine launched America's first gold rush, beginning a cycle of change that continues today.

Cabarrus County may have seemed thoroughly rural, but it was never destined to survive purely on the basis of an agricultural economy. "It was hardscrabble farming here," says Maurice Ewing, presi-dent of the Cabarrus County Economic Development Corp. By the middle of the 19th century, the county had a large enough population to man machines and was ripe for change. One of North Carolina's most successful entrepreneurs, Charles A. Cannon, created an entire town -- which he named Kannapolis -- to support his textile mills in the early 1900s. In Concord, Warren Coleman opened the first mill in the state to be owned and operated by African Americans.

Cabarrus County has always had to perform a balancing act between its rural and industrial worlds. The struggle has intensified over the last 30 years, and many rural vistas have become nostalgia-filled memories. "If you don't recruit industry and embrace the future, where will you be?" Ewing asks. "Do you want your grandchildren to move to Atlanta?"

Given the growth of Cabarrus County's economy and the diverse nature of industry and business headed the county's way, that's an unlikely prospect. In the late 1970s, the county faced a crucial turning point with the arrival of tobacco giant Philip Morris Inc. Residents were forced to decide whether an economy built largely around the textile industry would survive and prosper. After a contentious debate, the county decided on diversification, and community leaders have pursued that road ever since.

Though development and diversification are never easy, no one can deny that the county is booming. Economic developers have worked on some 50 projects in the last seven years alone -- including the much-publicized opening of the Corning fiber-optic plant in southern Cabarrus County and Concord Mills mall, but also less-publicized relocations and expansions. And each economic development impacts the county as a whole.

The growth of NorthEast Medical Center over the last decade has brought technology and jobs to the area. Once a mill hospital named after the...