Granite Quarry is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,984 at the 2020 census.
History
Granite Quarry was originally named Woodville when it was founded in the late 1800s. However, the first post office in the town was established under the name of Woodsides in 1891, after a prominent family in the area named Woodsides. The name was officially changed to Woodsides when the town was incorporated on March 7, 1901, by the North Carolina General Assembly. Jerry L. Shuping was the first mayor. The first town meetings were held in an upstairs room in the W. S. Brown store building. What is now the Town Hall Municipal Building was originally built in 1963 by Gemgas, and purchased later by the town.
Soon after the town's incorporation, however, problems arose with mail delivery, since there was already another town in North Carolina named Woodsides. Because of this, in 1902, the post office changed its name to Granite Quarry, after the stone quarried in the area. The town's name was not officially changed until February 5, 1905.
Though town officials have been working to change this since 1990, residents and businesses who get their mail delivered have a Salisbury address because the Granite Quarry post office only has boxes, not delivery. A proposal rejected by the Postal Service would have allowed a Granite Quarry address but a Salisbury zip code. In early November 2015, with the help of U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, the town persuaded the Postal Service to make the change.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Granite Quarry had a population of 2,984. The median age was 40.0 years. 24.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.1% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.6 males age 18 and over.
98.6% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.4% lived in rural areas.
There were 1,197 households in Granite Quarry, of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 50.2% were married-couple households, 16.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 24.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)
| 2,329
| 78.05%
|-
!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)
| 263
| 8.81%
|-
!scope="row"| Native American
| 9
| 0.3%
|-
!scope="row"| Asian
| 36
| 1.21%
|-
!scope="row"| Pacific Islander
| 2
| 0.07%
|-
!scope="row"| Other/Mixed
| 142
| 4.76%
|-
!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino
| 203
| 6.8%
|}
2000 census
As of the census