Af Am Album Vol.2 -- Places

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Use your mouse to explore this section of Brooklyn
as it was in the mid 1950s

Southern Railway's Freight Station
Bell South, First Union, and the Westin Hotel occupy the site where the lumber yard, coal company, and railroad once stood.

300 S. Brevard St.
Central Lumber Company
Bell South, First Union, and the Westin Hotel occupy the site where the lumber yard, coal company, and railroad once stood.

318 S. Brevard
North State Fuel Company (coal yard)
Bell South, First Union, and the Westin Hotel occupy the site where the lumber yard, coal company, and railroad once stood.

313 S. Brevard St.
Law-Barrow-Agree Labys Inc.
The United Way complex now occupies this site.

309 S. Brevard St.
Mrs. Maggie W. Boyd home
The United Way complex now occupies this site.

301 S. Brevard St., Duplex
• Edward Roberts
• Oscar Walker
303 S. Brevard St., Duplex
• Betty Robertson
• Joseph Williams
The United Way complex now occupies this site.

406-408 E. 3rd St., Duplex
• Sam Foust
• Williams Woods
410-412 E. 3rd St., Duplex
• Mrs. Elnora G. Thomas
• John H. Drakeford
This site is now part of the United Way complex.

417 Clover Ct., Duplex
• James A. Jenkins
• Vacant
419 Clover Ct., Duplex
• Pearl Pitts
• Vacant
421 Clover Ct., Duplex
• Elease Anderson
• Buster Whitinburg
423 Clover Ct., Duplex
• William Lowery
These buildings were torn down. Clover Court no longer exists. This area is now part of the AME Zion complex.

413-415 E. 3rd St., Duplex
• William William
417-419 E. 3rd St., Duplex
• Mrs. Annie P. Williams
This building was destroyed. It is now a parking area.

421 E. 3rd St.
Randolph Leake home
This building was torn down. It is now a parking area.

425 E. 3rd St.
Mrs. Daisy G. Oliphant home
This building was demolished. It is now a parking area.

424 S. Caldwell St.
Charlotte Packaging Corporation
This building was the site of a cardboard box manufacturing company. It was destroyed. Now it is the site of the Charlotte National Building parking deck.

428 E. 4th St.
B.F. Goodrich Auto
This building was torn down. Now it is the site of the Charlotte National Building. Originally the Charlotte National Bank, it was built in 1918 at the corner of Tryon and 4th St. and moved to its present site in 1985 where it was converted into an office building.

418 E. 4th St.
Gallant's Second Hand Store
This building was destroyed. Now it is a parking lot.

412 E. 4th St.
William's Auto Service
This building was demolished. Now it is a parking lot.

400 E. 4th St.
Victory Cab Company
This building was destroyed. Now it is a parking lot.

	329 S. Brevard St. Varick Memorial Building The Varick Memorial Building was the headquarters for the AME Zion Church and its publishing house. • AME Zion Publishing House • AME Zion Church Headquarters • AME Zion Church Financial Department • Church School Literature Publications • Star of Zion Publication • AME Zion Bureau of Evangelism • Dr. Reginald A. Hawkins, Dentist
Varick Building on Brevard St. was replaced in the '60s by the AME Zion Publishing Building on 2nd St.

323 S. Brevard Alexander Funeral Home
• Alexander Funeral Home
• Alexander Mutual Burial Association Inc.
• NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• Zechariah Alexander, Notary

The United Way complex now occupies this site.

319 S. Brevard, Watkins Building
1953 Tenants
• Wilson & Holmes Pharmacy
• North Carolina Mutual Insurance
• Thomas E. Gilliard Jr., CSP
• Charles V. Bell, Lawyer
• Thomas Watkins Jr., Dentist
• Gordon M. Wilkins, Physician
• Rudolph M. Wyche, Physician
• Robert D. Glass, Lawyer
The United Way complex now occupies this site.
This photo shows the staff of the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Co. in front of the Watkins building. NC Mutual remains today one of the nation's largest black-owned businesses.

Henry L. McCrorey YMCA
This building was torn down and replaced in 1950 with a new facility. During urban renewal, the McCrorey YMCA relocated to Beatties Ford Rd. The old building on Caldwell St. is presently part of the United Way complex.

311 S. Caldwell St., Elks Club Pisgah Lodge
Members of the Pisgah Lodge at the mortgage burning in November, 1943.
The lodge was torn down. This area is now the parking deck for the City-County Government Center.
The building on the left is the Bethlehem Center.

Margaret and Floyd Wallace lived at 320 S. Caldwell St. in the '40s and early '50s with their children Virginia, Floyd Jr., Ronald, and Evelyn Wallace.
316 S. Caldwell St., Duplex
• Mrs. Ida S. Walker
• Mrs. Lillie M. Jones
318 S. Caldwell St., Duplex
• Mrs. Mary L. Jenkins
• Edward Elrod
320 S. Caldwell St., Duplex
• Willie Elliott
322 S. Caldwell St., Duplex
• Ernestine Tillman
• George McCullough

These buildings were razed. Now the area is part of the AME Zion complex.

These buildings were destroyed. This area is now part of the AME Zion complex.

An earlier view of the buildings on E. 2nd St.
417 E. 2nd St.
• Rex Drug Store
• Dwight J. Martin, Dentist
419 E. 2nd St.
Ruben McKissick, Shoe Repair
421 E. 2nd St.
• Veterans Record Store
• Mrs. Marie Pearl
423 E. 2nd St.
Co-Operative Clothing Center
425-27 E. 2nd St.
• Johnny's Self Service Grocery
• Lamarr Beauty Shop
• Moreland E. Jasper
430 E. 2nd St .
Patton Café

The Mecklenburg Investment Company Building at 235 S. Brevard St. was Charlotte's first black professional building.
1953 Tenants
S. Brevard St. (Front)
• Dr. Albert J. Williams, Dentist
• Dr. French E. Tyson, Physician
• County Farm and Home Demonstration Agents
• Dr. Jerry Whigham Jr., Physician
• Dr. James A. Pethel, Physician
• International Hod Carriers' Bldg and Common Laborers Union, Local No. 1094
• John R. Hemphill, Real Estate
• Dr. Robert H. Greene, Physician
E. 3rd St. (Side)
• Memory C. Dixon
• Memory C. Dixon Grocery
• Clayton McDonald
In 1928, black architect W. W. Smith built the MIC Building.

To the left is a mausoleum designed by Smith for his family's grave site in Pinewood Cemetery. Notice the intricate brickwork, called "corbeling," which is the same as the pattern on the MIC Building. The MIC Building, at the corner of S. Brevard St. and E. 3rd St., is still in use today.

225 S. Brevard, Brevard St. Smoke Shop
227 S. Brevard, Susie's Grill
229 S. Brevard, Excelsior Beauty Shop
231 S. Brevard, Brevard St. Barber Shop
233 S. Brevard, Vanity Box Beauty Shop
235 S. Brevard, Mecklenburg Investment Building
237 S. Brevard, Yancey's Drug Store (on the ground floor of the MIC Building)
This small section of Brooklyn remains intact. The storefronts on 225-233 have been renovated.

219-223 S. Brevard St.

Grace AME Zion Church

The church and congregation remain today.

217 S. Brevard St.

Andrew B. Kerns home

This house was demolished during urban renewal.

215 S. Brevard St.
Williams home
Dr. J. T. Williams was president of Queen City Drug Co., one of the state's first black-owned pharmacies; a partner in the Mecklenburg Investment Co., which built the MIC Building; a founder of Grace AME Zion; and President William McKinley's appointee as U. S. Consul to Sierra Leone. J. T. Williams Junior High is named for him.

The house was razed. The stone wall remains today.