Laurinburg is a city in and the county seat of Scotland County, North Carolina, United States. Located in south central North Carolina near the South Carolina border, Laurinburg is southwest of Fayetteville and was home to St. Andrews University. The population was 14,978 at the 2020 Census.

History

thumb|left|Main Street,

Settlers arrived at the present town site around 1785. The settlement was named for a prominent family, the McLaurins. The name was originally spelled Laurinburgh and pronounced as if it were spelled "Laurinboro", similar to the pronunciation of Edinburgh in Scotland, though the "h" was later dropped. The community was initially located within the jurisdiction of Richmond County. In 1840, Laurinburg had a saloon, a store, and a few shacks. Laurinburg High School, a private school, was established in 1852. The settlement prospered in the years following. A line of the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad was built through Laurinburg in the 1850s, with the first train reaching Laurinburg in 1861. The shops were later rebuilt.. Wilmington's The Morning Star reported that, by Election Day on November 8th, over five hundred black voters had removed their names from Richmond County voting rolls, the majority in Laurinburg.

Historic sites

Several sites in Laurinburg are listed on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Scotland County, North Carolina, including:

  • John Blue House
  • Mag Blue House
  • Central School
  • Dr. Evan Alexander Erwin House
  • E. Hervey Evans House
  • Thomas J. Gill House
  • Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church
  • Laurinburg Commercial Historic District
  • St. Andrews University
  • Stewart-Hawley-Malloy House
  • Laurinburg Institute
  • Villa Nova

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which 12.55&nbsp;square miles (32.5&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) is land and (1.26%) is water.

Laurinburg is located northeast of Bennettsville, east of Rockingham, west of Lumberton, and southwest of Fayetteville.

Climate

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Laurinburg had a population of 14,978. The median age was 40.3 years. 24.3% of residents were under the age of 18 and 21.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 84.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 77.5 males age 18 and over.

There were 6,098 households in Laurinburg, of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 30.2% were married-couple households, 18.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 46.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 3,544 families residing in the city.

!Race

!Num.

!Perc.

|-

|White

|5,552

|37.07%

|-

|Black or African American

|7,115

|47.5%

|-

|Native American

|1,012

|6.76%

|-

|Asian

|189

|1.26%

|-

|Pacific Islander

|6

|0.04%

|-

|Other/Mixed

|688

|4.59%

|-

|Hispanic or Latino

|416

|2.78%

|}

The black population is concentrated in the northern section of the city.

  • Brent Butler, former MLB infielder
  • Bucky Covington, country musician and American Idol Season 5 finalist
  • Wes Covington, former MLB outfielder
  • Robert Dozier, professional basketball player
  • Lorinza Harrington, former NBA player
  • Joseph Roswell Hawley, four-term U.S. Senator, two-term U.S. Congressman, Governor of Connecticut, and Union Army Major General
  • Harriet McBryde Johnson, activist for the disabled
  • Sam Jones, former NBA Shooting Guard, 10x NBA Champion, 5x NBA All-Star, 3x All-NBA Second Team, NBA Anniversary Team Boston Celtics#24 retired
  • Samantha Joye, oceanographer known for her work studying the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
  • Terrell Manning, NFL player
  • William S. McArthur, former United States Army colonel and NASA astronaut
  • Bejun Mehta, countertenor
  • James Dickson Phillips Jr., United States Court of Appeals judge
  • William R. Purcell, physician and politician
  • Travian Robertson, NFL defensive end
  • Kelvin Sampson, college basketball coach
  • Terry Sanford, former Governor of North Carolina and U.S. Senator
  • Charlie Scott, NBA All-Star and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill player, Olympic gold medalist in 1968, and valedictorian at Laurinburg Institute
  • Woody Shaw, hard-bop (jazz) trumpeter
  • Franklin Stubbs, MLB player
  • Hilee Taylor, NFL defensive end
  • Leonard Thompson, PGA Tour golfer
  • Ben Vereen, actor, dancer, and singer
  • Jacoby Watkins, former NFL cornerback and North Carolina football player
  • Zamir White, NFL Running Back, Las Vegas Raiders
  • Christopher Witmore academic archaeologist and author

Sister cities

Laurinburg has one sister city, as designated by Sister Cities International:

  • Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland