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Durham has emerged from its roots in tobacco to a city with great breadth of culture, strong employment opportunities and a diverse population.  It is one of the three major cities near the famed Research Triangle Park, which is the world's largest university-related research park.  In the 1950's and 60's Durham government created a special tax district and named it Research Triangle Park.  Most of this industrial park is located in Durham County, while a small portion resides in Wake County, near Raleigh and Cary.  Currently there are nearly 140 research and development companies in Research Triangle. 

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Durham has emerged from its roots in tobacco to a city with great breadth of culture, strong employment opportunities and a diverse population.  It is one of the three major cities near the famed Research Triangle Park, which is the world's largest university-related research parks.  In the 1950's and 60's Durham government created a special tax district and named it Research Triangle Park.  Most of this industrial park is located in Durham County, while a small portion resides in Wake County, near Raleigh and Cary.  Currently there are nearly 140 research and development companies in Research Triangle.

Population of Durham

The population of Durham is approximately 225,000 and has been consistently growing for the last 25 years.

Durham Climate

The climate in Durham is one of its great draws.  The coldest months are December and January, with average high temperatures around 50 and average lows around 38 degrees.  During the hot summer months, temperatures average 89 degrees during the day and 70 in the evenings.  This moderate climate is comfortable and promotes outdoor activities year-round for everyone.

Durham Economy

Durham and surrounding areas benefit greatly from Research Triangle Park because there are so many major employers, like IBM, Glaxo-SmithKline, The Environmental Protection Agency, Quintiles Transnational, Reichold Chemical, Research Triangle Institute and others who employ many of the graduates from the surrounding Universities.

Durham Colleges and Universities

Durham is blessed to have two major universities in the city.  Duke University, with The Duke University Medical Center, is the largest employer in the city of Durham and Durham County. Duke may be known throughout the world as the home of the Duke Blue Devils basketball program, but Duke University has established itself over the last 50 years as one of the nation's top private universities.

Duke has approximately 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Duke University employs approximately 33,000 full and part-time people.

North Carolina Central University is a historically black university which is part of the University of North Carolina system.   NCCU is a comprehensive university, offering majors in over 100 fields of study and graduate degrees in approximately 40 disciplines. One of NCCU's specialties is in the bio-tech industry and Durham has spawned numerous new bio-tech companies over the years.  NCCU has nearly 9,000 students enrolled.

As a result of the university roots in Durham, the city has one of the highest educated populations in the country.  At the same time, its roots in tobacco, farming and manufacturing have created a highly diverse population and gives Durham a wonderfully broad array of experiences for people from all cultures and backgrounds.

Durham Public and Private Schools

Durham has one public school system, The Durham Public Schools.  Neighborhoods and subdivisions are districted for specific schools, but Durham also boasts a magnet school system which allows parents to choose such programs from a wide range of programs.  Three magnet schools in Durham were recently recognized as Magnet Schools of America for their excellence.  Durham School of the Arts, R.N. Harris Elementary School and Club Boulevard Magnet Elementary School were recognized. Durham also has terrific private schools, such as Durham Academy, Trinity School, Duke School for Children, Immaculata Catholic School and numerous Charter Schools.

Durham Transportation

Durham is intersected by Routes 85 and 40, offering easy road access to other states. Route 40 intersects 95 one hour to the east and route 77 one hour to the west.

Durham is 20 minutes from Raleigh-Durham International Airport, one of the most easily accessible major airports in The Southeast.

Durham has a bus system and is in the plans for a light rail system sometime in the future.  Many highways are new and transportation by car is easy, with only moderate traffic issues during rush hours during the week.

Durham Shopping

Over the last 10 years downtown Durham has re-emerged as a destination for business and for residential living.  New urban development in Durham has been robust.  10 years ago many storefronts in downtown Durham were shuttered, now tobacco warehouses haven been converted to office space, town-homes and condominiums.  Old storefronts have been opened with fine restaurants such as Rue Claire, The Piedmont, Tosca, Tyler's, Guajillos Mexican Grill, Revolution and others.  

Durham Arts and Entertainment

Durham boasts having The Durham Bulls baseball team, which was featured in one of the nation's great baseball movies, Bull Durham, filmed in 1988..  

In the fall of 2008 Durham opened one of the top theaters in the Southeast; The Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC).  This modern theater seats over 2,400 people and hosts off-broadway shows, as well as comedians and concerts year-round.  Durham supports The Arts, and much to the delight of its citizens, DPAC actually showed a profit in its first year.  The theater is of such quality that top shows and performers are choosing Durham over other venues.

All around Durham there are a wide array of  one-of-a-kind restaurants born in Durham and nearly all the major national franchises.  Nana's has been a nationally recognized restaurant for years.  Four Square offers fine dining in a beautiful old antebellum home.  Bullock's has offered one of the top North Carolina barbecue menus for over 50 years.  The Q-Shack is relatively new to Durham and boasts great Texas barbecue.  There are fine restaurants representing nearly every imaginable international cuisine in Durham.

Durham Area Recreation

Access to The Great Smokey Mountains is less than 4 hours from Durham as are wonderful North Carolina beaches, including Topsail Beach, Emerald Isle, Wrightsville Beach, Kure Beach and many others. There are numerous lakes within an hour of Durham, including Jordan Lake, Hyco Lake, Falls Lake and Kerr Lake. Most of these lakes have substantial residential areas as well as recreation.

Durham Area Golf

Durham has 5 country clubs, including Hope Valley Country Club, Croasdaile Country Club, Treyburn Country Club and Umstead Pines.  It also has the Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club.  Durham has four public courses and many more within an hour's drive.

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