Winston-Salem dates from 1753, when a group of Pennsylvania Moravians purchased a large tract of land in the North Carolina Piedmont. Their settlement of Bethabara, meaning "House of Passage" or "Temporary Home," prospered and became a leading trading and crafts center. In 1766 Salem (from Shalom, Hebrew for "peace") was built nearby as the Moravians' permanent settlement.
Winston was founded in 1849. It grew rapidly because of the success of the tobacco and textile industries, and eventually even surpassed Salem and the two towns consolidated in 1913.
Textiles and tobacco may have built the city, but the arts brought new life to a declining downtown in the mid-20th century. The downtown area was enhanced with a performing arts center, an arts and crafts school for children as well as a park and amphitheater. The culmination of the program was the North Carolina School of the Arts, a branch of the University of North Carolina. The Stevens Center, a renovated 1929 movie palace in downtown Winston-Salem, is one of the school's performance centers.
The town is also home to Wake Forest University. Even older is Salem College. Founded in 1772 in the Moravian village of Salem, Salem College is located on a 57-acre campus in Old Salem.
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