Several creeks and small lakes dot the area, most notably Lake Crabtree in the north. The town is hilly, with much of the undeveloped land covered in dense woods. It is bordered on the north and east by Raleigh, on the north and west by Research Triangle Park and Morrisville, on the south by Apex and Holly Springs, and on the west by the Jordan Lake area. Located in the Piedmont region of the eastern United States, Cary is near North Carolina's Research Triangle. In addition to the Page-Walker Hotel, the Carpenter Historic District, Cary Historic District, Green Level Historic District, Ivey-Ellington House, and Nancy Jones House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Adams named a section of Kildaire Farms "Farmington Woods" in their honor. It was developed on the Pine State Dairy Farm by Thomas F. Kildaire Farms, a 967-acre (3.9 km 2) Planned Unit Development in Cary, was North Carolina's first PUD.
A PUD allows a developer to plan an entire community before beginning development, thus allowing future residents to be aware of where churches, schools, commercial and industrial areas will be located well before such use begins. Beginning in 1971, the town created Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning to accommodate population growth related to the growth of Research Triangle Park nearby. In the early years, Cary adopted zoning and other ordinances on an ad-hoc basis to control growth and give the town structure. In 1879, the Raleigh and Augusta Air-Line Railroad (later the Seaboard, now CSX Transportation) arrived in Cary from the southwest, creating Fetner Junction just north of downtown and spurring further growth. Cary was incorporated on April 3, 1871, with Page becoming the first mayor. In 1868, Page built a hotel to serve railroad passengers coming through Cary. He laid out the first streets in Cary and built a sawmill, a general store and a post office (Page became the first Postmaster). Page became a railroad agent and a town developer. He and his wife, Catherine "Kate" Raboteau Page bought 300 acres (1.2 km 2) surrounding the railroad junction in 1854 and named his development Cary, after Samuel Fenton Cary (a former Ohio congressman and prohibitionist he admired). Page was a Wake County farmer and lumberman. About a century later, the North Carolina Railroad between New Bern and Hillsborough was constructed through the town, linking Bradford's Ordinary to a major transportation route.Īllison Francis "Frank" Page is credited with founding the town. In 1750, Cary began as a settlement called Bradford's Ordinary. The Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) as of Census 2010 was 1,130,490. As of 2012, the population of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill CSA was 1,998,808. The Research Triangle region encompasses OMB's Combined Statistical Area (CSA) of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina. This resulted in the formation of the Raleigh-Cary, NC Metro Area and the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) redefined the Federal statistical areas. RTP is bordered on three sides by the city of Durham and is roughly midway between the cities of Raleigh and Chapel Hill, and the three major research universities of NC State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.Įffective June 6, 2003, the U.S. The regional nickname of "The Triangle" originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, primarily located in Durham County, four miles from downtown Durham. Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill make up the three primary metropolitan areas of the Research Triangle metropolitan region. Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina, had a violent crime rate of 648 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, almost eight times higher than Cary.
In 2015 Cary had a crime rate of 84 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Cary is the second most populous incorporated town (behind only Gilbert, Arizona) in the United States.Īccording to the US Census Bureau, Cary was the fifth fastest-growing municipality in the United States between September 1, 2006, and September 1, 2007. As of July 2019, the town's estimated population was 170,282, though Cary is still classified a town because that is how it was incorporated with the state. The town's population was 135,234 as of the 2010 census (an increase of 43.1% since 2000), making it the largest town and seventh-largest municipality statewide. Cary is predominantly in Wake County (with a small area in Chatham County) and is the county's second-largest municipality, as well as the third-largest municipality in The Triangle after Raleigh and Durham.
Cary is the largest town and seventh-largest municipality in North Carolina.