[4] Haw River is bordered by Burlington to the west, Graham to the south, and Green Level to the north.

The town formerly supported a textile mill producing enormous quantities of corduroy but is primarily a residential area today.

Trollinger was a native of the Rhine river valley in Germany and had lived in Pennsylvania before heading south to seek a new life.

Trollinger chose the spot because it had an easy crossing while nearby the river moved with enough power to drive a mill wheel.

Benjamin Trollinger built the first part of the Granite Mill in 1844, marking the beginning of the textile industry in the village.

Benjamin Trollinger also was instrumental in locating the railroad repair station at Company Shops (now Burlington) a few miles west.

In 1861, Thomas M. Holt bought his father's interest in the property and moved to Haw River to oversee the running of the mill.

George Swepson came to town, and barges began carrying raw cotton to his mill in Swepsonville and returning with spun products to be shipped by rail.

Community life centered on sections within the town like Red Slide, Pine Knot, Sugar Hill, and Johnson City.

Holt's progressive management of the mill and his leadership of the North Carolina Railroad and the Grange led to a term as governor between 1891 and 1893.

The plants south of Main Street were renamed Tabardrey and were equipped with new machinery to produce corduroy.

Businesses flourished on Main Street in the 1950s, and the Cone plants became the largest producers of corduroy in the world, employing over 1,000 people in 1981.

[8] Haw River is the location of the untimely death of blood plasma pioneer Dr. Charles Drew, on April 1, 1950.

He was driving a group of his colleagues to a medical conference in Alabama when he apparently dozed off at the wheel, resulting in a crash and the mortal wounds that were the cause of his death.

An urban myth developed that he had been denied treatment and allowed to bleed to death, because of his being black, but eyewitnesses, including one of his fellow doctors who was at the hospital, have testified that nothing of the sort happened, as detailed in the Raleigh News and Observer.

[9] The Charles T. Holt House and Kerr Scott Farm are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.