[6] It is the principal city of and is included in the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area.

By then, a hotel had been built at the intersection of the railroad and New Bern Road, which grew into a community after the train started to transport passengers from there.

Because of its importance as railroad junction, Goldsborough played a significant role in the Civil War, both for stationing Confederate troops and for transporting their supplies.

Union General John Foster arrived with his troops on December 17, aiming to destroy this bridge in order to put an end to the vital supply chain from the port of Wilmington.

He succeeded on that same day, his troops overpowering the small number of defending Confederate soldiers and burning down the bridge.

On their way back to New Bern, Foster's men were attacked again by Confederate troops, but they survived with fewer casualties than the enemy.

After the battles of Bentonville and Wyse Fork, Sherman's forces met with the armies of Schofield, their troops taking over the city in March.

Wayne County was part of North Carolina's 2nd congressional district following the Civil War, when it was known as the "Black Second", for its majority-black population.

During World War II the North Carolina congressional delegation was successful in gaining the present-day Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, which opened on the outskirts of Goldsboro in April 1942 as a US Army Air Forces installation named Seymour Johnson Field.

The base's name was changed to Seymour Johnson AFB in 1947 following the establishment of the US Air Force as an independent service.

The Borden Manufacturing Company, First Presbyterian Church, L. D. Giddens and Son Jewelry Store, Goldsboro Union Station, Harry Fitzhugh Lee House, Odd Fellows Lodge, and Solomon and Henry Weil Houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[12] In 1961, two 3.8 megaton hydrogen bombs were dropped accidentally on the village of Faro, 12 miles (19 km) north of Goldsboro, after a B-52 aircraft broke up in mid air.

The two Mark 39 nuclear bombs were released after the crew abandoned a B-52 bomber which had suffered mid-flight structural failure.

[14] In 2013, it was revealed that three safety mechanisms on one bomb had failed, leaving just one low-voltage switch preventing detonation.

[16] Stoney Creek runs through the east of the city between downtown and the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

[17] As of 1982 the Goldsboro waste-water treatment plant accounted for 59% of total effluent discharged into the Neuse between Clayton and Kinston.

Some light to moderate snowfall can take place in winter, but amounts can fluctuate greatly and can range from no snow to totals over one foot (30 cm) in some years.

[29] Goldsboro has been in North Carolina's 7th congressional district since January 3, 2017, and is currently represented by Republican David Rouzer.

WHFL TV 43 is a low-power broadcast station on UHF channel 43 and is also found on two local cable networks.

Time Warner Cable transferred the channel to Wayne County which currently provides local announcements and community interest programming.

Until the 1960s, the Southern Railway and the Seaboard Coast Line ran passenger trains in and out of Goldsboro Union Station to points west, north and south.