Durham, North Carolina is a town of disarray. The 2000 Federal Census put the population at around 218,000, but somehow by looking at areas like downtown and southwestern Durham, one could tell the people wished it were more. Mainstays like Duke University are prevalent, and the old history is little more than 10 blocks of old buildings in the center of Durham County. Durham, in a nutshell, is a melting pot of people that don't like to stay out late and haven't the slightest clue of the cantankerous history that lies before them.

In 1849, a man named Dr. Bartlett Durham provided land from his plantation to a railroad company for a station. A small town developed around it, and the city was named Durham in 1853. Durham was put on the map by the latter half of the 19th century by two main things: 1) Seventeen days after Appomattox, Generals Sherman and Johnston made the largest troop surrender at the end of the Civil War at Bennett Place in northeastern Durham. This spawned the second, and most significant "achievement", 2) The troops took with them Durham's own "Brightleaf" brand of tobacco, unique to the Piedmont area and the clay-like soil that embodies the ground the cancerous waste was grown in. People from all over the country raved about the tobacco, and soon after, the Duke dynasty of tobacco was founded. (Read: tobacco=very important)

This is where most of the history in Durham lies. James Buchanan Duke, the son of Washington Duke, the first tobacco farmer in the area, built the cigarette empire known as American Tobacco, which was split by the Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1913. Now the companies Liggett & Myers, R.J. Reynolds, and P. Lorillard are remnants of the company that once controlled 90% of the tobacco products in the world, which was all centered in Durham.

In 1887, Trinity College in nearby Randolph County received a $40 million grant from the Dukes, and needless to say the campus was moved to Durham with newer facilities. In 1924, the college was renamed Duke University. It is now one of the leading Universities in the country, with, among other things, a leading research hospital and a championship NCAA basketball team.

Though the tobacco boom died down in the late 20s with the Great Depression, the 1950s saw a boom in an ironic turn for the haphazard city. The Research Triangle Park was founded, and along with the 1910 invention of B.C. Headache Powders in Durham, the City became to be known as the "City of Medicine" (finding a cure for lung cancer no doubt...heyuck heyuck). Nowadays, Durham has five major hospitals, among them Duke Hospital and Durham Regional. They not only have top-of-the-line patient care services, but are centers of Medical breakthroughs (Duke is credited with more research a year than most major labs in the country). The Research Triangle Park now employs 45,000 Durham citizens, people who come from all over the country to work with such companies as IBM, GlaxoSmithKline(which yes, does make Zyban to help you quit smoking), Nortel, and federal agencies like the EPA. RTP is accredited with breakthroughs like AZT and Astroturf (yeah, that was us).

Durham is nestled between Raleigh and Chapel Hill to comprise an area known as "The Triangle," since all three are similar in tastes and sights. I-85 and I-40 go right through Durham, and the RDU International Airport is one of the major airports in the US. Nowadays, there are few things to do after 9 PM, everything except Taco Bell, Wendy's, and a little restaurant called the Cosmic Cantina are open (I recommend the enchiladas :) ). Stay off the streets after 11; cocaine and marijuana are prominent enterprises and gangs are common in some areas.

All in all, Durham is diverse; one could live in a closed-minded suburban neighborhood, a risky and poor housing project, a moderate apartment in the city, or on a rural farm. There are plenty of shopping centers, two Wal-Marts (unfortunately), no concert pavilions (you have to go to Raleigh to find one), and 2.5 shopping malls. There are way too many hotels for this small city, and if you absolutely had to stay in Durham, I would say leave as quickly as possible (unless you're a student at Duke University or the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill...then you're stuck).

Landmarks: University Tower ("the big blue dick", you can't miss it on the 15-501 bypass), the Durham Bulls ballpark, Duke Chapel (Duke University West Campus, largest church in North Carolina, Methodist), and the Mutual Life Insurance company building in downtown.

To learn the facts, go to http://www.durham-nc.com/secondary/facts.php As a friend of mine once said, "The city of Durham is a motherfucker." Take heed.