Mebane ( ) is a city located mostly in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States, and partly in Orange County. The town was named for Alexander Mebane, an American Revolutionary War general and member of the U.S. Congress. It was incorporated as "Mebanesville" in 1881, and in 1883 the name was changed to "Mebane". It was incorporated as a city in 1987. The population as of the 2020 census was 17,797.
Mebane is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in North Carolina. Mebane straddles the Research Triangle and Piedmont Triad Regions of North Carolina. The bulk of the city is in Alamance County, which comprises the Burlington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, itself a component of the Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point, NC Combined Statistical Area. Two slivers in the eastern portion of the city are in Orange County, which is part of the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, itself a component of the Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC Combined Statistical Area.
History
The town was incorporated as Mebanesville in 1881. Its name was changed to Mebane two years later. It is named after Brigadier General Alexander Mebane, an officer during the American Revolution who later served as a U.S. Congressman.
In 1939 as part of the New Deal, Margaret C. Gates won a competition sponsored by the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the Treasury Department to create a post office mural in Mebane. Her painting, Landscape—Tobacco Curing, which showed a man and a young boy walking in tandem on their way to work on a tobacco farm, was completed and installed in 1941. In 1965, when the post office was remodeled, the mural was damaged beyond repair, as officials tried to remove it for restoration. A local artist, Henry E. Rood III, was hired to create an exact replica of the painting to adorn the new facility.
While the North Carolina Department of Transportation had long-standing plans to reroute North Carolina Highway 119, currently running through the city's downtown, to a new alignment further west, concerns in predominantly African-American communities along the proposed route, combined with longstanding dissatisfaction with access to municipal services, resulted in civil rights complaints being filed by the West End Revitalization Association and other local residents against the Department of Transportation and city government. Although a four-year moratorium on the project was established in 1999, the Federal Highway Administration eventually granted approval in December 2009.
In October 2014, the city council voted to adopt a new seal and slogan, replacing "A progressive community, the perfect place to call home" with "Positively Charming".
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 1.36%, is water.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Mebane had a population of 17,797. The median age was 36.5 years. 24.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 13.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 83.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 78.6 males age 18 and over.
99.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.9% lived in rural areas.
There were 7,308 households and 3,745 families residing in the city. Of the households, 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 45.0% were married-couple households, 14.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 34.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
Hurdle Field is no longer operational and is now a residential development.
Education
The Alamance County portion is served by the Alamance-Burlington School System (which was created by a merger between the Alamance County School System and the Burlington City School System in 1996), while the Orange County portion is served by Orange County Schools.
The public schools serving Mebane residents within Alamance County include Eastern Alamance High School, Hawfields Middle School, Woodlawn Middle School, Audrey W. Garrett Elementary School, South Mebane Elementary School, and E. M. Yoder Elementary School; all part of the Alamance - Burlington School System (ABSS).
Mebane residents in the Orange County portion are zoned to Efland Cheeks Elementary School, Gravely Hill Middle School, Orange Middle School, Orange High School, and Cedar Ridge High School.
There is one private school in Mebane, Bradford Academy, a classical Christian school started in 2008.
Mebane is within of several notable universities, including Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central University and Elon University. North Carolina State University & Saint Augustine's University are just over away in Raleigh.
Alamance Community College is a two-year college in Graham, west of Mebane.
Commerce
thumb|Downtown Mebane
Downtown Mebane was named a Top Five Great Place in North Carolina for 2017.
Downtown Mebane is home to many high-end home furnishing stores, antique shops, and trendy clothing stores. The downtown also houses a wide variety of restaurants. The downtown area also boasts several antique and curio shops, also with a local flair. Coffee shops are populated by many residents and attract many young professionals and students.
Garrett Crossing, a shopping center located on the south side of Mebane next to Interstate 85 and Interstate 40, include a big box retail anchor as well as dining and other smaller shops. A Tanger Outlet mall is located on Arrowhead Boulevard on the north side of I-85 in Mebane.
Notable people
- Lucy Hughes Brown, first African American woman licensed physician in North and South Carolina
- A. Oveta Fuller, prominent virologist who grew up near Yanceyville, North Carolina
- Zack Littell, MLB pitcher
- Ricardo Marsh, professional basketball player, 2007 top scorer in the Israel Basketball Premier League
- Junior Robinson, professional basketball player
- Zoë Roth, internet meme known as Disaster Girl