| Holden Beach, North Carolina |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT HOLDEN BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA | |
| brunswick county, north carolina | |
| towns in north carolina | |
| north carolina beaches | |
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GEOGRAPHY Holden Beach is located at (33.915271, -78.286459). According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 8.9 Km&2 (3.4 Mi&2 ). 7.7 km&2 (3.0 mi&2) of it is land and 1.2 km&2 (0.5 mi&2) of it (13.95%) is water. GOVERNMENT The mayor is Norman Meares and Mayor Pro-Tem is Gary Staley. Commissioners are Charlie Boyle, John Heimlich, Patricia Sandifer and Sandy Miller. HISTORY Before the American Revolution , early settler seeking land near Lockwood's Folly River applied for patents and received warrants for surveys of selected tracts. Upon payment of fifty shillings for each hundred acres, the warrantee could receive a permanent grant for Royal Governor Arthur Dobbs . Benjamin Holden in 1756 bought four mainland tracts and the island between his plantation and the ocean. This island extended from Lockwood's Folly Inlet west six miles to Bacon Inlet. Benjamin and his sons used the island for fishing and cattle grazing. John Holden, Benjamin's grandson, started a commercial fishery on the island and in 1924 surveyed a section which he called Holden Beach Resort, the plat of which represented the first subdivision of beach property in Brunswick County (NC). In 1925, he built the Holden Beach bridge; it was subsequently destroyed by the Inland Waterway construction. "Mr. Johnny" negotiated with the state of North Carolina for the institution of a public ferry to reach the island, but he did not live to see the ferry begin operation in 1934. Luther S. Holden, John's son, operated the old hotel that his father had built, started development of the property nearby and became a permanent resident in 1946. Soon afterwards, Luther S. Holden's son (John F. Holden) began building other homes and renting them to vacationers. Soon afterwards, smaller other developments were started west of the ferry location. Back in the early 1940's one could buy an oceanfront house with the land for about $600 dollars. John F. Holden and his wife Johnsie M. Holden actually began the development of Holden Beach that would slowly become a resort area. John and Johnsie Holden had two sons who are named Lyn Holden and J. Alan Holden. Lyn owns and operates the Beach Mart on the Holden Beach causeway that sells beach items and clothing. Alan Holden took over the family beach business of continuing to build and rent beach homes on Holden Beach. Alan owns and operates Alan Holden Vacations and RE/MAX at the Beach located on the island. Alan's son Shane Holden and his wife Dore' are now in the family business and help run the day to day operations at the rental company. This would be about 7 generations of the Holden family staying in the vacation industry. In 1954, the island had about 300 homes and a turnbridge. After that year's destructive Hurricane Hazel , which hit on Oct. 15, 1954, the rebuilding was slow. On February 14, 1969, the island was incorporated and, on May 13, 1986, the Town of Holden Beach dedicated a new high-rise steel and concrete bridge, allowing better access to the more than 1700 homes on the island. DEMOGRAPHICS As of the Census of 2000, there were 787 people, 379 households, and 272 families residing in the town. The Population Density was 102.3/km&2 (265.3/mi&2). There were 2,062 housing units at an average density of 268.1/km&2 (695.2/mi&2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.73% White , 0.38% African American , 0.25% Native American , 0.25% Asian , and 0.38% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.13% of the population. There were 379 households out of which 11.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.3% were Married Couples living together, 4.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.2% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.43. In the town the population was spread out with 11.9% under the age of 18, 1.7% from 18 to 24, 16.4% from 25 to 44, 44.3% from 45 to 64, and 25.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 55 years. For every 100 females there were 96.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.5 males. The median income for a household in the town was $59,583, and the median income for a family was $70,000. Males had a median income of $45,833 versus $41,094 for females. The Per Capita Income for the town was $35,114. About 4.4% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the Poverty Line , including 5.9% of those under age 18 and 2.0% of those age 65 or over. EXTERNAL LINKS [[Category:Settlements established in 1946 |
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