1880-1904

Put yourself in the shoes of a Cumberland County resident at the beginning of the 20th century. In some ways, things around Fayetteville may seem to have resumed a normal rhythm after the tumult of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

But look around and you will see signs of significant change:

Transportation: Finally, after being stymied for decades, Cumberland County has entered the railroad era with the completion of the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railway depot in 1890 and with two other depots in town at the turn of the century. And that's not all: In the early 1900s, Wade T. Saunders is driving Fayetteville's first automobile.

Communication: The tap-tap of the telegraph is joined by the ringing of telephones, with the first one in Fayetteville installed in 1894. Residents in rural areas of the county, in particular, benefit from free mail delivery beginning in 1903.

Utilities: Electric lights, central household heating, municipal water - these and other improvements are becoming everyday realities for some residents.

Government: The county has a new courthouse, dedicated in 1894, at Mumford (now West Russell) and Gillespie streets. In politics, the old Democratic power structure has regained control, effectively rendering Republicans and black voters irrelevant.

Health care: The hospitals of Drs. J.F. Highsmith and J.H. Marsh are the most visible examples of advances in medicine.

There are many other changes as you look around, too, from long-overdue improvements in the schools to the bustling textile villages at Hope Mills and Massey Hill.

But in retrospect, who in 1900 could have foreseen what lay ahead for Cumberland County?

Within a century, the county's population would increase tenfold, from about 30,000 in 1900 to 300,000 in 2000.

And soon the military would come calling again in the Sandhills, this time with an even more dramatic and long-lasting effect than the Union Army's visit in 1865.