Construction of Chatham Park (2022), a housing and retail complex in Pittsboro set to span 7,000 acres.
In many ways, this oral history captures Chatham county on the precipice of change. There have been many other such moments in Chatham history over the past half-century: integration in the late sixties, the growth of Hisipanic population in the 1990s, and now, in the 2020s, the establishment of two major manufacturing plants in the Northwest and Southeast corners of the county.
The seismic nature of this change cannot be overstated. Combined, these factories are poised to create close to 10,000 new jobs, having the potential to transform Chatham from a commuter outpost of the Triangle into an economic hub in its own right.
But for many long-time residents, these developments are just the latest in a series of changes which were set in motion years ago. Some have positive reactions to these changes, others negative, but most have a mixed sense of something being lost and gained in the wake of these transformations.
To capture this sense of change, we asked residents about the on-going developments they noticed and what they envision for Chatham’s future. Below are just some of their responses.
Blueprints for the Wolfspeed semiconductor plant in Siler City, set to provide 1,500 local jobs
VinFast, an electric vehicle manufacturing plant, is set to open in Moncure.in 2024 and create as many as 7,500 new jobs.
