Zoning and city planning properly protects property owners from unbridled neighbors and what they may do on their land which affects others. In a rural setting with little population, only the broadest of zoning restrictions is needed. People are dispersed and use of their land is separated by distance, fields, and woods. Their activities seldom affect the value of their neighbors' property. As communities become more dense and neighbors are cheek to jowl, planning becomes necessary-and thus it is with this county and with towns in western Stanly.
Towns expand organically, as a natural outgrowth of the way people live.
And until the 1950s, zoning restrictions were modest because there was little anyone could do to upset the expansion of a town. Americans were one-car families and many citizens owned no car but relied on a mule and wagon or a neighbor for transportation. The growth of towns in the first half of the 20th Century reflected this slower pace of living. Mills were a block or two off downtown. They were surrounded by homes.