Davidson is a suburban town located in Iredell and Mecklenburg counties, North Carolina, United States, on the banks of Lake Norman.

Although Davidson's growth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries typified small railroad towns throughout the Piedmont, the presence of the college created a unique village.

The sway of the school also extended beyond the campus to the entire town, influencing commerce, culture, and the character of its architecture.

The 1869 Branson's business directory recorded four dry goods merchants in the town as well as a cabinetmaker, a miller, and three physicians.

Soon after the arrival of the railroad, Davidson became a shipping point for cash crops, especially cotton, and a service center for farmers.

Between 1900 and the Great Depression, the business district evolved from a commingling of stores and residences into contiguous rows of one- and two-story, brick commercial buildings.

Behind Main Street along the railroad tracks stood the small 1897 Southern Railway Depot, a livery, flour mill, sawmill, cotton gins, a cottonseed oil company, a blacksmith shop, and a buggy manufacturer.

Meanwhile, improved highways and the advent of I-77 encouraged residents to frequent larger department stores in the cities, especially Charlotte, 22 miles (35 km) to the south.

In more recent years, the emergence of suburban shopping centers around Davidson accelerated the town's status to an all-purpose retail market.

Today, the tremendous development around Charlotte has stimulated Davidson's growth to its current population of more than 10,000 people.

Prestigious, nationally known Davidson College has made the town an intellectual and cultural center, drawing into its orbit a sizable professional class.

[20] It is consistently ranked in the top ten best liberal arts colleges in the country, and has graduated 23 Rhodes scholars.

Some notable attendees of the college are Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, George Osborne, former British Chancellor of the Exchequer, and current NBA player Stephen Curry.

Since Davidson is situated on an old railroad line it has attracted many industrial companies for corporate and commercial business.

[22] In 2020, the Beaty Street Corporate headquarters also became home to Trane a recent subsidiary of Ingersoll Rand.

[23] Ingersoll Rand, an industrials company has many well-known brands other than Trane such as Club Car and CompAir.

[24] MSC Industrial Direct, located on Harbor Place Drive can be viewed from I-77 when traveling south.