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Industrial South 1879-1913

1913 - The Mint Closes

Charlotte's Mint closes. It never again manufactured money after the Confederate soldiers left. Since 1867, is had been used to measure and analyze, or assay, gold. Now the building will be used by the Red Cross and by the Charlotte's Women's Club.

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1888 - First Black Hospital

Good Samaritan Hospital is aptly named. It is reported to be the first hospital in the U.S. for black patients. Mrs. Jane Wilkes, a nurse whose husband, Captain John Wilkes ran Mecklenburg Iron Works, heads the hospital's fund-raising efforts. Hundreds of miles away in New York, Mrs. Wilkes' relatives donate money to the Charlotte facility. They, too, are Good Samaritans.Good Samaritan Hospital

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1913 - Railroad Expansion

The network of railroad lines serving Charlotte grows as the Norfolk and Southern Railroad reaches from Virginia to the Queen City by way of Raleigh and Albemarle. Like spokes of a wheel, rail lines expand in eight directions from Charlotte. Passengers, freight and goods travel farther than ever before.

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1890 - Edison meets Latta

February 22, 1890 - Inventor Thomas Edison dines at the home of Edward Dilworth Latta, for whom the new Dilworth neighborhood is named. Soon, Latta will hire Edison's company, General Electric, to develop Charlotte's electric trolley line.

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1903 - Flight in Kitty Hawk

December 17, 1903 - On a windy bluff on North Carolina's outerbanks, Orville Wright takes flight in a powered airplane. He is the first person to accomplish this feat. His 100-foot trip lasts 12 seconds. Orville and his brother, Wilbur, traveled here from their Ohio bicycle shop to take advantage of the coastal winds at Kill Devil Hills.

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1903 - First Free Library

<p>January 31, 1903 - Since 1891, Charlotte&#39;s library has charged a subscription fee of 50 cents per month. Today, the city&#39;s first free library opens. Northern steel executive Andrew Carnegie has given Charlotte $25,000 to start the library. The city must promise to provide $2,500 each year to operate it. Carnegie also donates money for a separate library designated for black patrons. When a tax dispute arises in 1939, the Charlotte Public Library will be forced to close for one year.

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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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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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