Белмонт қаласының тарихы мен географиясы

Belmont is a small suburban city in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States, located about 9 mile (14 km) east of Gastonia. The population was 10,076 at the 2010 census. Once known as Garibaldi Station, it was named for the New York banker August Belmont. Belmont is home to Belmont Abbey College.

Settlement in the Belmont area began around the colonial era Fort at the Point, built in the 1750s by Dutch settler James Kuykendall, Robert Leeper, and two others near the junction of the South Fork and the Catawba River. The fort was built because of ongoing hostilities with the Cherokee, but it was apparently never attacked. The South Point Community, located about 2 1/2 miles south of present day downtown Belmont, was the site of Stowesville Mill. Founded by Jasper Stowe and Associates in 1853, it was one of the first three cotton mills in operation in Gaston County. Abram Stowe (1842–1897) returned to the area after serving in the Civil War. He built a Greek Revival home (still the oldest known structure in Belmont) and opened a small mercantile store. He later became postmaster and town depot agent for the new Atlanta and Richmond Air Line Railway, which was constructed in 1871. Additional stores were soon built near the community's railroad stop, Garibaldi Station. The station was named for John Garibaldi, who had supervised construction of a water tank near the new railroad. Existing settlers in the South Point community moved north to be closer to the railroad. In 1895, by an act of the North Carolina General Assembly, an area within a 1/4 mile radius from the intersection of Main Street and the railroad was incorporated as the Town of Belmont.). Chronicle was the first of the nearly twenty mills built in Belmont through 1930, expanding the town population to 3,793.

Nestled in the southern Piedmont region of North Carolina, the town of Belmont is flanked by two rivers, the Catawba River and its right tributary, the South Fork Catawba River. Adjacent to Belmont, the rivers make up two arms of Lake Wylie and form a peninsula on which the city is situated. Areas to the west of the center of town are part of the South Fork Catawba watershed. Eastern parts of Belmont north of the Norfolk Southern Railway belong to the Catawba Heights watershed, while those to the south are in the Paw Creek watershed. Areas of unincorporated South Point Township south of Belmont belong to the Neal Branch Beaverdam Creek watershed. Belmont is located 12 mile (19 km) west of Charlotte and 10 mile (16 km) east of Gastonia. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.74%, is water.

+Belmont racial composition Race Number Percentage White (non Hispanic) 11,586 77.19% Black or African American (non Hispanic) 1,459 9.72% Native American 50 0.33% Asian 515 3.43% Pacific Islander 13 0.09% Other/Mixed 643 4.28% Hispanic or Latino 744 4.96%
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 15,010 people, 4,394 households, and 2,922 families residing in the city.

The textile industry was once the core of Belmont's economy, but due to most textile facilities moving overseas, Belmont's motto "The City of Diversified Textiles" is no longer relevant. The large textile facilities that once employed thousands of local workers have been torn down or converted to other uses, including housing. Most of the "mill houses" where employees lived and raised their families for generations have been torn down to make room for new housing developments, and some areas have been converted to industrial centers containing various types of businesses. The few remaining plants still in operation run at reduced capacity and employ fewer workers. Despite the loss of the textile plants, Belmont continues to grow in population. Its proximity to the large, fast growing city of Charlotte has made Belmont an attractive place to live for new residents moving into the Charlotte area. R. L. Stowe Mills, Inc. has its headquarters in Belmont and operates the Helms production facility. Gastonia based Parkdale Mills currently operates two plants (Plants No. 15 and 61) and its Fiber Research Center in Belmont. Duke Energy operates the G. G. Allen Steam Station on Lake Wylie (the Catawba River) south of Belmont. First built in 1957, the Allen Station is a five unit 1,140 megawatt coal fired power plant.

Belmont, like the majority of cities in North Carolina, has a council manager government, with a mayor and a five member city council. Belmont has its own police and fire departments which operate within the city limits. Fire protection in the unincorporated areas south of Belmont is handled by the South Point Volunteer Fire Department (2001 Southpoint Rd. ), in areas southwest of Belmont by the New Hope Volunteer Fire Department (4804 S. New Hope Rd. ), and in areas north of Belmont by Community VFD (1873 Perfection Ave.). Belmont is in South Point Township.

There are currently two colleges in Belmont. Belmont Abbey College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church and the Order of Saint Benedict. It was founded as St. Mary's College in 1876 by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey (the name changed to Belmont Abbey College in 1913). It was a men's college until the mid 1960s when it became co educational. With the closing of Sacred Heart College (see below), Belmont Abbey is the only college in North Carolina affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Gaston College is a community college serving Gaston County. Belmont is home to one of Gaston College's three campuses, the Kimbrell (East) Campus. This campus offers continuing education and curriculum classes, a campus bookstore and branch of the Gaston College Library in Harney Hall. Harney Hall was built in 1943 and has 64,000 square feet. The Classroom Building was built in 2003 and has 28,000 square feet and houses a 200 seat auditorium. The Kimbrell Campus is also home to the Textile Technology Center at Gaston College. The began operations in 1943 as the North Carolina Vocational Textile School, later renamed the North Carolina Center for Applied Textile Technology. It was transferred to Gaston College in 2005. In 2010, the name was changed to the W. Duke Kimbrell Campus and Textile Technology Center in exchange for a private donation Mr. Kimbrell made to Gaston College. The Textile Technology Center offers instruction in new and sample product development, product testing, training, and consulting for the textile industry. Sacred Heart College, a women's college affiliated with the Roman Catholic order of the Sisters of Mercy, formerly operated in Belmont. It was founded as a girls finishing school, Sacred Heart Academy, in 1892. It began offering associate degree programs in 1937 and baccalaureate degrees in 1970. After years of declining enrollment, it closed its doors in 1987. Sacred Heart's facilities are now used by Belmont Abbey College.

The primary east–west highway passing through Belmont is Interstate 85. Other important east–west highways include
U. S. Route 29/U. S. Route 74 (Wilkinson Blvd.) and North Carolina Highway 7 (Catawba St./N. Main St./McAdenville Rd). The primary north–south highway is North Carolina Highway 273 (Armstrong Rd./South Point Rd./Keener Blvd./Park St./Beatty Dr.). Freight rail service is provided by the Norfolk Southern Railway. It operates the parallel Washington to Atlanta Main Line and S Line. A spur off the S Line carries coal to Duke Energy's Allen Steam Station south of Belmont. Amtrak's passenger train uses the Main Line, with the nearest station in Charlotte. The Gastonia station is no longer staffed by an agent but passengers can make reservations to be picked up or let off of the Amtrak Crescent trains #19 and 20 on Hancock Street in Gastonia. Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is Belmont's commuter bus provider to Charlotte. The Gastonia Express (Route 85X) offers Monday Friday bus service to/from uptown Charlotte, via the Abbey Plaza Shopping Center Station. One way fare to/from uptown Charlotte is $2.60; transfer costs vary. Charlotte/Douglas International Airport is a major, full service airport with passenger flights. It is across the Catawba River in Mecklenburg County, about 7 mile (11 km) east of Belmont.