Map of Ranlo town

Ranlo is a small town in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States and a suburb of Charlotte, located north of Gastonia. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 4,511, up from 3,434 in 2010.

Ranlo town overview:
Name:	Ranlo town
LSAD Code:	43
LSAD Description:	town (suffix)
State:	North Carolina
County:	Gaston County
Elevation:	797 ft (243 m)
Total Area:	2.06 sq mi (5.34 km²)
Land Area:	2.06 sq mi (5.34 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.01 km²)
Total Population:	4,511
Population Density:	2,189.81/sq mi (845.37/km²)
ZIP code:	28054
Area code:	704 & 980
FIPS code:	3755260
GNISfeature ID:	0993035
Website:	www.ranlo.org

Online Interactive Map

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Ranlo online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Ranlo location map. Where is Ranlo town?

Ranlo location on the U.S. Map. Where is Ranlo town. — Ranlo location on the U.S. Map.

Ranlo location on the North Carolina map. Where is Ranlo town. — Location of Ranlo in North Carolina.

History

Ranlo was named for John Calvin Rankin and William Thomas Love, two prominent area industrialists – “Ranlo” was a contraction of RANkin and LOve. The community grew up around their textile mills, which produced cotton goods. Rex Spinning Company was begun in 1915, Ranlo Manufacturing Company in 1916, and Priscilla Spinning Company in 1921. Nearby, the community of Smyre was developed around the A. M. Smyre Manufacturing Company, which was founded in 1917. In 1963, Ranlo and Smyre were incorporated as the Town of Ranlo, in reaction to the concern over possible annexation into Gastonia. However, the part of the Smyre mill village south of the Norfolk Southern Railway was not included, and was eventually annexed by Gastonia in June 1996.

Row houses were erected in the 1920s and 1930s and still stand today. At the time, they were owned by the mill and rented at very low rates to workers. They have long since been sold to individuals, and the mills are 75-80% closed. Only one or two still operate and they are at low capacity. The town, however, has become a “bedroom community” and prides itself on its facilities and growth. New industry has started to move in and new neighborhoods are being built.