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Twenty-five years ago today, Kannapolis officially became a city. The town started as a textile mill village in 1906. At one time, it was the largest unincorporated area in the country. Cannon Mills provided everything residents needed: steady employment, housing, good schools - even police and fire protection. But it was clear all this was coming to an end when the Cannon family sold the mill in the early 1980s. The new owner wasn't interested in running a company town. It was time to form a local government to provide services and give Kannapolis a permanent identity in the Charlotte region. In a joint effort by WFAE News and the Concord/Kannapolis Independent Tribune, reporter Ben McNeely looks back at the early years of Kannapolis and examines its future. The Kannapolis Christmas Parade has been around for more than 70 years - a tradition started by Cannon Mills. Today, it is organized by city government. For nearly 100 years, Cannon Mills acted like a local government in Kannapolis. The mill provided a steady job to thousands. It provided cheap rent and utilities in company housing. It supported education, police and fire protection. But by 1982, the future became uncertain for Kannapolis when the Cannon family sold the mill to a California real estate mogul, David Murdock. Ken Argo was the company treasurer for Cannon Mills and retired when that purchase went down. "I think there was a feeling of, 'What are we going to do in Kannapolis?' " The Kannapolis Chamber of Commerce formed a committee to poll business owners about the possibility of incorporation. Bachman Brown was the chairman of the local chamber committee that polled the community on incorporation. He later was elected the first mayor of Kannapolis. He says Murdock was the catalyst the community was looking for. "After Mr. Murdock bought the mill, there was a whole new group of people [that] came in to manage the mill and there was a feeling that the people needed some group that would speak for the people," Bachman says. In November 1984, 65 percent of voters approved incorporation.. Gene McCombs was the first city manager of Kannapolis. "Normally, when you start a city, it starts very small and over the years it grows. In this case, Kannapolis was an instant city with a population of about 30,000," McCombs says. While Kannapolis grew, textiles was becoming a dying industry. Murdock sold the mill in 1986. Pillowtex bought it in 1997, and in 2003, shut it all down. It was the largest permanent layoff in North Carolina history. 4,800 people lost their jobs. One of them was Ken Geathers. He's been on city council since incorporation in 1984. He says it was the resiliency of the city's residents that got Kannapolis through the tough times. "No matter what happens, we've been able to do it. When the mill closed, and over 4,800 people lost their jobs, it was really tough," Geathers says. "But the community, the churches and the civic clubs came together to help people." In its heyday, downtown Kannapolis existed to serve the mill. Downtown was a gateway to the mill. Today, it's the gateway to the North Carolina Research Campus. "We will have the most comprehensive and complete, state-of-the-art laboratory facility that will exist anywhere in the world today," David Murdock said back in 2006. Murdock returned to the city in 2005 and bought the mill complex. The old mill buildings were razed to the ground. Today, the campus has three buildings with state-of-the-art biotechnology research facilities. The David Murdock Core Research Laboratory is partially occupied by his non-profit research institute that manages the core lab and all the equipment in it. A consortium of seven public universities share research space in the other two buildings. About 200 people work on the campus right now. Kannapolis officials expect the 350-acre campus to someday have 8,000 employees, although growth has been stilted by the poor economy. City Manager Mike Legg says the success of the research campus is key if Kannapolis is ever going to be more than a bedroom community. "Kannapolis is now a pretty significant player because of the research campus," Legg says. "It's not to say it hasn't over the years. In many ways, it was over the past 100 years, as a significant manufacturing component of the Charlotte region. But now it has, going into a new economy." Yet, in some ways, there are similarities tp when the Cannon family owned just about everything. Today, it's David Murdock. When he sold the mill back in 1986, he held on to surrounding real estate. He still owns all of downtown Kannapolis, which was called Cannon Village. All the merchants - even the City of Kannapolis - pay rent to David Murdock. If Kannapolis achieves its goals, it will be in partnership with Murdock. Editor's Note: This story was produced in partnership with the Concord/Kannapolis Independent Tribune. For more coverage of the 25th anniversary of the incorporation of Kannapolis, you can pick up a copy of Sunday's edition of the Independent Tribune or go to IndependentTribune.com