Shelby, NC news and local guide

Textiles became the chief industry in the 1920s, as Cleveland County's cotton crop rose from 8,000 to 80,000 bales a year, peaking at 83,549 bales in 1948 and making it North Carolina's leading cotton county. In the 1930s Shelby billed itself as "The Leading Shopping Center between Charlotte and Asheville," and by 1947 its mills paid some of the highest wages in the South. Droughts, insects and federal acreage controls ended cotton's reign in the 1950s. In the first half of the 20th century, a group of local leaders known as the "Shelby Dynasty" held power in local, state and federal government, most notably the brothers James L. and Edwin Yates Webb and the brothers-in-law O. Max Gardner and Clyde R. Hoey. Shelby is also linked to banjo player Earl Scruggs and songwriter Don Gibson, honored by the Earl Scruggs Center and the Don Gibson Theatre. The Cleveland County Courthouse and the Central Shelby Historic District are on the National Register of Historic Places. Sources Wikipedia: Shelby, North Carolina