History of Charlotte

[jjwilli]

The "Time Machine" map for Meck County now has the 1938 aerials.

http://timemachine.mcmap.org/#15/35.22632/-80.85025

[KJHburg]

Charlotte History Museum and its historical preservation awards.  I hope this gets bigger and bigger and this spurs Inlivian CHA to stop the plan to demolish the Barringer Hotel aka Hall House. 

https://charlottemuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Preservation-Award-Winners-Press-Release-8-20-20.pdf

[Windsurfer]

On 8/21/2020 at 11:57 AM, jjwilli said:

The "Time Machine" map for Meck County now has the 1938 aerials.

http://timemachine.mcmap.org/#15/35.22632/-80.85025

I guess, if I knew what I was looking for, I could spot the old Rudisil and St. Catherine mines since they operated some during The Depression.

[Third Strike]

On 8/21/2020 at 2:57 PM, jjwilli said:

The "Time Machine" map for Meck County now has the 1938 aerials.

http://timemachine.mcmap.org/#15/35.22632/-80.85025

Absolutely insane in the amount of homes that were demolished for I-277 and US 74. SouthEnd and Uptown were practically seamless back then. 

[KJHburg]

Always Remember 9-11-2001 and God Bless the USA a country I love. 

[nakers2]

On 8/26/2020 at 5:51 PM, Third Strike said:

Absolutely insane in the amount of homes that were demolished for I-277 and US 74. SouthEnd and Uptown were practically seamless back then. 

I know, I was shocked, looks like where my building is was industrial back then, funny to see the tracks were exactly the same back then. My brother’s building appears to be in a spot formerly occupied by at least 50 homes, sad to see even though arguably his place is a more efficient land use. I also tried to look up my friend’s home, built during ww2, briefly forgetting this was the 30’s, strange to see nothing there.  The airport was perhaps most shocking to me.

[SydneyCarton]

All hail the Queen!

Long live the Queen!

 

 

[videtur quam contuor]

Ermine fur-White with dark spots.

[KJHburg]

saw this ad on a Charlotte history page and these homes are now in 150-200K price range. 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by KJHburg

[King of the Queen City]

Speaking of Hidden Valley, that community got some national attention during the 2020 DNC which ironically featured more of Charlotte in primetime than the 2020 RNC (A segment of Beau Biden’s 2012 speech at what was then called the Time Warner Cable Arena was also featured).

[Spartan]

Not sure if this has been posted, but Charlotte is looking to add a new historic overlay district in Oaklawn Park. This initiative is currently in the rezoning process: https://charlottenc.gov/planning/Rezoning/RezoningPetitions/2020Petitions/Pages/2020-037.aspx

[nakers2]

On 9/16/2020 at 4:00 PM, KJHburg said:

saw this ad on a Charlotte history page and these homes are now in 150-200K price range. 

 

 

 

They day after Kennedy was killed, assuming that date is correct. 

[videtur quam contuor]

I know two different people who lived there in the late 60's. It was as convenient as possible to the new UNCC campus for staff and faculty. It went from white owners to black some time later, I know not when. My high school took the Hidden Valley area into our district in the early 90's and they were mainly home owning black families, often two parents, at that time. 

[SydneyCarton]

Vivat Regina !

 

 

[videtur quam contuor]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivat!_Vivat_Regina!

[videtur quam contuor]

Friend was in community theater production of this play so I know it. He grew a beard for his role.

[KJHburg]

Yes not all history was wiped away from uptown.  Here are a few gems and by the way we need to keep the Barringer Hotel aka Hall House, site of the first very gay bar in Charlotte according to post on Charlotte in the Past facebook group.   Did not know that and she described the hotel as one of the finest anywhere at the time and this was back in the 60s/70s.  Even a President stayed there Richard Milhouse Nixon. 

1. Iveys 1920s 2. Johnston Bldg from the 1920s 3. Latta Arcade 1914

 

[KJHburg]

Happy birthday Charlotte!  It was on this day Dec 3 1768  the town of Charlotte was incorporated.

 

1768 - Charlotte Chartered | Charlotte Mecklenburg Story (cmstory.org)

 

 

Also on this day in the 1960s little KJ was born in Charlotte at the Mercy Hospital when the nuns ran the place.  

 

Working on our family history book  soon to be published we found  this interesting tidbit.  Both my mothers and fathers family has been in America since 1635 via Boston and Virginia respectively  and generations later moved south mainly to Mecklenburg and Union  Counties  (mom) and Chatham County (dad) .  Over 200 plus years in North Carolina and 385 years and counting in America. 

 

My 10th great grandfather Lion Gardiner who was instrumental in the development of the Connecticut colony including the birth of the first English child born in that state. He also was born on Dec. 3 as well  in 1599 in  Middlesex, England.   He arrived in Boston in 1635.   My 9th great grandfather worked alongside William Penn to establish Philadelphia in 1683 a city I live in the suburbs of for 8 years.  I knew Philly always felt like a home for some reason.   My 5th great grandfather Johann Wendell Mueller was born in Germany and arrived in Philadelphia then was one of the first settlers in Rowan County and he was issued a land grant in 1753 in Rowan County.  

 

My family heritage includes lots of farmers here in Mecklenburg and Union counties as well as in Chatham County.  Later they worked in the mills from Saxapahaw to Greensboro to even here in Charlotte.  (My  grandmother worked in Nebel Mill in Southend where Superica is today.)  My parents met of course here in Charlotte and my dad proposed to my mom at the Manor Theater on Providence.  He owned a home on Pecan Ave at the time

 

I would encourage all of you to research your family history whether you are new arrival to America or not.  With DNA testing and internet research through sites such as Ancestry.com it is easier than ever to put the information together.     This was started by my brother during these Covid shutdowns earlier in the year and now we are about  to publish this family history book.  And it will be a last legacy from 2020.  

So celebrate the birth of Charlotte today maybe with some NC fare and a dozen of NC's finest sweetest doughnuts Krispy Kreme. 

Happy birthday Charlotte!

 

PS One more interesting factoid in my family history is that my 2nd great grandfather was husband of 4 wives and father of 25 kids in Chatham County (and I was descended from the last of his wives)   

 

 

[Norm2]

3 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Happy birthday Charlotte!  It was on this day Dec 3 1768  the town of Charlotte was incorporated.

 

1768 - Charlotte Chartered | Charlotte Mecklenburg Story (cmstory.org)

 

 

Also on this day in the 1960s little KJ was born in Charlotte at the Mercy Hospital when the nuns ran the place.  

 

Working on our family history book  soon to be published we found  this interesting tidbit.  Both my mothers and fathers family has been in America since 1635 via Boston and Virginia respectively  and generations later moved south mainly to Mecklenburg and Union  Counties  (mom) and Chatham County (dad) .  Over 200 plus years in North Carolina and 385 years and counting in America. 

 

My 10th great grandfather Lion Gardiner who was instrumental in the development of the Connecticut colony including the birth of the first English child born in that state. He also was born on Dec. 3 as well  in 1599 in  Middlesex, England.   He arrived in Boston in 1635.   My 9th great grandfather worked alongside William Penn to establish Philadelphia in 1683 a city I live in the suburbs of for 8 years.  I knew Philly always felt like a home for some reason.   My 5th great grandfather Johann Wendell Mueller was born in Germany and arrived in Philadelphia then was one of the first settlers in Rowan County and he was issued a land grant in 1753 in Rowan County.  

 

My family heritage includes lots of farmers here in Mecklenburg and Union counties as well as in Chatham County.  Later they worked in the mills from Saxapahaw to Greensboro to even here in Charlotte.  (My  grandmother worked in Nebel Mill in Southend where Superica is today.)  My parents met of course here in Charlotte and my dad proposed to my mom at the Manor Theater on Providence.  He owned a home on Pecan Ave at the time

 

I would encourage all of you to research your family history whether you are new arrival to America or not.  With DNA testing and internet research through sites such as Ancestry.com it is easier than ever to put the information together.     This was started by my brother during these Covid shutdowns earlier in the year and now we are about  to publish this family history book.  And it will be a last legacy from 2020.  

So celebrate the birth of Charlotte today maybe with some NC fare and a dozen of NC's finest sweetest doughnuts Krispy Kreme. 

Happy birthday Charlotte!

 

PS One more interesting factoid in my family history is that my 2nd great grandfather was husband of 4 wives and father of 25 kids in Chatham County (and I was descended from the last of his wives)   

 

 

Maybe our ancestors knew each other. One of my family tree branches came to America on the second Mayflower and those relatives helped to found Beacon Hill in what is now Boston. It's fascinating if what I found is true. Sorry to go off topic.

[Spartan]

Charlotte's Legacy Commission has completed its report about all of the street names an monuments associated with the confederacy and the antebellum period. Definitely worth taking a look at and providing comments. Basically, most major streets in the older parts of the city are named for slave owners or their families.

Here's the Legacy Report.

Here's the documentation of street names associated with slave owners.

 

 

Probably the most interesting, yet unsurprising quote is:

“Nearly every person-named street that dates back before the 1880s commemorates a family that enslaved people. These include major center-city streets (Tryon, Alexander, Brevard, Caldwell, Davidson and more) as well as avenues in old farm areas that are now suburban (Berryhill, Rea, Johnston and more) and also streets named after US founding fathers (Washington, Madison, Van Buren, Jefferson, Ben Franklin).” It was also observed that numerous street names were associated with the pre-Civil War era and references to romanticized popular culture about that era. (Dixie Drive, Cotton Planter Lane, Plantation Woods Drive, Scarlet Drive, Rhett Court and Taragate Court). "

 

 The commission recommends prioritizing the renaming of streets that honor Confederate leaders and officers, and figures who actively fought against equality. Specifically the following:

• Jefferson Davis Street
• Hill Street
• Stonewall Street
• Jackson Ave
• Phifer Ave
• Aycock Lane
• Barringer Drive
• Morrison Boulevard & Gov. Morrison St
• Zebulon Ave

They do not make a specific recommendation about what these streets should be renamed. However, they do include a list of noteworthy Charlotteans for whom streets could be named and  suggest that Julius Chambers (a prominent African American attorney in the 60s) would be a good candidate to use for changing the name of Stonewall Street.

Personally, I think if we're going to rename all the streets in Uptown (which I would support), I'd like to see a numerical system that actually makes sense, or name all the streets after trees or plants or something uninteresting and uncontroversial (you know, to keep Charlotte boring)

 

[videtur quam contuor]

I have posted this before and never expect to make traction on this argument, but, if our forebears in the post Civil War period wanted to memorialize the martyr of that glorious Lost Cause they, in their genteel sensitivities would NEVER name a street for the nickname of the man. On this map of Charlotte from 1935 one can see that there is a Hill, Vance and Jackson next to each other from Stonewall and Morehead and between South Tryon and Mint. One must enlarge to see the small print. Hill Street remains. The Jackson street, obviously named for the Generals no longer exists. I will shout at the wind in this regard.

https://www.mapshop.com/charlotte-nc-wall-map-1942/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAtqL-BRC0ARIsAF4K3WEJ0U25hJBRpWTdZcSqvKvlh7lg6nXuhaEUhWU0NwML6i-Yv8IxDLYaApwxEALw_wcB

[KJHburg]

10 hours ago, norm21499 said:

Maybe our ancestors knew each other. One of my family tree branches came to America on the second Mayflower and those relatives helped to found Beacon Hill in what is now Boston. It's fascinating if what I found is true. Sorry to go off topic.

When my great grandfather arrived in Boston in 1635 he quickly headed to Connecticut then on to Long Island the Hamptons end of the island .  My kinfolk seem to like more rural areas except one that worked with William Penn in Philadelphia.   They landed in cities but move to rural areas pretty quickly from what we found.  

Edited December 4, 2020 by KJHburg

[kermit]

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/8355

I believe it was where the CVS is.

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by kermit

[videtur quam contuor]

It was where the parking lot for Beijing Restaurant is now. Mid block on the odd number side of 1600 South Boulevard. I saw "Summer of '42" there when it was a standard run house. In the mid '70's it became one of several in-town movie houses to switch to Asian kung fu movies which were a thing for several years. Bad plots, simplest of story lines and all Chinese with dubbing that was out of syncopation. Horrible stuff. None of the patrons cared. They wanted wham! Bam! Sock-em choreographed action. Bruce Lee was the top actor of this genre but it went down and I mean W-a-a-a-a-y down from him. Nearly all were unwatchable as action movies by those beyond their teen years but hilarious when viewed with the assistance of mind altering drugs. I saw one at the Carolina Theatre, now under renovation, when I was mentoring a boy during this period of his and my life. 

[videtur quam contuor]

CVS was formerly, and for decades, the Harris Hart Clothiers store. It was a top quality mens and womens clothes. It was an anchor of the Dilworth business district which was Park Avenue from Camden to South and some of South Boulevard around that intersection. The Christmas parade would follow South Blvd for part of the route and that intersection of Park and South was a prime viewing area. Holy Comforter Church, a far smaller version of its current self, was across from Harris Hart/CVS. I will stop here.

Edited December 5, 2020 by tarhoosier