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History Timeline

1861 - Divided State

February 28, 1861 - Over 90,000 North Carolinians come to the polls to vote. They must decide if they want a resolution that calls their elected representatives to meet at a statewide convention. The convention would put to an official vote whether or not North Carolina should secede from the U.S. By only 651 votes, citizens defeat the resolution. For a few more months, the state will remain part of the U.S.

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1867 - A University is Born

April 7, 1867 - Mrs. Henry Biddle of Philadelphia contributes $1900, and Colonel W.R. Myers donates land west of Charlotte. Together, they help the Presbyterian Church establish Biddle Institute, a school to train black ministers. A Pennsylvania widow named Mrs. J.C. Smith donates $700,000 in her husband's memory in the 1920s. Then the school's name will change to honor him: Johnson C. Smith University.Biddle Hall

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1860 - Medical Advances

Physicians are learning better ways to treat the sick. An anesthetic, called ether was discovered in 1845. Now, surgeons can operate on patients without causing undue pain. Still, communicable diseases can be deadly. This year, 761 North Carolinians will die of the fevers and coughs of tuberculosis, often called consumption.

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1865 - Surrender

April 9, 1865 - General Robert E. Lee, commander of all Confederate armed forces, surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. Lee had fought brilliantly at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. Now the military strategist who once refused President Lincoln's offer to lead the Union troops must admit defeat. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant, who commands the Union army. More than 600,000 people have died in the Civil War.

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1877 - Craighead-Huntersville

March 9, 1877 - First called Craighead in honor of an early Mecklenburg patriot, today the town of Huntersville is incorporated. A catalogue boasts new schools, fresh air and climate of the town, and invites families to settle in Huntersville, where an acre of good land can be purchased for $50.

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1836 - Boomtown

January 8, 1836 - More than 50 gold mines now operate in North Carolina, and more are in Mecklenburg than in any other county. Some mines are named for places or their owners: Alexander, McComb, Davidson Hill. Others have more exotic names, like the Queen of Sheba and the King Solomon mines. As the cornerstone is laid today at Charlotte's Mint building on West Trade Street, the Queen City prepares to produce coins for the first time.

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1822 - Epidemics

Disease continues to claim the lives of the settlers. Vaccinations and cures for cholera, malaria, measles, smallpox and typhoid are years away. Charlotte's physicians, Dr. McKenzie and Dr. Caldwell, visit the sick. Most people believe that illness must be removed from the body, so doctors will cut a vein and bleed a patient. Many people die from these procedures.

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1799 - Discovery of Gold

Twelve-year-old Conrad Reed finds a large, glittery rock in a stream 25 miles northeast of Charlotte. His father, John, asks a silversmith to identify the 17-pound stone, but no one knows what it is. The Reed family uses the pretty rock for a doorstop. It will be more than two years before anyone realizes what it contains: gold!

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1810 - Second Mecklenburg County Courthouse

The Second Courthouse was built by John Dow in 1810 in the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets. . . . The Second Courthouse was the place of enforcement of judgments. The whipping post, pillory, and stocks stoood on the street outside the courthouse, in full view of the judge from his bench inside the Courthouse.

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1830 - The Iron Horse

The first steam locomotive built in the U.S, The Best Friend, serves Charleston, South Carolina. It will be more than 20 years until the railroad tracks stretch all the way to Charlotte, North Carolina.Railroad Map

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