Gastonia is named for William Gaston, member of the North Carolina Supreme Court.[6]
Historic Downtown
The City Hospital-Gaston Memorial Hospital, Craig Farmstead, Downtown Gastonia Historic District, First National Bank Building, Gaston County Courthouse, Gastonia High School, David Jenkins House, Loray Mill Historic District, Robinson-Gardner Building, Third National Bank Building, and William J. Wilson House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[7][8]
The Loray Mill strike of 1929 in Gastonia was one of the most notable strikes in the labor history of the United States. The role of organizers for Communist Party-affiliated National Textile Workers Union alienated religious leaders in Gastonia, who denounced the organizers’ ideology, undermining support for the strike.[9] The strike collapsed after the death of Gastonia’s police chief, Orville Alderholt, led to a murder trial of several of the organizers.[10] The strike largely failed in attaining its goals of better working conditions and wages, and the American labor movement was never able to gain a foothold among textile workers in Gastonia. The strike, however, became for a while an international cause célèbre, figuring in several novels published in the 1930s.
