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April 7, 1867 - Mrs. Henry Biddle of Philadelphia contributes $1900, and Colonel W.R. Myers donates land west of Charlotte. Together, they help the Presbyterian Church establish Biddle Institute, a school to train black ministers. A Pennsylvania widow named Mrs. J.C.
A group of Episcopal women led by Jane Wilkes begin St. Peter's Home and Hospital. It is the first civilian hospital in North Carolina. Although St.
During the Civil War, Charlotte's Jews raised $150 to help Confederate volunteers. In 1868, the Hebrew Cemetery was established on McCall Street.
The Buford Hotel opens. At Fourth and Tryon streets, it will host inventor Thomas Edison and his wife when they visit Charlotte. Other prominent Charlotteans will make their homes at the Buford home, including industrialist D.A. Tompkins.
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.
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.
November 9, 1914 - Across the nation, a movement called Suffrage has been gathering support since Revolutionary days. Women are allowed to vote in some states, but not in North Carolina. Today, Charlotte's Selwyn Hotel hosts the state's first suffrage convention.
November 15, 1915 - Five thousand people crowd into the Academy of Music in downtown Charlotte. It is the premiere of the silent film Birth of a Nation. A 30-piece orchestra accompanies it. Based on a novel by Shelby's Thomas W. Dixon, the controversial D.W.
November 1918Millions of people worldwide are dying from Spanish influenza, or flu. To keep the infection from spreading throughout the community, Charlotte officials close parks, churches, schools and other public buildings. Still, in the U.S.
Since around 1900, the Karnazes brothers have sold fruit at Charlotte's downtown crossroads, called the Square. Families from foreign countries continue to come to America, or immigrate. Now the city's Greek community is large enough to buy its own church building on South Boulevard.
The Fifth Courthouse was located at 700 East Trade Street next to the new City Hall. . . . It was designed by noted architect Louis H. Asbury, a Charlotte native who also built the Myers Park United Methodist Church. . . .
October 22, 1936 - Although the nation is suffering an economic depression, North Carolina's first art museum opens. The old Charlotte Mint building, now vacant, has been dismantled and moved, brick by brick, from West Trade Street to suburban Randolph Road.
Fans fill the stands at Memorial Stadium. The first Shrine Bowl game pits the best high school players from North and South Carolina against each other in what will become an annual football rivalry.
Factories have shut down. People who had jobs just a short time ago have no money. Families try to share what little they have. A charity called the Salvation Army open soup kitchens and bread lines, trying to feed the hungry.
April 13, 1945 - Just three months into his fourth term, America's longest-serving president has died. The funeral train carrying the body of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes through Charlotte as it travels from Warm Springs, Georgia to Washington, D.C.
September 13, 1959 - Thousands of worshipers from the eastern U.S. take to the streets as the Daddy Grace parade makes its way through Charlotte's largest black neighborhood, Second Ward. Always held on the second Sunday in September, the parade honors Bishop C.M.
January 5, 1956 - Federal law desegregates interstate buses, meaning it will be illegal for these buses to have separate sections for black and white riders. But the law only applies to buses that travel between states. Buses that run within one state can still be segregated.
February 12, 1970 - Southpark opens on more than 100 acres of farmland southeast of downtown Charlotte. The new shopping mall greets 92,000 visitors its first day. Downtown stores will see a 25% drop in their sales the first year of Southpark's operation.
Many Charlotte-Mecklenburg students must endure long bus rides to faraway schools. Even people who support busing to achieve integration are frustrated. Slowly, blacks and whites begin to talk to each other constructively and ask questions. What does or doesn't work?
May 8, 1961 - The Freedom Riders are a group of civil rights workers traveling the South to challenge the system that separate people according to race, called segregation.