Selma, North Carolina (NC)
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Selma: A History Rich on the Rail and New Antique Center of the South
On May 1, 1867, lots were sold around a newly established station on the North Carolina Railroad. From those lots, the town of Selma was built and considered a railroad town for many decades.
Col. John W. Sharp (or Sharpe), a Confederate veteran who moved to the area in the fall of 1866 is said to have come up with the name of Selma, after his hometown of Selma, Alabama. Selma was officially chartered as a town on February 11, 1873.
The Selma-Smithfield Amtrak Station was previously known as the Selma Union Depot and is served by two Amtrak passenger trains, the Palmetto and Carolinian. Located in the heart of historic downtown Selma at 500 East Railroad, the station was originally built in 1924 by the Atlantic Coast Line and Southern Railroads, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. A major restoration project took place in 2002. The restored 1920s train station offers visitors exhibits on train history and the Town of Selma from 10:30am until the last train runs, seven days a week.
The town is also home to the Mitchener Station, which was built in 1855 and thought to be the oldest surviving train station in North Carolina. Interstate 95 was built in the area in the late 1950s.
In 2007, the estimated population of this Johnston County town was 7,008. According to the United States Census Bureau, Selma has a total area of 3.2 square miles. Selma has operated under the Council-Manager form of government since February 27, 1962.
Selma is home to the American Music Jubilee, a two-hour extravaganza complete with great American music, good clean side-splitting comedy and a heart-warming patriotic tribute, located at the Rudy Theater at 300 North Raiford Street, Selma. The town is also famous for its annual Railroad Days Festival held the first weekend in October, which features live entertainment, parade, pageant, food vendors, arts and crafts vendors, model train displays, Selma Railroad Run, Caboose Run, souvenirs, carnival, children's area, and more.
Selma is also known as the new antique center of the South, where visitors and residents alike can enjoy a walking tour of Uptown Selma's well-stocked antique shops, specialty shops, restaurants, and an old-fashioned drug store complete with soda fountain and hand-dipped ice cream.
And one of Selma's most famous residents was Lunsford Richardson, who was born in 1854 on a farm near Selma. He rose to fame as the inventor of Vick's Vapo Rub. After graduating from Davidson College at the top of his class, he became a teacher and then a pharmacist, working out of Dr. Joshua Vick's drugstore in Selma. While in Johnston County, he invented Richardson's Croup and Pheumonia Cure Salve and later changed the name to Vick's Salve in honor of Dr. Vick. The name was then changed to Vapo-Rub and a nationwide advertising campaign made the name a household word. In 1905, Richardson convinced the Postal Service to allow him to mass-mail his advertising circulars simply to "boxholder" instead of individuals. Because this marked the first such mailing, Richardson gained the dubious distinction of also being known as "the father of junk mail."
A part of North Carolina's Triangle Region, the Smithfield-Selma area is only 22 miles from Raleigh and 29 miles from the Research Triangle Park. The Atlantic Coast, with its beach resorts, is approximately a two-hour drive. North Carolina's Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains are about four hours away.
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Sources:
Selma: http://www.selma-nc.com/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma-Smithfield_%28Amtrak_station%29 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma,_North_Carolina
American Music Jubilee: http://www.amjubilee.com/
Antique Selma: http://antiquesselma.com/
Amtrak: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Station/Station_Page&code=SSM
Chamber: http://www.smithfieldselma.com/
Vic's Vapo-Rub: http://www.smithfieldselma.com/ncsmicoc/doc.nsf/doc/com_history_vicks.cm?Open
Selma history: http://www.selmanc.info/centennial1.htm