History :

Through one man’s faith and courage a town was built in 1852 along the tracks of a railroad then under construction. The wheel of Destiny had made a significant turn more than three decades earlier when it brought John W. Thomas to the wooded settlement known as Fair Grove. Where is now Cedar Lodge, he built a home for his wife, who was Mary Lambeth, the daughter of Moses Lambeth.

John W. Thomas represented the county in the North Carolina General Assembly in 1831 and was a member of the State Senate in 1842, where he became vitally interested in internal improvements. In 1848, he was again a State Senator and fought vigorously to pass the North Carolina Railroad Bill. After the legislation was enacted he sold more railroad stock in Davidson County than was sold in any other county in the state and subscribed for as much stock personally as any man in North Carolina.Symbolic of the spirit of accomplishment is the new “Chair of Thomasville” erected in 1950 on the town commons. Steel and concrete are the materials used in this 18-foot chair on a 22-foot limestone base which replaces the first Big Chair of wood built in 1922. As wheels caused Thomasville to be built on the railroad in 1852 so wheels keep Thomasville growing and developing.