Wake Forest
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Wake Forest, NC Community Information
The town of Wake Forest is strategically located in the northern portion of the Research Triangle Region, just northeast of Raleigh. It’s a community as progressive and forward thinking as it is rich in history and southern charm. This unique and desirable combination has led to exponential growth and affluence, but not at the expense of hospitality and charm. It’s one of those special communities in an area that is regularly cited as one of the best places in the country to raise a family, get an education, seek health care, do business or retire.
The town began in 1832 when the North Carolina Baptist Convention, intent on establishing an educational institute to train future ministers, purchased Dr. Calvin Jones’ 615-acre plantation north of the existing community of Forestville for $2,000. Jones described the community as “One of the best neighborhoods in the state, the Forest District containing three schools (one classical) and two well constructed and well filled meeting houses for Baptists and Methodists, and has a lawyer and a doctor. The inhabitants, without I believe a single exception, are sober, moral and thriving in their circumstances, and not a few are educated and intelligent.”
Beginning in the 1990s and continuing today, Wake Forest has seen an explosive growth in its population, now having close to 30,000 residents with expectations of growing to 40,000. New subdivisions have been built, and the town boundaries now run from – and into – Franklin County on the north to the Neuse River on the south, from west of U.S. 1 on the west to just shy of U.S. 401 on the east. There have been many adjustments to the growth and the needs of the new residents, including merging the town’s water and sewer systems with Raleigh’s. Total Size of Wake Forest is 15.08 miles.
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