Wingate is located in Union County between Charlotte and Wadesboro along US Hwy 74 near Monroe and Polkton.
The earliest settlers in town, at that time called Ames Turnout, came to the area in the mid-1800s to build a Baptist church. Once the church was established, they built a school to provide local youth with a Christian education. The school was named for Washington Manley Wingate, a prominent Baptist minister and educator at Wake Forest College. Soon after the town adopted Wingate's name. In 1896, The Wingate School became Wingate College, a name it carried for almost a century before becoming Wingate University.
Wingate is part of the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metropolitan area.