Robeson County,
North Carolina, was formed in 1787. General John Willis, owner of the Red Banks plantation, lobbied to have the county's new seat of government located on his land. The site of Lumberton was chosen due to its central location in the county, proximity to a reliable
ford of the Lumber River, and as it was where several roads intersected. Willis turned over 170 acres, which were surveyed and disbursed in a lottery held under the auspices of the county court on August 14, 1787. As the site was heavily forested, trees were felled to make way for a courthouse, business and residential lots, streets, a commons, and a public square. The first courthouse was a wooden residence sold by Willis to the county and moved into place after the land was clear. Lumberton was formally created by an act of the
North Carolina General Assembly on November 3, 1788, which granted the town a charter and the power to levy taxes. The community was named in homage to the Lumber River. Aside from the courthouse, the first buildings in Lumberton were a handful of brick structures built near the river, which included a hotel, stores, and warehouses, which were stocked by goods sent up the river from Georgetown, South Carolina. The town had a post office by 1796. It was formally incorporated in 1852 and granted a municipal government with a mayor and a board of commissioners. For four seasons, 1947–50, Lumberton fielded a professional minor-league baseball team in the
Tobacco State League. Affiliated with the
Chicago Cubs, the team was known as the Lumberton Cubs in 1947 and '48, and the Lumberton Auctioneers in 1949 and '50. In 1970, Lumberton was named an
All-America City, presented by the National Civic League. Many businesses left the downtown in the mid-1970s. A
1988 hostage crisis at the offices of
The Robesonian and the 1993 murder of
James R. Jordan Sr. nearby generated a negative national image for the city. In 1995, the city won the All-America City award a second time. In 2016, Robeson County was impacted by
Hurricane Matthew, leading to record flooding in Lumberton. In 2018, the county was struck by
Hurricane Florence, which broke the flooding record. As a result of extensive damage to homes, entire streets in south and west Lumberton were left abandoned. The
Baker Sanatorium,
Luther Henry Caldwell House,
Carolina Theatre,
Humphrey-Williams Plantation,
Lumberton Commercial Historic District,
Planters Building,
Robeson County Agricultural Building,
Alfred Rowland House, and
US Post Office-Lumberton are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. ==Geography==