HICKORY, a city of Catawba county, North Carolina, U.S.A., in the Piedmont region, at an altitude of 1,165 feet. It is on Fed eral highway 7o, and is served by the Carolina and North-western and the Southern railways. The population was 5,076 in 192o and it had increased to 7,363 in 193o by the Federal census. With the adjoining municipalities of Highland, West Hickory and Long view, the urban unit had a population of 14,000. It is in the Catawba river valley, which produces fine melons and grapes; and commands views of Mount Mitchell, Grandfather and other peaks of the Blue Ridge. Hickory manufactures farm wagons which are widely used throughout the South, and has cotton mills (32,000 spindles in 1928), hosiery mills, furniture factories and other manufacturing industries. It is the seat of Lenoir Rhyne college (opened 1891), a Lutheran institution, named after two bene factors. Hickory was founded about 1874 and chartered in 1884. Since 1913 it has had a council-manager form of government.