City of Oaks, 1792 to now

The History of Raleigh

Raleigh is one of the few American state capitals planned from scratch. Chosen in 1792 for its central location, it grew from a one-mile grid around Union Square into the heart of the Research Triangle.

Quick facts

Founded: 1792, as a planned state capital
Named for: Sir Walter Raleigh
Nickname: City of Oaks
Original plan: William Christmas's 400-acre grid with five squares
State Capitol: Completed 1840
County: Wake

How Raleigh got here

Before 1700s
Native homelands
The land between the Neuse River and Crabtree Creek was home to Siouan- and Iroquoian-speaking peoples, including the Tuscarora and Occaneechi, long before European settlement.
1792
A capital built from scratch
North Carolina's legislature chose a central site for a permanent capital. Surveyor William Christmas laid out a one-mile-square grid around Union Square, with four more public squares — Nash, Moore, Caswell and Burke.
1831–1840
Fire and a new Capitol
The first State House burned in 1831. Its Greek Revival replacement, finished in 1840, still stands at the center of Union Square.
1865–1900
Reconstruction and education
Shaw University was founded in 1865, one of the oldest historically Black universities in the South. St. Augustine's followed in 1867, and NC State opened in 1887 as a land-grant college.
1856–1974
Dix Hill
Dorothea Dix's campaign led to a state psychiatric hospital on the hill southwest of downtown. The hospital closed in 2012; the city bought the land in 2015 to create Dorothea Dix Park.
1959–today
The Research Triangle
Research Triangle Park, created between Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, turned the region into a center for tech, pharma and research — and Raleigh into one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.