Fairchild AT-21 Gunner
The Fairchild AT-21 was an aircraft developed here in Alamance County as a trainer aircraft.

The middle years of the 20th Century also brought the changes that rocked the nation.  Many of Alamance County’s finest answered the nation’s call to arms for the Second World War and Korean War, and many of them gave their lives.  Back at home, people did their part in service to the nation, building and donating supplies and contributing everything from support to work to ideas to keep our nation well-armed against her enemies.

In 1950, Dr. Charles Drew, a pioneer in the field of preserving blood plasma who was an African-American, was mortally wounded in a car accident near Burlington.  While every effort was made to save his life, those efforts were unsuccessful.  While this gave rise to legends regarding his care, these legends were untrue, and today, a community health center stands near the former hospital that treated him.

While the county was relatively free of much of the conflict that engulfed the nation as the Civil Rights movement moved on, nearby Greensboro, NC was the site of one of the most famous moments in Civil Rights history: the Greensboro Sit-Ins.  The result of those efforts was more freedom and opportunity for people whose freedom had been long supressed by law and deed.

Beginning in the 1970s, the economic view of Alamance County began to change.  Textile mills began to close, and many of the companies that had been so strong 50 years prior were now disappearing.  However, new jobs came into the area, and the few remaining textile manufacturers strengthened their place in the community.

Today, these new technologies have opened new doors to jobs, leisure, and education in the new millennium.  Hi-tech manufacturing and a fast-paced, exciting business environment meet in a county with a low tax rate and a ready-trained workforce to meet the challenges that tomorrow will bring.