The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Charlotte started on November 11, 1874. It moved into this stunning gray building at 206 South Tryon Street in 1888. The YMCA remains here until 1908 when the second YMCA, the building in the second image, opens at 330 South Tryon Street.
St. Peter's Hospital was the first official hospital in Charlotte. Led by Jane Smedberg Wilkes, the women of the St. Peter's Episcopal Church raised the money for the first St. Peter's Hospital in 1876. In the beginning, the hospital was located inside various homes rented by the Hospital Board before a permanent location was selected in 1886 at 225-231 North Poplar Street. Originally, it was a one-story structure; then a second floor was added, and this is how the building appeared in 1907.
What's There Now?
Throughout this exhibit, you have seen how different Charlotte looks today when you compare it to how the city appeared over a hundred years. In this section, you will discover what is there now and what use to be there many years ago. Today 614,330 of Mecklenburg’s 801,137 residents live inside the city limits of Charlotte. As of 2002, there are only 300 farms left in Mecklenburg County. Recent data indicates that only 24,442 acres of farmland exists in Mecklenburg County. The county is 526 square miles.
On May 9, 1909 an article appeared in the Charlotte Observer announcing the opening of Lakewood Park, an amusement park on May 15th. Located about 3 miles northwest of Uptown Charlotte, the lake & dam were originally created by the Southern Power Company to cool the power transformers. It measured 600 feet wide and 3,960 feet long.
This is the Good Samaritan Hospital, which was located 405 West Hill Street. Built in 1888, it is the first hospital for blacks in North Carolina. Like St. Peter's, the women of St. Peter's Episcopal, led by Jane Smedberg Wilkes, raised the funds for this hospital which operated into the 1960s before becoming part of what later became Charlotte Memorial Hospital, which later renamed itself the Carolinas Healthcare System. The buildings were demolished to make way for the Panthers football stadium.
Welcome to our time-travel website for Charlotte, North Carolina during the early 1900s. Discover what life was like over one hundred years ago. You will learn about how people dressed, how they lived, what foods they ate, where they worked, what games children played, new inventions and a whole lot more. At the turn-of-the century, Charlotte is a small city with a population of 18,091 people. Click on the map below, and you will see that the city limits only included four wards.
This is Presbyterian Hospital, which was located at 311 West Trade Street. This postcard dates to 1909. Six years earlier on October 7, 1903, local physicians met at the courthouse in Charlotte and organized the Mecklenburg County Medical Society. Dr. H. Q. Alexander is the first president; Dr. Annie Alexander becomes the vice-president and Dr. Parks M. King is the first secretary-treasurer.
