The town of Stem was established as a separate and distinct entity from Tally Ho township in 1888 by William Thomas Stem. The Stem family were co-proprietors of a general store in the Tally Ho township and owners of the land where a new spur of the Richmond and Danville Railroad terminated. Stem was built around this new rail station. The town was incorporated in 1911. Stem is home to the historic Cozart-Coley House.
Geography
Stem is located at. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of, including of water area. Stem is located in the Tally Ho voting precinct of Granville County.
Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 463 people in 194 households. The population density was 308.7 inhabitants per square mile. The average housing density was 129.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 83.6% White, 8.2% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 7.1% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.7% of the population. There were 194 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them. The average household size was 2.39. In the town, the population was spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 10.8% from 18 to 24, 16.8% from 25 to 34, 21.6% from 35 to 49, 17.3% from 50 to 64, and 8.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $55,313 with a mean household income of $47,701. The per capita income for the town was $22,411. About 12.9% of families and 15.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.3% of those under the age of eighteen.
Schools
The town of Stem is assigned to the following schools:
The Mayor for the Town of Stem is Casey Dover. The Stem Town Commissioners are: The Town Clerk is Vicki Garrett, while the Zoning & Watershed Administrator is Mike Conti.
Long-time residents of Granville County recall the tale of how the Stem High School basketball team played and defeated the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill men's team in an impromptu basketball game. As the story goes, the Stem team won the Granville County championship in 1936 and were rewarded by their coach with a trip to see UNC play Davidson at the Tin Can. The Davidson team was unable to show because of a snowstorm, so Coach Pegram volunteered his team so that the crowd could still watch a game. The team from Stem played well against their college opponents, and in the end won the game on a dramatic last-second shot. The story is unverified in contemporaneous sources. If the game occurred, it is most likely to have taken place on February 12, 1936, when an influenza outbreak caused the cancellation of a UNC/Davidson basketball game. "Bunk" Guthrie would have been 22 years old at the time and 4 years past his graduation. The Daily Tar Heel from February 13, 1936 mentions only that the team practiced on the date of the cancelled Davidson game to prepare for their upcoming contest against North Carolina State. The story has become a piece of local legend and brought statewide attention to the town of Stem in 1999 when it was covered by Frank Newell for the Warren Record of Warren County, and again in 2000 when it was covered by Ned Barnett on the front page of the News & Observer.
