Wake Forest

History

In 1832, Dr. Calvin Jones, originally from Massachusetts, bought 615 acres (2.49 km2) of forested land in Wake County, North Carolina. He built his plantation here. The sparsely populated area became known as the Forest of Wake, or Wake Forest. Jones sold his farm to the North Carolina Baptist Convention for $2,000, who opened the Wake Forest Manual Labor Institute, later Wake Forest College, on the site. The Raleigh & Gaston Railroad, completed in 1840, established a depot in nearby Forestville that stimulated the school and surrounding village. College leaders convinced the railroad to move the depot even closer to the college in 1874, leading to more economic development. This community was incorporated as the "Town of Wake Forest College" in 1880. In 1909, the word "College" was removed from the name of the town. The college moved to the much larger city of Winston-Salem in 1956. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary began offering classes on the original campus of Wake Forest University in 1950, and occupied the entire campus when the university completed its move.

In 2007, the town was listed by Forbes magazine as the 20th fastest growing suburb in America, with a 73.2 percent increase in population between 2000 and 2006.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Wake Forest had a population of 47,601, with 16,869 households and 11,104 families. The median age was 37.7 years. About 28.4% of residents were under the age of 18, and 13.2% were age 65 or older. For every 100 females, there were 90.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males.

In total, 100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.

Of all households, 43.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Married-couple households accounted for 60.2% of households, while 11.1% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present, and 24.5% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 19.8% of households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was age 65 or older.

There were 17,828 housing units, of which 5.4% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0%, and the rental vacancy rate was 7.9%.

Historical locations

The DuBois Center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The W. E. B. DuBois School opened in 1926 for the African-American community in Wake Forest before racial segregation ceased in 1971. After the school outgrew the facility and moved to a new location, the building was vacant for a decade until the DuBois Alumni Association purchased the building and made it into a community center.

Other listings in or near Wake Forest on the National Register of Historic Places are the Bailey-Estes House, Downtown Wake Forest Historic District, Glen Royall Mill Village Historic District, Lea Laboratory, Oakforest, Powell House, Purefoy-Chappell House and Outbuildings, Purefoy-Dunn Plantation, Rock Cliff Farm, Royall Cotton Mill Commissary, South Brick House, Thompson House, Wake Forest Historic District, Wakefield Dairy Complex, and Wakefields.