Winton is a town in and the county seat of Hertford County, North Carolina, United States. It is governed by the Town Council which consists of a Mayor and five Council members. As of the 2020 census, Winton had a population of 629.
History
The area eventually comprising the town of Winton was proximate to a community of Meherrin people. The area was first named Cotton's Ferry in homage to Alexander Cotton, a settler who operated a ferry in the 1740s. Hertford County was formed effective 1760. The county's first session of court was held at Cotton's Ferry. Benjamin Wynns, who had since acquired Cotton's property, donated 150 acres to the county for the creation of a town in the mid-1760s. exposing territory along the Chowan River vulnerable to further penetration. Federal gunboats were subsequently dispatched up the river to destroy rail bridges north of Winton but were repulsed in an ambush by Confederate artillery. The following day federal troops under Colonel Rush C. Hawkins landed at Winton and found it deserted. Angered by the ambush and determined to deny Confederate troops the use of facilities, Hawkins ordered his troops to burn most of the buildings in town. As a result, the vast majority of structures in the town were destroyed, The town's economy and population continued to grow in the following years. In 1924, Winton was connected south to Ahoskie by the Winton-Ahoskie Highway, and a steel highway bridge was built across the Chowan River at Winton in 1925, the first in the county to cross the river. While the town's bank failed during the Great Depression, the local lumber, fishing, and shipping industries continued to be of importance into the 1950s. Also in the 1950s, the county government invested in the construction of new facilities, including the erection of a new courthouse in 1956.
The agricultural economy which underpinned the Winton region began to consolidate in the mid-20th century. In 1974, a bypass for U.S. Highway 13 was built diverting traffic around the community, leading to sharp decline in business in the town's center. Overfishing and pollution led to the sharp decline of the fishing industry in the 1990s.
The earliest buildings in the Winton Historic District reflect the Italianate, Queen Anne, and Gothic Revival styles of the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The C. S. Brown School Auditorium, Gray Gables, and King Parker House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
Demographics
2020 census
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Winton racial composition
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)
| 179
| 28.46%
|-
!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)
| 378
| 60.1%
|-
!scope="row"| Native American
| 20
| 3.18%
|-
!scope="row"| Pacific Islander
| 1
| 0.16%
|-
!scope="row"| Other/Mixed
| 22
| 3.5%
|-
!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino
| 29
| 4.61%
|}
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 629 people, 291 households, and 192 families residing in the town.
2000 census
As of the census
Government and infrastructure
thumb|Town hall
Rivers Correctional Institution, a private prison operated by the GEO Group which operates under contract from the Federal Bureau of Prisons and houses many felons who committed crimes in Washington, DC, is from Winton.
Education
The Hertford County Public Schools system serves students in the area, many of whom attend Hertford County High School in Ahoskie. C. S. Brown High School STEM, and The Alternative Learning Program are located in Winton.
Notable person
- Sherman Jones, MLB player and member of Kansas House of Representatives