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History of Greenville, North Carolina

Founded in 1771, Greenville was originally known as “Martinsborough”, in honor of the Royal Governor Josiah Martin. Three years later, the town was moved three miles west to the south bank of the Tar River, its present location. In 1786, the name was changed to “Greenesville” after General Nathanael Greene, a Revolutionary War hero. Later it would be shortened to “Greenville”.

In the early years, the Tar River was a navigable waterway. Consequently, several riverboat lines emerged in the 1860’s to transport passengers and goods. Greenville became a major cotton export center, as cotton was the leading agricultural crop at the time. However, prior to the turn of the century, tobacco became the leading money crop. Greenville quickly became one of North Carolina’s primary tobacco marketing and warehouse centers.

For more than a century, Greenville was generally known as an important tobacco producer and the home of a small, State-supported college. That college, the East Carolina Teachers College, became the third largest State-supported college by the mid 1960’s. In 1967, it became East Carolina University (ECU). Ten years later, the ECU Medical School admitted its first four-year class. By the year 2000, enrollment at ECU exceeded 18,000 students, with current enrollment estimated at some 26,000 students.

In 1968, Burroughs Wellcome, a major pharmaceutical research and manufacturing firm, selected Greenville for its headquarters. The site is now owned by DSM Pharmaceuticals, which employs nearly 1,500. Greenville and Pitt County are also home to many other industries and businesses adding to the region’s population and economic growth. These include ASMO, Rubbermaid, NACCO Materials Handling Group and Grady-White Boats.

Today, Greenville is considered Eastern North Carolina’s major industrial and economic center for education, industry, medicine, and culture.

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Downtown Renewal
Initially, Greenville's buildings were demolished and rebuilt fairly frequently. Greenville is home to one of the last Frank Lloyd Wright homes ever built.

At one time the retail center of the region, Greenville's downtown district began to languish in the 1960s as shopping centers lured the retailers and customers to the suburbs. In response, the City started a downtown renewal project.

Beginning in the 1960s, it initially focused on improving its image through streetscape and traffic improvements, including narrowing main street from four lanes to two lanes; installing free, angled parking, trees, flowers and light fixtures; and creating parks and plazas throughout downtown. The downtown streetscape renovation was designed by Landscape Architect Lawrence Halprin.

In the 1980s, the city of Greenville worked with consultants to develop and implement a downtown master plan and facilitated public-private investment partnerships which resulted in the city's first luxury convention hotel on Main Street.

Through the 1990s Greenville continued to strengthen its public/private partnerships to create strong anchors throughout downtown. The city redeveloped a languishing industrial area into an arts complex that incorporated historically significant buildings.

It stabilized a stagnant historic district with a mixed-use project of shops, restaurants, and offices, which in turn encouraged residential use of vacant upper stories and former church classrooms.

In 2003, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded Greenville with the Great American Main Street Award.