Winton Today: 1970 - Present

Winton’s population has changed little since the mid-nineteenth century. In 1950, approximately 970 people lived in Winton and the 2000 census reported 960 residents. One cause of Winton’s ongoing economic struggles is that major transportation thoroughfares, especially those established in the late twentieth century, have diverted travelers around and away from the town. US Highway 13 was extended south from Virginia into North Carolina in the 1950s, and at that time the road passed through Winton along Main Street and across the Chowan River. In 1974 however, the bridge was demolished and a new bridge was built further upstream (northwest), bypassing Winton completely. Throughout the twentieth century, Ahoskie attracted manufacturing, retail, and service industries, as well as the only hospital in the county (constructed in the late 1940s). Although Winton retained an active downtown with small-scale local businesses, as well as government employment opportunities as the county seat, the primary source of income for the residents of Winton remained tobacco, peanuts, and lumber.

The number of herring in the Chowan River and Albemarle Sound has steadily decreased since the 1970s, in part due to pollution, but also caused by overfishing. By the 1990s, herring catches were a mere fraction of their historic abundance. In addition to the environmental impact of the loss of these fish, there have been significant economic repercussions. The Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership was established in 1987 to research, identify, protect, and restore the resources of this important estuary system, including improving water quality in the Chowan River and bringing back the herring. Despite their efforts, the last surviving fisheries included the Parker’s Ferry Fishery, which succeeded in continuing its operations on the Chowan and Meherrin Rivers near Winton only until the 1990s, and Williams Seine Fishery near Murfreesboro, which operated until 2006. To further restore the herring, the North Carolina River Herring Fishery Management Plan implemented a no-harvest provision for all commercial and recreational herring fishing in 2007.

Recreation along the Chowan River has also suffered in recent decades. Both Tuscarora Beach and Chowan Beach, although popular into the 1960s, declined dramatically by the turn of the twenty-first century, in part because of the impact of desegregation, and in part, because new attractions drew tourists to North Carolina’s Outer Banks and the Virginia Beach area.

The C.S. Brown School has changed significantly as well. In 1981, the C.S. Brown School Auditorium Restoration Association, Inc. was formed to raise funds for the restoration of Brown Hall and to establish a cultural arts center there. In 1986, the C.S. Brown Regional Cultural Arts Center and Museum were opened to the public. A group of Winton residents employed at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company saw the school falling into disrepair and purchased the c.1943 C.S. Brown High School building in 2002 to serve as the Newport News Shipyard Commuters Club’s multipurpose center. By 2009, the campus also housed GED programs and the Office of Aging for Hertford County, as well as the C.S. Brown High School – STEM, located in the altered and enlarged C.S. Brown Elementary School building.

Today, County government remains a significant employer in Winton. Aluminum extrusion is also one of the primary employers. Alfinity Inc, founded in 1986 in Canada, operates the aluminum plant on Metcalf Street. Another significant employer is Commercial Ready Mix Products, headquartered just outside downtown Winton. Established in 1975 in nearby Cofield, the company moved its operations to Winton in 2003 and now has locations throughout eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. It produces ready-mix concrete and hauls sand and gravel. Nucor Steel Hertford County, a scrap-metal recycling plant that opened in 2000, and Perdue Agribusiness, which processes oilseeds, are both located in nearby Cofield.