• Newspaper
  • Community

  • History

    The Salisbury Post debuted in January 1905 as the community’s leading newspaper and has never wavered from that path. The paper was owned from 1912 to 1997 by the J.F. Hurley Family of Salisbury. From 1997 through 2013, Evening Post Publishing of Charleston, S.C. owned the paper. Through the years, the Post has grown into a multimedia organization, with millions of pageviews on SalisburyPost.com and its mobile app each month, as well as an active following on Facebook and Twitter. The Post’s offerings include Marketplace Miner, a weekly total-market publication; the Time Out section of weekly arts and entertainment news; and The Explorer, a twice-a-year tab of things to do and places to go in the community.

    Audience

    Salisbury Post: Published 7 days a week; 17,522 daily, 18,405 Sunday

    SalisburyPost.com: 2.7 million pages views and 230,000 unique visitors monthly

    Marketplace Miner: Published every Wednesday; 23,000

    Internet presence

    www.salisburypost.com

    Services

    SP Digital is the interactive division of the newspaper. This department combines its local market knowledge with its digital expertise and offers a complete range of innovative interactive products and services, all designed to help local businesses maximize their marketing impact. Services offered include:

    • Website Hosting & Design
    • Mobile Website Hosting & Design
    • Social Media Management
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Online Reputation Management
    • Targeted Online Ads
    • Search Engine Marketing
    • App Design for Mobile
    • Text Messaging and Email Marketing
    • The result of SP Digital’s contribution, combined with the newsroom’s well advanced skills in multi-media journalism and audience development, has been to position the Salisbury Post as the market leader in digital information and advertising. The company’s website and mobile audience has more than 2.7 million page views per month and 230,000 monthly unique visitors.

    Community involvement

    • The Salisbury Post has been the sponsor of the Christmas Happiness Fund since 1952, passing the funds to the Salvation Army to distribute as vouchers for parents to buy gifts for their children. The fund collected $55,042.45 in 2015.
    • As part of the Salisbury Post’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2005, the paper sponsored a Pops at the Post concert by the Salisbury Symphony on the Post’s lot. The concert has become an annual event with the support of local businesses and philanthropists.
    • The Salisbury Post actively supports the annual Rowan County United Way fundraising campaign, a Rowan County Little League team, the Salisbury-Rowan NAACP’s Harvest Banquet and Scholarship Celebration, Rowan County Literacy Council’s Scrabble Scramble and other community organizations and events.
    • The Salisbury Rowan Runners presented the Post its Community Partner of the Year Award for 2013.

    Awards

    The Post’s news staff received 14 awards in the N.C. Press Association’s 2015 Press Awards.

  • Market

    Rowan County lies in the northeast portion of the Charlotte, N.C., metro area, a region consistently ranked near the top nationally for businesses and careers, as judged by Forbes Magazine. The county seat of Salisbury is a historic community with a real sense of place, a rich cultural scene and an eye toward the future. Salisbury is the birthplace of Food Lion supermarket chain and Cheerwine soft drink. Poised for growth, Salisbury has open spaces, rich natural resources, fiber-to-the-home broadband and excellent access to interstate highways, rail and an international airport. The city of Kannapolis, which straddles the Rowan-Cabarrus county line, contains the biotech center of the N.C. Research Campus.

    Population

    139,520 in Rowan County, including 33,663 in Salisbury.

    Geographic Description

    Situated in the prosperous Piedmont region of North Carolina, Rowan County is halfway between Charlotte and the Triad metro area. The county’s 511 square miles include rich farmland, an industrial corridor, 10 municipalities, the abundant Yadkin River and popular High Rock Lake.

    Major Employers

    Major employers include the headquarters of the Food Lion supermarket chain, a Freightliner truck manufacturing plant, the W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center, Rowan-Salisbury Schools, Novant Health Rowan Medical Center and local government.

    Education

    The Rowan-Salisbury School System includes 20 elementary, seven middle, one alternative and seven high schools serving 20,000 students. The community also has several private schools, including Sacred Heart Catholic School, North Hills Christian School and Salisbury Academy.

    Salisbury’s Catawba College is one of the nation’s Best Regional Colleges, named to The Princeton Review’s Best 380 colleges, Forbes list of colleges worth the cost. It has about 1,300 students.

    Livingstone College was founded in 1879 and is a private, historically black institution located in Salisbury. It has approximately 1,200 students and offers bachelor’s degrees in four schools: Liberal Arts; Mathematics and Science; Business and Education; and Social Work. The Livingstone Blue Bears won the CIAA National Championship in men’s basketball in 2014. Livingstone repeated as CIAA champs in 2015.

    Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, which has a North Campus in Salisbury, has served the Salisbury market for 50 years. It offers degree programs in more than 50 areas of study, including business, IT, health, engineering and biotechnology. Rowan-Cabarrus offers numerous degrees entirely online, as well as certificate programs focused on career training.

    In 2008 Rowan-Salisbury School System began a non-traditional high school, Rowan County Early College, where students can earn a high school diploma and an associate degree or 60 hours of transferrable college credit.

    History

    The Rowan community began to take shape as settlers traveling the Trading Path from eastern Virginia and the Great Pennsylvania Wagon Road brought their families here. Many were Scotch-Irish and German, a heritage still evident in Rowan. The county got its name from colonial Gov. Matthew Rowan, who signed a bill in 1753 creating Rowan County. Soon after that, Salisbury was designated as the county seat. The area’s rich history includes explorers headed west, an overnight visit from Gen. George Washington, the railroad boom, Civil War lore and much more, shaping a community that cherishes its history even as it strives forward.

    Culture

    The Salisbury Symphony, Piedmont Players and Waterworks Visual Arts Center are a few of the many arts groups that enrich Salisbury’s quality of life. This is a place where the pace is relaxed and tradition runs deep. The tiny town of Faith, population 807, holds one of the biggest July 4 celebrations in the state. Religion and values are important, as evidenced by our many church steeples. High school football and American Legion baseball games are major community events. And visitors are pleasantly surprised to discover Salisbury’s vibrant downtown, with its historic structures, quaint shops and excellent restaurants.

    Recreation

    The active life is big here, from hunting and fishing to bicycle races and strolling along the greenway. High Rock Lake, the second largest lake in North Carolina, hums with activity in the warmer months and offers a great place to watch wildlife year-round. The North Carolina Transportation Museum, loaded with trains on a former rail yard, is a top tourism attraction. So are the Lazy 5 Ranch with its exotic animals and Dan Nicholas Park with its 300-plus acres. The county has five golf courses.

    Area Information

    Rowan County Chamber of Commerce
    www.rowanchamber.com

    Rowan County Convention & Visitors Bureau
    www.visitsalisburync.com

    RowanWorks economic development agency
    www.rowanworks.com