Winston-Salem

A city in north-central North Carolina, formed in 1913 by the merger of Winston and Salem. It is a center of tobacco, textile, and medical research history.

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Salem, North Carolina: A historic Moravian settlement in North Carolina, founded in 1766 and now part of Winston-Salem. Salem was the older settlement that merged with Winston to form the present city.
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company: An American tobacco company founded in Winston, North Carolina, in 1875 by Richard Joshua Reynolds. The company drove Winston’s growth and helped make the merged city a major tobacco center.
Old Salem Museums & Gardens: A historic district and museum complex preserving the Moravian town of Salem, North Carolina. Its preserved buildings and collections make Salem’s founding history visible.
Piedmont Triad: A metropolitan region in north-central North Carolina centered on Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. Winston-Salem is one of the region’s three principal cities.
Tobacco industry: The cultivation, processing, manufacture, and sale of tobacco products. Tobacco manufacturing made Winston-Salem a nationally prominent industrial city.
Winston, North Carolina: A North Carolina town established in the nineteenth century that merged with Salem in 1913. Winston grew as a commercial and tobacco center beside Salem before the merger.
Wachovia: A financial services company founded in Winston-Salem in 1879 that later became part of Wells Fargo. Its founding reflects the city’s expansion beyond tobacco into banking.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art: An American art museum housed in the former estate of tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds and his family. The estate links the city’s tobacco fortunes to its cultural institutions.
Greensboro, North Carolina: A city in north-central North Carolina and the largest city in the Piedmont Triad. Greensboro is Winston-Salem’s closest major urban counterpart in the Triad.
Winston-Salem sit-ins: Civil rights demonstrations in Winston-Salem during the 1960s that challenged racial segregation in public accommodations. The demonstrations show how local residents contested segregation in the city.