[2] Rutherford County comprises the Forest City, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area.

[4] The county and town are named for Griffith Rutherford, leader of an expedition against the Cherokee in 1776 and a general in the American Revolutionary War.

The number of unincorporated communities in the county steadily increased, and the population reached had nearly doubled by 1810.

[3] The most important crops in the county during the 1800s were corn, wheat, oats, rye, cotton, wool and tobacco.

[5] The county existed at the crossroads of stagecoach routes that connected places like Asheville, Salisbury and Charlotte.

The Hickory Nut Turnpike was completed in 1847 to help make the route even safer and more appealing to travelers.

[10] Rutherford County was the most important gold-producing region in America from 1790 until the California gold rush of the 1840s.

German goldsmith Christopher Bechtler and his sons set up a mint just north of Rutherfordton, where they produced millions of dollars worth of US coins.

During the Civil War, Rutherfordton and Burnt Chimney (now Forest City) competed to raise militias to serve in the Confederate States Army.

This meant that many Rutherford County residents were trapped in debt by predatory crop liens and other economic imbalances.

[12] During this period of upheaval, when family and political feuds had been recently inflamed by the Civil War, Rutherford County experienced a rash of violence wreaked by the KKK, but local investigations in Rutherford County led to the prosecution of over 300 hundred Klan members and by 1872, the KKK had begun to "disappear".

[12] A disproportionate number of Rutherford County natives served during WWII, with about 12% participating in the war effort in some capacity.

[16] In addition to gold and platinum, minerals like rock crystal, garnet, tourmaline, slate, wolframite, and the rare-earth element samarskite have been mined in Rutherford County.

[29] Rutherford County is a member of the Isothermal Planning and Development Commission regional council of governments.

[33][34] Horsehead Corporation announced the construction of its new, state-of-the-art zinc and diversified metals production facility in Rutherford County, NC, near the municipality of Forest City.

[35] Rutherford County has a tourism industry which includes areas like Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.