Advanced Search
There are all kinds of different jobs at the turn of the century, many of which no longer exist. Learn about the different kinds of work that men and women did then and compare that to the job market today. One thing you will learn is many jobs require hard, physical labor.
Turn of the Century Slang
Hooligan - A rowdy person who misbehaves. (1896)
The turn-of-the century and the automobile brought about an end to livery stables as they quickly became replaced with automobile garages. Thomas B. Hoover is driving one of his carriages.
This picture was taken along the 400 block of West Trade Street in the early 1900s.
First known as Biddle Memorial Institute, the school was founded in 1870 on Beatties Ford Road by the Catawba Presbytery. Colonel W.R. Myers donated the land. The school was named for Henry Biddle husband of its financial benefactor, Mary D. Biddle of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Here is a reading list that a teacher might have assigned students at the turn of the last century.
Rural schools looked quite different from those in the city. Small, one-to-two room schools dotted the landscape in Mecklenburg County. Usually there would be more than one school in a community so it would be within walking distance for the children living in the ten or more nearby farms.
This is the Myers Street School (1886) at 515 South Myers Street. At the turn-of-the-century, it was the only public school for black students.
Dorothea Dix was a reformer from Massachusetts who made it her special cause to improve care for persons suffering from mental health challenges.
First Baptist Church, was located in the 300 block of North Tryon Street. The church can trace its history to 1832. In 1906, members decided that a new building was needed.
Perhaps the most respected journalist and versatile author in Mecklenburg County’s history, Blythe got his professional training at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. His classmates included Thomas Wolfe, the future novelist, and Paul Green, future playwright.
MECKLENBURGERS insist that few counties in America have as intriguing a story to tell as their own.
Transcript of Charles Malvern Paty, Jr.'s, Speech
Note:This speech was given at a public program sponsored by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County at the Great Aunt Stella Center in Charlotte, NC on March 23, 2000.
The Bugler
When the morning's gray and the fog is thick
The bugler turns his nasty trick.
First call, he blows on his piece of junk,
As you tumble drowsily out of your bunk.
You call him names and wish he were