History:
In the Spring of 1913, a French company, L'Aluminium Français, began work on a dam at the narrows of the Yadkin River-it becomes the Pee Dee River a few miles downstream-to provide power for a smelter. A town to house the company's workers was to be built beside the newly-formed lake and named for company president, Adrien Badin.

After the outbreak of World War I, the company's credit lines were redirected toward the war effort, ending the construction project at Badin. The Mellon Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with its aluminum monopoly, the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA), bought the half-finished company town in November, 1915.

The French had completed a few plant buildings, a clubhouse for single male employees and visitors, a plant manager's residence, and single family residences along Henderson Street. Work had begun on 150 apartments, but this was not resumed for three years. At this time, bungalows were built along Tallassee Street, cottages on Pine Street, and a women's annex added to the main club house.

By 1917, Badin was a permanent settlement with a hospital, a 20-room school, a large theatre, and several brick commercial buildings. It was somewhat unusual in the state in that it offered housing and cultural facilities for black workers.

With the automobiles and improved roads of the 1920's, many Badin workers moved to larger towns and the population of Badin shrank from 5,000 in 1926 to the 1,390 residents of today. In 1983, Badin was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1990, the town was incorporated.

Today, this peaceful village with its picket fences and well-tended gardens, provides a rare look at the characteristics common to many of the state's company towns with the added attraction of its unique French Colonial architecture.