Latest Videos - Charlotte Mecklenburg History

McAuley Restoration

2009-11-23T18:12:29.949Z

This video shows the current state of the McAuley House, during the month of November and as the restoration process continues.

Mecklenburg County Rosenwald Schools

2009-10-22T20:46:14.755Z

From the 1910s into the early 1930s, more that 5300 school buildings were constructed in African American communities throughout 15 southern states. Seed money came from Chicago philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Company. Black communities put up cash, and local school boards agreed to operate the facilities.

Biddle Memorial Hall

2009-07-28T15:40:34.582Z

This video explains this history behind the imposing building of Biddle Memorial Hall, which is intimately bound up with the history of Johnson C. Smith University. Charlottean and JCSU Alumnus, Mr. J. Charles Jones shares his memories of Biddle Hall and the Johnson C. Smith Campus.

Johnson C. Smith University was founded by two white ministers (Rev. S. C. Alexander and Rev. W. L. Miller) under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church. It was known as The Henry J. Biddle Memorial Institute in honor of Major Henry J. Biddle, a Union soldier who was killed in action during the Civil War. During its formative years Mrs. Mary D. Biddle, the wife of Major Biddle, gave considerable financial support to the institution.

The school was originally housed in a small church located near the present location of Fourth and Davidson Streets. A few years after its feeble beginning, the old Confederate Navy Building located on East Trade St., below where the Civic Center now stands, was purchased. This building was to be moved to another location on Seventh Street, somewhere between College and Caldwell Streets. Colonel William R. Myers discouraged the ministers about moving to that site and offered them property where the school now stands. The gift of eight acres by this outstanding Charlotte citizen was the nucleus of the present site.

In 1883 the name of the institution was changed to Biddle University. In 1921 because of the many generous gifts which she had made to the institution in honor of her husband, Mrs. Jane M. Smith was notified by the Board of Trustees that the name of the institution had been changed to Johnson C. Smith University.

The first president of the institution was Rev. Stephen Mattoon. For nearly two and a half decades the presidents and most of the faculty members were white. In 1891 the institution had its first black president, Rev. Daniel J. Sanders. Since that time all of its presidents and the majority of the faculty have been black.

Biddle Memorial Hall was constructed in 1884. It was the first substantial building erected on the current campus (see appended photograph #1), and is the oldest surviving structure on the campus. Dominated by a massive but elegant clock tower, the structure contains 40,045 square feet of floor space. Its ornamentation and overall massing are typical of institutional architecture during the Victorian era. Originally it consisted of an auditorium with a balcony, the President's offices the Registrar's offices, the Business Office, the first library, classrooms, and restrooms. It currently serves as the general administration building of the University. Currently the building also contains portraits and pictures of the founders, presidents, benefactors, and of other individuals directly connected with the growth and development of the University.

The Big Rock or Providence Rock

2009-06-29T03:54:37.422Z

To visit the big rock, drive south on Elm Lane from Highway 51 to the entrance to the Thornhill Development. Turn right at the entrance and continue to the second dip in the road. You will see the path on your right leading to the big rock.

Pineville Commercial Buildings for Sale

2009-06-24T18:27:47.367Z

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission is currently offering for sale two historic buildings on Main Street in Pineville, N.C.

316 Main Street, which was originally the Younts General Store. The business was started by Samuel Younts, a blacksmith from Davidson County, who came to Pineville after the Civil War. A 1989 Charlotte Observer article reported that Mr. Younts was one of the most successful businessmen in Pineville. His store, according to the article, generated between $150,000 to $175,000, in receipts each year. When the town was being incorporated in 1872 Younts served as the town’s first mayors; and according to local lore, surveyors determined the town’s bounds by measuring a half mile in each direction from Younts’s store. In 1888, Younts was among the founders of the Pineville Cotton Mill. The Cotton Mill, which processed much of the 6000 bales of cotton grown in the fields nearby, was the economic backbone of the town of Pineville from its founding to its closing in 1992.

By the 1930’s, 316 Main Street became the Howard Brothers Grocery Store. The store like the other grocers on Main Street carried a wide variety of products including meats and produce, hardware, and clothing. This grocer remained open until the early 1970’s. At that time a salvage business occupied the space. In the 1980’s the store became an antique store.

330 Main Street, was owned by the Miller family since 1948, when L.S. Miller and his wife Mary bought the property from the Niven family, was home for over 70 years to the Blankenship Feed and Oil Store. The initial patriarch of the family was Captain Stephen Pettus Blankenship, a Civil War veteran. Blankenship walked home to Pineville, from Maryland, after being captured by Northern troops.

Captain Blankenship’s son, William F. Blankenship, Sr., opened the feed store, prior to the 1930’s. In addition to the feed store Blankenship owned an icehouse on the south side of Main Street. Before the Second World War, when few in Pineville owned electric refrigerators, Blankenship made daily, door-to-door deliveries of ice from his large orange-covered wagon.

William F. Blankenship, Jr., who later ran the business with his father, became involved, like many of the other merchants on Main Street, in Pineville politics. After losing his seat on the town board of commissioners in 1965, Blankenship was reappointed to the board in 1966 and reelected to the seat in 1969. Blankenship Feed, like the Pineville Gun Shop and Bailes Recreation, stayed in business through many economic changes. It was not until after the beginning of the 21st Century that Blankenship Feed, perhaps the Main Street business most connected with Pineville’s agricultural past, ceased doing business. The location is currently vacant, but most recently housed a popular antique store.