History of Valdese North Carolina
The original settlers of Valdese arrived on train via the Salsbury-Asheville line in the summer of 1893. Eleven families formed the first group that was led by Reverend Charles Albert Tron, a pastor and philanthropist.
A contract for the purchase of land from the Morganton Land Improvement Company was completed and the Valdese Corporation was founded. About ten thousand acres of land was purchased for around $20,000. The eleven families were determined to extend southward and south-westward and immediately began work clearing, digging, plowing, cutting timber and working a sawmill.
The clan was soon joined by their fellow countrymen; additional settlers arrived from Utah. Others soon followed arriving from Italy and other various places.