The Stanley Creek community, named for a gold prospector, began in the mid-1700s as one of the earliest settlements in Gaston County. Gold was mined in the area until the California Gold Rush. Among the prominent people visiting the area was André Michaux, botanist and adventurer, who discovered the tree he named Magnolia macrophylla. In 1860, the Wilmington, Charlotte & Rutherford Railroad came through the area on land owned by the Brevard family. Brevard's train depot was the primary ral...