Coleman Manufacturing Company, started in 1897, is believed to be the first cotton mill in the nation to be built, owned and operated by African Americans.

It was owned by Warren Clay Coleman from Concord, John C. Dancy (federal collector of customs), and seven partners primarily from Wilmington, North Carolina.

Located in the Piedmont, it was named after Stephen Cabarrus of Chowan County, speaker of the North Carolina House of Commons.

Stephen Cabarrus wrote to the citizens pleading with them to come together in peace to choose a location for their county seat.

A central area of the county was chosen in 1796 and aptly named Concord, a derivative of two French words "with" and "peace."

Representative Paul Barringer introduced a bill into the state legislature to incorporate Concord; it passed on December 17, 1806.

According to research, Conrad's find was a gold chunk approximately the size of a shoe and weighing 17 pounds.

The elder Reed returned home with it, holding it for three years until a trip in 1802 to Fayetteville, where he sold the "nugget" to a jeweler for $3.50.

Over time John Reed learned that the jeweler sold the large nugget for several thousand dollars.

[9] John Reed, or Johannes Rieth as he is known in records of the Staatsarchiv at Marburg, Germany, was one of thousands of Hessian soldiers brought over by British troops to fight against rebellious colonists in the American Revolution.

He traveled from Georgia to North Carolina, where he settled in an ethnic German community sometime around 1787 and began farming.

For the government to retain control of the production of currency and keep a stabilized economic structure, President Andrew Jackson signed into legislation the authorization to create branches of the US Mint.

[12] Prior to the battle of Alamance, on the 16th of May, 1771, the first blood shed in the American Revolution, there were many discreet men across North Carolina opposed to British taxation and fee system imposed by colonial officials in the late 1760s.

On May 9, 1771, James, William and John White, brothers, and William White, a cousin, all born and raised on Rocky River, and one mile from Rocky River Church, Robert Caruthers, Robert Davis, Benjamin Cockrane, James and Joshua Hadley, William Alexander, of Sugar Creek “Captain Black Bill Alexander,” and whose sword now hangs in the Library Hall of Davidson College, bound themselves to a solemn oath of secrecy as they set out on a mission .

[13] The small band of Regulators, disguised themselves and made their way to Phifer’s old muster grounds on Poplar Tent Road.

After nightfall, the men laid a trail of gunpowder toward the royal government’s encampment and fired a shot igniting an explosion that was reportedly heard nine miles away.

The Arbor dates back to the early 1800s as a location for religious revival "camp meetings" and the current structure was built around 1878, and was in use through the 1920s.

Located in the Piedmont region, the county was developed largely for subsistence farming, but did have some cotton plantations.

Among the owners of new mills in the area were men of the rising black middle-class of Wilmington, North Carolina, such as John C. Dancy (appointed as collector of customs at the port), and others.

The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, with white attacks on blacks, their homes and businesses, destroyed much of what the people had built there since the war.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, textiles became a vital part of the local economy, especially in the northern portion of the county.

[34] The Stonewall Jackson Youth Development Center, a juvenile correctional facility of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety serving boys, is located an unincorporated area in the county, near Concord.

Interstate 85 passes southwest to northeast across the county's northern portion, and several U.S. and state highways serve the city.

The system is generally regarded as one of the better school districts in the state, with high student achievement and low instances of violence and other problems.

UNC Charlotte, although in Mecklenburg County, is located near Harrisburg and is easily accessible to Cabarrus residents via Highway 49.

Essential medical services, Atrium Health Cabarrus with a 24-hour emergency department and trauma center, are available in Concord.

The western part of the county is home to a large racing complex in Concord, including Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosts two NASCAR Cup Series events a year on two different layouts, The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and zMAX Dragway, which now hosts the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series twice a year.

It offers aerodynamic testing facilities to NASCAR and Formula One racing teams and automobile manufacturers.