Midland, North Carolina

Midland is a town in southern Cabarrus County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Charlotte region of North Carolina, Midland is a 30-minute commute to uptown Charlotte. The name of the town is derived from its location approximately halfway between Charlotte and Oakboro on the railroad line. As of July, 2014, the town population was 3,507.Visitors and new residents to the area are often surprised to learn the local pronunciation of the town's name. In local parlance, "Midland" is pronounced as a spondee, with nearly equal verbal emphasis on both first and last syllables. Other Midlands around the country, including those in Texas and Michigan, are generally pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable. While Midlanders may refer to "MID-lind," Texas, they themselves live in "MID-LAND," North Carolina.The U.S. Postal Service has maintained a post office in Midland for many years (ZIP code 28107), and rural mail routes extend from Midland into portions of four counties.HistoryMidland began as a railroad town about 1913 with the arrival of rail service via the North Carolina Railroad . The town is now incorporated, as of 2000. Prior to Midland's becoming a railroad village, a community named Garmon existed in the area around the Garmon Mill begun by Michael Garmon in the late-1700s, and Garmon appears on an 1864 map of North Carolina. Another community located to the west, Cabarrus Station, also predated Midland as a railroad stop, and has been incorporated into the town of Midland.Formerly, the economy of Midland was essentially agricultural with some textile-related manufacturing jobs. With the growth of Charlotte to the west, farming has played a decreasing role in the economic life of the town. Increasingly, Midland has become a bedroom community for those commuting to work in nearby Charlotte and Concord. For many years, there were very few "outsiders" moving to Midland, but over the past two decades, many people with no familial roots in the area have settled there. New residents are attracted to the area for its lower taxes, less expensive housing and real estate prices, and a more rural flavor than that which is to be found in Charlotte or the surrounding larger communities.