Holly Springs - North Carolina - 4K Downtown Drive

An afternoon drive around the Raleigh suburb of Holly Springs.
Filmed: October 2020

From Wikipedia:
Holly Springs is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 24,661, over 2½ times its population in 2000. The town was originally constructed around the fresh water springs from which it is believed its name is derived. It continued to grow slowly through the 1800s until the civil war where it regressed back to a ghost town, being described in 1871 as a 'deserted village'. The economic revival of the town began in 1875 when a successful mercantile business moved to Holly Springs. Holly Springs then was officially established as a town in 1877, after George Benton Alfred, the owner of the mercantile business, pushed for a town charter. World War I and II did not treat the town well with many young men leaving to fight, leading to population stagnation. In recent history the town has experienced a population boom due to in part the increase in population in neighbouring Cary and Apex. The town now looks set for steady economic and population growth for the foreseeable future.

t was not until the town built its first sewage plant in 1987 that any real growth occurred. It was 1992 before Holly Springs, in line for the spillover from increased populations in Cary and Apex, suddenly boomed. Population increased from 900 in 1992 to an estimated 6000 in 1998 to nearly 25,000 in 2010.

Holly Springs Community Library, part of the Wake County Public Library system, and a cultural arts facility opened in early December 2006.


Holly Springs Branch Library
On July 18, 2006, it was announced that the pharmaceutical company Novartis would be building a manufacturing facility in Holly Springs and employing approximately 350 to produce flu vaccines using new technologies. The manufacturing facility was built on 167 acres (0.68 km2) in Holly Springs Business Park off N.C. 55 Bypass. Construction was completed in late 2008. Novartis's investment is at least US$267 million and eventually could reach US$600 million.

Bristol-Myers Squibb expressed interest in county-owned land along N.C. 55 Bypass at the future interchange of Interstate 540. The County originally expressed a desire to allow the proposed landfill site to be used for economic development to be sold to the company. However, county leaders refused to relocate a solid waste transfer station which would be at the entrance. When the company decided not to locate on the site, the Wake County Board of Commissioners voted five to two to proceed with plans to build a landfill there.

For years, town leaders have become increasingly confident that Holly Springs is positioned to experience high growth, propelled by the economic engine of Research Triangle Park (RTP).[22] At a distance of 18 miles (29 km), Holly Springs is close to RTP.

In 2007, it was ranked the 22nd best small town to live in, according to a CNNMoney.com evaluation.

The Harrington-Dewar House, Holly Springs Masonic Lodge, and Leslie-Alford-Mims House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On April 16, 2011, a large tornado touched down close to the Holly Springs town center, uprooting trees and destroying homes and buildings.