Kannapolis is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. The population was 42,625 at the 2010 census, which makes Kannapolis the 20th largest city in North Carolina. It is the home of the Kannapolis Intimidators, the Class A baseball affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and it is the hometown of the Earnhardt racing family. The center of the city is home to the North Carolina Research Campus, a public-private venture that focuses on food, nutrition, and biotech research.

Parks and Recreation:

Kannapolis has several public recreational areas. These include parks, athletic fields and greenways. One public park in the city, Vietnam Veterans Park (formerly, North Cabarrus Park) is maintained and operated by Cabarrus County.

 

             Bakers Creek Park

             Dale Earnhardt Plaza

             Veterans Park

             Vietnam Veterans Park (formerly, North Cabarrus Park)

             Village Park

             Walter M. Safrit Park

Private Clubs

             The Club at Irish Creek (formerly, Kannapolis Country Club)

             Kannapolis Recreation Park

Public Transportation

Kannapolis is located adjacent to Interstate 85, approximately 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Charlotte.

Concord Kannapolis Area Transit, also known as Rider, provides multiple local bus routes, with its farthest point reaching Concord Mills Mall.

Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) provides multiple transportation options including bus, vanpool or carpool. CATS provides a bus stop and parking at Kannapolis' Home Depot parking lot.

The Kannapolis Amtrak station is located at 201 South Main Street.

About The North Carolina Research Campus

North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis is a 350-acre (140 ha) research center. Corporations, universities and healthcare organizations have forged a public-private partnership at the intersection of human health, nutrition and agriculture by focusing on food and nutrition and biotech research. The partners include Appalachian State University, the David H. Murdock Research Institute, Dole Nutrition Research Laboratory, Duke UniversityMURDOCK Study, General Mills, JC Med, Monsanto, NC A&T University, NC Central University, NC State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, and UNC Greensboro.

David H. Murdock, owner of the real estate company Castle & Cooke and former CEO of Dole Food Company, and Molly Corbett Broad, president of the 16-campus University of North Carolina system, unveiled plans on September 12, 2005, for the research campus, as an economic revitalization project that encompasses the site of the former Cannon Mills plant and entire downtown area of Kannapolis