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History Timeline

1872 - Richmond to Atlanta

The Carolina Central Railroad connects Charlotte to Wilmington, nearly 200 miles away. Within two years the railroad will reach from Richmond, Virginia to Atlanta, Georgia. The cotton trade booms as textiles made in the region travel to markets beyond.Steam Engine

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1897 - Banking Industry Grows

Without money to build and expand their facilities, businesses cannot grow. The Charlotte National Bank opens this year. It will lends funds, called capital, to help businesses become strong and healthy. The Charlotte National Bank will join with Winston-Salem's Wachovia Loan and Trust Company in 1939. It will then be known as Wachovia Bank and Trust.

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1900 Ivey's opens

February 18, 1900 - The Belk family department stores now have a competitor. J.B. Ivey opens a shop in Charlotte at North Tryon near Sixth Street. All retail employees work long hours. Some area stores are open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Men earn $12 to $15 per week, women slightly less. Children work, too, earning 25 to 50 cents per day.

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1873 - Charles W. Chesnutt

African American novelist Charles Waddell Chestnutt (1858-1932) leaves his home in Fayetteville and arrives in Charlotte to teach school. He is fifteen years old. Chestnutt would eventually become an assistant to the principal. After leaving Charlotte in 1877, he became a successful business man. Chestnutt was also a highly respected author and writer and became popular for such works as The Conjure Woman, a collection of stories. 

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1906 - Mercy Hospital

An order of nuns called the Sisters of Mercy opens a 25-bed hospital. It is Charlotte's first hospital designated for white patients that admits blacks. Begun on First Street, Mercy Hospital will move to Fifth Street. In the 1990s it will become part of the Carolinas Medical System.Mercy Hospital

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1910 - Changing Economy

Industry grows, attracting people away from farms to the cities of the South. Investors come, too, bringing jobs. Charlotte's population finally surpasses that of Raleigh, North Carolina's capital. As the region shifts away from the mostly agricultural economy of tobacco and cotton, it becomes one of textile production and industry. 

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1873 - A Beginning for Schools

At Miss Hattie Moore's house behind St. Peter's Episcopal Church, the first North Carolina graded school opens. There is no tuition charge for the 175 students who are taught by eight teachers. But the school will run out of money, and disputes over taxes will delay permanent funding for the school.

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1880 - First Cotton Mill

Until now, cotton grown in Mecklenburg County has traveled north to be made into cloth, or milled. At West Fifth and Graham streets, R.M. and D.W. Oates begin the Charlotte Cotton Mill. They employ 70 people, mostly women, to clean, spin and weave the cotton thread into cloth.

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1911 - Myers Park

On 1220 acres of farmland southeast of downtown Charlotte, landscape architect John Nolen is at work. He designs a neighborhood of winding streets, much different from the downtown grid pattern, for a new area called Myers Park. At the same time, developer E.D. Latta brings the Olmstead Brothers of Boston to Charlotte. Famous for designing the White House grounds, these innovative architects will turn their talents to Dilworth, and create the curved avenues and side streets of Dilworth Roads East and West.Beginning of Myers ParkAerial View of Myers Park 

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1873 - Center for Elegance

The old Mansion House, built in 1840 at the corner of Trade and Tryon streets, is transformed into the elegant Central Hotel. Leading citizens will gather at its elegant ballroom, dining room and bar. The Central Hotel will be considered by many patrons the finest hotel between Richmond and Atlanta.Central HotelView from NW corner of Trade and Tryon

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