MCDOWELL COUNTY

McDowell was formed in 1842 from Rutherford and Burke. It was named in honor of Colonel Joseph McDowell, an officer of the Revolution. It is in the west central section of the State and is bounded by Burke, Rutherford, Henderson, Buncombe, Yancey, Mitchell and Avery counties. The present land area is 441.68 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 44,996. Of that population, 40,754 were white, 1,708 were black or African American, 189 were American Indian, 351 were Asian, 1 was Pacific Islander and 1,442 were of a different race. Another 551 were reported to be of two or more races and 2,392 were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The court was ordered to be held at the home of Jonathan L. Carson until the county seat could be established. The act also named commissioners to select a site as near the center of the county as possible, acquire land, lay out a town by the name of Marion, and erect a courthouse. Marion is the county seat.

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McDowell County is primarily in the Catawba River Basin. Some areas in the southern part of the county are in the Broad River Basin. It is generally considered a part of the mountain region of the state.

References:

"American Factfinder." 2011. U. S. Census Bureau. Online at http://factfinder2.census.gov/. Accessed 3/3/2011.

Corbitt, David L. 2000. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943. Sixth printing. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History.

Powell, William Stevens, and Michael R. Hill. 2010. The North Carolina gazetteer: a dictionary of Tar Heel places and their history. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Additional resources:

North Carolina Digital Collections (Government & Heritage Library and NC State Archives)

NC LIVE resources

NC Natural Heritage Program database

WorldCat (Searches numerous library catalogs)