Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

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Rural Beginnings 1730-1772

1770 - Designing a City

Surveyors mark off the locations of Charlotte's streets in a block pattern called a grid. The four sections defined by the crossing of Trade and Tryon streets will evolve into four areas, called wards. In years to come, each of the wards will change tremendously. Economic, racial and political issues will determine which buildings survive and which are destroyed.

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1750 - Hardship for Natives

Some settlers are afraid of the Indians, who look different and practice unfamiliar customs. Some Indians resent their new neighbors, who have invaded their tribal hunting lands. As a result of frequent battles with other tribes and with settlers, the number of Indians drops dramatically. Diseases brought by the colonists, such as smallpox, chicken pox, measles and yellow fever cause the deaths of many more Native Americans.

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1771 - First College

Queens College opens to train young men who will become ministers. But there will be problems when King George III refuses to grant the charter which will approve the school's operation. Later, the school's name will change to Queens Museum and will be followed by Liberty Hall.

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1755 - Founding a New City

Thomas Spratt and his family are believed to be the first settlers to drive a wagon through the rough backcountry of North Carolina. Between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers, they cross an Indian trading path. With them is Thomas Polk, who builds his home where these two roads meet. One day, this crossroads will be known as the Square. It will become the center of modern downtown Charlotte, and the streets will be known as Trade and Tryon.

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1772 - Moravian Girls School

Salem Female Academy opens. In these colonial days, few women can obtain the education afforded to men. Mecklenburg families who want their daughters to receive higher education send the young women to Salem, nearly 100 miles away.

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1755 - Great Wagon Road

Northern colonies in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are becoming crowded, and settlers move south to North Carolina. They follow Thomas Spratt's route, now called the great wagon road. Many of the families seek religious and economic freedom. Some have come from Germany. Others come from Scotland via Ireland; they become known as the Scots-Irish.

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1758 - Religion and Revolution

January, 1759 - Families who settle near each other hope to attract a preacher for their new communities. The outspoken Rev. Alexander Craighead moves from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to what will soon become Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Craighead is active in the Independence Movement, which encourages worshipers to resist control by the British rulers.

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1759 - A Child Called Peter

A contagious and deadly disease called smallpox leaves Peter Harris an orphan. The Catawba Indian boy is welcomed into Thomas Spratt's home in Charlotte. Harris will remain close with his adoptive white family throughout his life. He will fight for the Americans during the Revolutionary War, and be buried in Spratt's family graveyard when he dies.

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1763 - Chief of the Catawbans

Since beginning his rule in 1750, Catawba Chief Hagler has been a respected leader. He is known for working to keep alive the tribe's traditions while striving to live peacefully with the white settlers. Returning from a meeting where he had spoken on behalf of his people, Chief Hagler is killed by a Shawnee war party.

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1760 - Catawba Nation Declines

Of the many thousands of Indians who lived in the Piedmont just 50 years ago, only 1,000 remain. The diseases brought by settlers, and the battles with neighboring tribes and whites, have claimed many lives. Some Indians unite with other nearby tribes, such as the Wateree and Cheraw. By joining together, they become the Catawba Nation, with 500 warriors and 2,500 people.

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