[28] After the Revolutionary War, the city of Greensboro was named for Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the rebel American forces at the Battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, 1781.

[30][31] Greensboro was established near the geographic center of Guilford County, on land that was "an unbroken forest with thick undergrowth of huckleberry bushes, that bore a finely flavored fruit.

Though the city developed slowly, early wealth generated in the 18th and 19th centuries from cotton trade and merchandising resulted in owners' constructing several notable buildings.

From 1861 to March 1865 the city was relatively untouched by the war, although residents had to deal with regional shortages of clothing, medicine, and other items caused by the US naval blockade of the South.

While in the city, Davis and his cabinet decided to try to split up and make their way west of the Mississippi River to continue the war effort and avoid capture.

[35]: 101 At nearly the same time, Governor Zebulon B. Vance fled Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, before the forces of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman swept the city.

Other notable industries became established in the city, including Vicks Chemical Co. (known for over-the-counter cold remedies such as VapoRub and NyQuil), Carolina Steel Corporation, and Pomona Terra Cotta Works.

During the height of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, students from A&T were the major force in protests to achieve racial justice, desegregation of public facilities, and fair employment, beginning with the Greensboro Four, who sat in at the segregated lunch counter at Woolworth's in 1960 to gain service.

Eduardo Catalano and George Matsumoto were hired for projects whose designs have challenged North Carolinians with modernist architectural concepts and forms.

[42] The white business community acceded to the desegregation of Woolworth's and made other minor concessions, but the civil rights movement had additional goals, holding protests in 1962 and 1963.

William Thomas and A. Knighton Stanley, coordinators of Greensboro's local CORE chapter, invited Jesse Jackson, then an activist student at A&T, to join the protests.

Significant changes in race relations still came at a painfully slow pace, and the verbal commitments from white leadership in 1963 were not implemented in substantial ways.

After there were exchanges of gunfire, the governor ordered the North Carolina National Guard into the A&T campus, in what was described at the time as "the most massive armed assault ever made against an American university".

[47] On November 3, 1979, members of what would become the Communist Workers Party (CWP) held an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally at the Morningside Homes public housing project.

In 1985, a jury in this case found five police officers and two other individuals liable for $350,000 in damages; the monies were to be paid to the Greensboro Justice Fund, established to advance civil rights.

[2] The city of Greensboro lies among the rolling hills of North Carolina's Piedmont, midway between the state's Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains to the west and the Atlantic beaches and Outer Banks to the east.

The view of Greensboro from its highest building—the Lincoln Financial tower, commonly known as the Jefferson-Pilot Building after its previous owner,—shows an expanse of shade trees in the city.

This multipurpose complex consists of the 22,000-seat Greensboro Coliseum, the 300-seat Odeon Theatre, and the 167,000-square-foot (15,500 m2) Special Events Center, which includes three exhibition halls, a 4,500-seat mini-arena, and eight meeting rooms.

[71][72] In March 2015, HondaJet, with a manufacturing facility in Greensboro, announced that it had received provisional type certification (PTC) from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Greensboro's central location in the state has made it a popular place for families and businesses, as well as more of a logistics hub, with FedEx having regional operations based in the city.

[104][105] Notable companies headquartered in Greensboro include the Honda Aircraft Company, HAECO Americas, ITG Brands, Kayser-Roth, Mack Trucks, Cone Health,[106] Volvo Trucks of North America, Qorvo, the International Textile Group, The Fresh Market, Cook Out, Ham's, Biscuitville, Fusion3, Wrangler, Kontoor Brands and Columbia Forest Products.

Big-box retailers have clustered at the site of the former Carolina Circle Mall on the city's northeast side and far south along the newly completed urban loop (I-85, I-73).

[159] During the late 1990s, the Minnesota Twins almost relocated to the city, even receiving league approval, but the deal collapsed after local voters refused to fund the proposed ballpark.

Greensboro's North Carolina Fusion U23 play in the USL League Two, the nation's top level men's amateur soccer competition.

[165] On October 27, 2015, the Charlotte Hornets officially announced that Greensboro would host an affiliate NBA Development League team, beating out other considered cities like Columbia, Asheville, Fayetteville, and Charleston.

The first cycle was for $500,000, ran through April 2016, and was incorporated into the 2016–17 budget, with projects like murals, bridge improvements, and a citywide bus tracking app voted on by residents.

[256] Amtrak's daily Crescent, Carolinian and Piedmont trains connect Greensboro with New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans.

[257][258] Amtrak trains, taxis, local and long-distance buses arrive and depart from the J. Douglas Galyon Depot, also known as Greensboro station, at 236-C East Washington Street.

U.S. Highway 29—which travels through the southern, eastern and northern sections of the city before heading northeast toward suburban Reidsville—is a major route in Greensboro and offers freeway access to its more urban and central areas.

Wendover Avenue, which carries US 70 its whole route, serves as a dual role, as a boulevard from High Point to I-40, west of the Coliseum district, and an expressway that loops downtown.