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History Timeline

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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1775 - Mecklenburg Resolves

May 31, 1775 - Since all laws imposed by England are suspended, the 27 signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence hurriedly meet again. They draft the Mecklenburg Resolves, which are new laws that will govern the now independent Mecklenburgers. Even those who doubt the existence of the Meck Dec cannot deny the Mecklenburg Resolves.

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1670 - Inland Explorations

English explorer James Lederer encounters the Catawba Indian tribe in Mecklenburg County.

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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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1775 - Captain Jack's Ride

June 3, 1775 - Captain James Jack arrives in Philadelphia. He has traveled from Charlotte to inform the Second Continental Congress of the Mecklenburgers' proclamation of freedom. But he never presents the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to Congress. Some believe he realized the Meck Dec was worded so angrily that it would hurt chances of regaining peace with Britain.

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1706 - First North Carolina Town

Bath becomes the first incorporated town in North Carolina.

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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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1775 - Mecklenburg Declaration

May 20, 1775 - The Mecklenburgers announce their freedom with a proclamation called the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. The document dissolves forever the colonists' bonds with Britain. In the anxious days that follow these emotional events, people will disagree when recalling exactly what happened. Some will doubt the Meck Dec ever existed. Even two hundred years later historians will debate these questions, but the May 20 date will be commemorated on North Carolina's state flag.

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1712 - Carolina Divides

May 9, 1712 - The center of government is in Charleston, inaccessible to people in the colony's northern and western parts. In addition, legislation designed to recognize the Church of England as the established church creates a division between the Anglicans on one side and on the other the Presbyterians and the Quakers thus increasing political tensions in the state. To solve these problems, the Lords Proprietors divide the colony in two: North and South Carolina. Edward Hyde (1667-1712) becomes the first governor of the newly formed colony of North Carolina.

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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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