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THE discovery of gold in Piedmont Carolina began the first of three important epochs which differentiated the industrial history of Charlotte from neighboring communities.
THE ENTRY OF THE UNITED STATES into World War I was met with enthusiastic support from Charlotteans. They cooperated in every way from complying to "Heatless Mondays" to sending 1800 of their own men to fight.
This is a special project of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in celebration of the Library's centennial year. It addresses a long-standing need to record and preserve the visual history of the African American Community.
Alexander Street School was opened around 1918 to serve the children of the uptown neighborhood of First Ward. The school was closed in 1968 and converted into the Alexander Street Neighborhood Center, run by the City of Charlotte.
MECKLENBURG'S steady, if slow, development through the early and middle decades of the last century was halted, however with the outbreak of the War Between the States. It would be many years before the South would show an appreciable recovery.
Almost 100 years ago, in January of 1891, a group of prominent Charlotte citizens gathered at the Law Library on North Church Street.
THE first Mecklenburgers, according to historian D. A. Tompkins, were producers. They believed than any work, so it was faithfully and honestly done, was worth doing, and that manhood was more than wealth. Mecklenburg could have existed comfortably cut off from the rest of the world.
THE first Mecklenburgers, according to historian D. A. Tompkins, "were producers. They believed than any work, so it was faithfully and honestly done, was worth doing, and that manhood was more than wealth. Mecklenburg could have existed comfortably cut off from the rest of the world.
FROM its earliest beginning, Mecklenburg has attracted a churchgoing people, and its society has long been church-centered. But even so, the growth of Charlotte's religious groups in more recent years is remarkable.
AMONG the provision of the Mecklenburg Resolves of May 31, 1775 it was stipulated that the inhabitants form themselves into nine companies and "chuse" two freeholders from each who would act as selectmen to govern the county.
Second Ward High was established as Charlotte’s first black high school in 1923. It served grades 7-12. Teenagers from all over the county attended the school until West Charlotte High School was built in 1938. The school was closed in 1969 as part of the city’s integration plan.
BY 1960, so many people had been attracted to the Piedmont section of North Carolina that the area within a 75 mile radius of Charlotte had a larger population than an equal area around Atlanta or other southern cities several times the size of Charlotte.
Twenty-three years after his operation performed by Major William R. Pitts of Charlotte, Richard Tregaskis was still covering the wars. In a letter written in Honolulu on October 31, 1966, in reply to a request for permission to quote passages from Invasion Diary, Mr.
By February, another plan was taking shape. Thomas S. Franklin, secretary for a Charlotte cotton press manufacturer and a member of the city board of aldermen, heard that industrialist Andrew Carnegie was offering cities and towns money for library construction.
Lack of space for both books and programs also was a serious problem. In 1915, Andrew Carnegie was approached again for funding. His $15,000 gift was used to build an annex at the rear of the original building.
The Carnegie Library's charter, granted in 1903, had also required the city to provide a public library to serve blacks. In early 1904, the city aldermen bought a lot at the corner of Brevard and East 2nd streets for a separate library for blacks.
Annie Smith Ross, the first librarian at the Carnegie Library, had gone to Atlanta after the death of her first husband to study library work. She brought back many advanced ideas.
