Lawndale, NC

Lawndale grew along the First Broad River around the cotton mills of Major Henry Franklin Schenck. Before the mills, the area was farms and a stagecoach stop; Schenck's Cleveland Mills and the homes built for workers created a settlement whose green lawns gave the town its name. Lawndale incorporated in 1903, and the 2020 census counted 570 residents. The river, mill sites, and roads toward Shelby still shape the town's setting in Cleveland County.

Education and rail history left unusually strong marks. Schenck's family helped establish Piedmont Academy in 1897, a boarding school that drew students from across North Carolina and beyond. In 1903, a rail line known as the Lawndale Dummy began linking the town with Shelby; the former Metcalfe Station now serves as a museum of that line. The First Broad River dam and the town's historic buildings keep the industrial past visible, while the town government and nearby schools serve a much smaller present-day population. Lawndale is best understood through the connection among waterpower, mill housing, education, and the short rail route that once carried people and goods to Shelby.