The NC General Assembly passes “An Act to Incorporate the Town of Apex.” The town at that time was one-mile square. The legislative document read –   “One-half mile east, west, north and south from the centre of the warehouse of the Chatham [sic] Railroad Company and shall run with the four cardinal points of the compass.”

1905 marked the start of Apex’s economic leadership in tobacco sales. In 1905, Golden Leaf Tobacco Warehouse, located on the northwest corner of Salem and Hunter Streets, was established as the first tobacco market in Apex. In 1906, a second warehouse opened beside Golden Leaf named Apex Planter’s Warehouse. Finally, in 1907, Apex became the leader in sales with its third tobacco warehouse establishment – Apex Farmer’s Consolidated Tobacco Company.

Apex Town Hall was created as a true town center – with political, judicial, economic and cultural services. It housed public safety, the mayor, a jail, a local court, an open market and trading center, and an opera house. The facility still serves the Apex community as The Halle Cultural Arts Center, located at 237 N. Salem Street. Town Hall relocated in 1978 to 201 Saunders Street, which now is the Apex Police Department. In 2001, Town Hall moved to 73 Hunter Street, where it stands today.

After two previous wooden depots were destroyed by fire, the Town required the new Depot be built with brick, which was uncommon for the time. Today, the building is still serving the community as the Welcome Center and location of the Economic Development department for the Town of Apex.

Tobacco markets had been the center of Apex’s booming economy for more than ten years until they all closed in the early 1920s, leaving Apex without a steady economic source. A few years later, in 1929, the NYC Stock Market crashed and the ensuing Great Depression further damaged Apex’s economy. The town struggled financially until the formation of the Research Triangle Park in the late 20th century, which gave Apex and many other towns in the Triangle new life.

During the Jim Crow era, public funding for black education was minimal in the South. A Jewish philanthropist, Julius Rosenwald, and a Black educator, Booker T. Washington, collaborated to create the Rosenwald Fund, which bridged the gap by helping African-American communities build public schools. In 1923, the Friendship Rosenwald School opened on Humie Olive Road. In the same year, the New Hill Rosenwald School opened at the corner of New Hill Holleman Road and Church Road and the Holly Springs Rosenwald School opened on Stinson Avenue. In 1932, the Apex Rosenwald School opened on Tingen Road. In the 1950s, many Rosenwald Schools closed. Friendship and New Hill Rosenwald Schools closed first, and those students attended Apex Rosenwald School. Later, the Apex Rosenwald School became Apex Consolidated (opened in 1952)  and today is the location for Apex Elementary School.

Schieffelin and Company was the first nationwide company to operate in Apex. The company was one of the nation’s oldest cosmetic houses, with the Apex location focusing on perfumes and other cosmetics. The building still stands today at 2211 Schieffelin Road as the Department of Public Safety’s Central Region Training Center.

In 1990, Wake County launched an initiative to name rural and state roads to provide public safety, 911, and services to the unincorporated areas of the county. Before this initiative, residents had route and box numbers instead of street and house numbers. Wake County staff worked with local Apex residents to learn each road’s geographical, physical and historical information. This collaboration between the County and residents resulted in many historical family names and community names being used as new street names.