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Charlotte History continued...
Long ago, the area that is now Charlotte was occupied by several different tribes of Native Americans. Then, in 1663, King Charles II of England created the Carolina Territory. He gave control of the territory to eight of his closest friends. This group of loyalists became known as the “Lord Proprietors.” Around the middle of the 1700's, Scottish and Irish immigrants traveled along the Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia. They eventually settled near the Catawba River. They built a settlement as more and more settlers began to move in. While nearby Charleston, South Carolina was the first settlement in the new Carolina Territory, Charlotte was not founded until 1768.
The early residents of the area decided to name the new settlement “Charlotte,” in honor of the wife of King George III, the king of England at the time. They named the county Mecklenburg County. This name was also chosen to honor Queen Charlotte. She had been raised in Germany in a town called Mecklenburg. Due to this, Charlotte received its nickname, the “Queen City.”
In the early years, the area that is now Charlotte was rugged and not very navigable. Transportation to early North Carolina was not very easy. This led to the settlers coining the area a “backcountry.” In spite of this, Swiss and French settlers began to move in, joining the English settlers who were already there.
In 1740, men from Lancaster, Pennsylvania started a rifle factory in Mecklenburg County. One of the rifles eventually became a gift to George Washington. More importantly, men from the area learned to handle rifles and how to shoot them effectively. This experience with rifles would come in hand when the men were defending North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. It was around this time, with the growing industries in the area, that residents began importing slaves from West Africa.
In the time approaching the 1770's, the citizens of the Carolinas began to feel more and more alienated form the British crown. As dissention between the British rulers and the colonists grew, the British began to enact a series of tax acts and attacks on the colonists' personal freedoms. Throughout Mecklenburg County, clashes were taking place between settlers who supported British rule and settlers who wanted to be free.
Eventually, these little skirmishes led to the American Revolutionary War. For five long years, the Revolutionary War raged in every colony in the United States. For most of the war, the Americans were outnumbered and not as skilled as the British troops. However, the Americans knew the land, and, using strategic battle plans, they were able to defeat the British. Cornwallis's defeat at Yorktown led to an agreement for peace. Eventually, the United Sates declared its independence from Britain. This led to the establishment of a new government in the United States and the new Constitution.
In 1799, 12-year old Conrad Reed found a large, glittery rock in a stream. The stream was located about 25 miles northeast of Charlotte. His father, John, asked a local silversmith to identify the rock. The silversmith had no idea what the rock was made of so the Reed family used it as a doorstop. More than two years later, someone finally realized what the Reed family possessed, a 17-pound nugget of gold! This led to a large number of prospectors relocating to Charlotte. This gold rush was so major that it led to the establishment of the Charlotte branch of the U.S. Mint in 1837. However, the rush did not long and, a few years later, the prospectors were relocating to California to search for their fortunes.
After the gold rush, cotton became the principal cash crop in Charlotte. This industry brought prosperity to slaveholders in the region. The slaves in Charlotte lived their lives similar to slaves in the rest of the country. Husbands were often separated from wives and entire families were often torn apart. Fearing slave rebellion, owners in Charlotte forbid slaves to meet in groups or to learn to read. Nevertheless, slaves met together to worship, study and sing hymns. Slaveholders in Charlotte were so paranoid that they encouraged the government in North Carolina to pass laws prohibiting free blacks from entering the state. The owners were afraid that the free blacks would encourage their slaves to revolt.
The 1860's saw the United States gripped in a vicious Civil War. As a slave-holding state, North Carolina entered the war on the side of the Confederacy. The Confederacy was the underdog, as the south was outnumbered and had less resources than the north. In the bloodiest war in United States history, the city of Charlotte sent and lost more men than any other city in the south.
When the Confederacy lost the Civil War, Union troops occupied Charlotte. This provided a safe haven for newly freed slaves. President Lincoln had announced the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which outlawed slavery. In 1867, Mrs. Henry Biddle of Philadelphia donated money and Colonel W.R. Myers donated land west of Charlotte for the Biddle Institute. The Biddle Institute was established by the Presbyterian Church. The institute was a school to train black ministers. The Biddle Institute later became part of Johnson C. Smith University.
In 1868, the state of North Carolina was accepted back into the Union. The state ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which gave African Americans the right to own property.
Following the war, the south experienced hard times during Reconstruction. Many people had lost their husbands, sons or brothers. Farmers lost their crops as slaves ran to their freedom. Opportunities for African-Americans began to increase as the New South began to take existence. In 1877, Union troops withdrew from Charlotte. This was also the year that Reconstruction in the south came to an end.
In 1886, Myers Street Elementary School opened. The school was the city's first black public school. After Myers Street opened, other schools followed. Julius Rosenwald, a philanthropist, helped to open many black schools, including Second Ward High School in 1923. After the war, the number of free African-Americans in Charlotte had boomed. Soon, African-Americans began to establish orders, fraternities and auxiliaries. These societies were helped by the growth of the black business community. African-Americans began to open many types of businesses, including grocery stores, drugstores, restaurants, insurance companies, contractor companies, law firms, medical practices, theaters and newspapers. Many of these businesses were settled in Brooklyn, which was the main black neighborhood in downtown Charlotte from the late 1800's until 1970.
In the early 1900's, the cotton textile industry began to boom in Charlotte. This, in turn, attracted many new industries to the city. Entrepreneurs such as D.A. Tompkins and Stuart Cramer revolutionized the technical aspects of the cotton industry. Other major industries that came to Charlotte included the Lance Corporation, Charlotte Chemical Laboratories, J.A. Jones Construction Company, Allison-Erwin Company and a host of others. Eventually, most of Charlotte's textile mills relocated to surrounding communities. When this happened, Charlotte began to rely on finance and distribution as its primary industries. This economic diversity enabled the founding of more cultural institutions such as the first public library in 1903.
Today, the city of Charlotte is a modern metropolis rooted in deep history. Its history can be seen in its many museums and cultural institutions. The city is also home to many fine colleges and universities. Charlotte is also a popular tourist attraction with professional sports teams.
Among the museums in the Queen city are the Afro-American Cultural Center, the Carolinas Aviation Museum, the Charlotte Museum of History, the Levine Museum of the New South and the Mint Museum of Art. Among the colleges and universities in Charlotte are the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Queens University of Charlotte and Johnson C. Smith University.
Charlotte has many popular tourist attractions. Among the Queen City's most popular attractions are Lowe's Motor Speedway, the Wing Haven Garden and Bird Sanctuary, Paramount's Carowinds, Lake Norman and Cape Lookout. The city of Charlotte also is home to many professional sports teams. Professional teams in Charlotte include the Carolina Panthers of the NFL and the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA. Soon, the city will be home to the Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA. The Bobcats will be replacing the Charlotte Hornets, who recently relocated to New Orleans.
With all of its modern charm and its deep history, Charlotte, North Carolina truly is a city that has it all.
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