Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

You are here

Home

History Timeline

1900 Ivey's opens

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. Children work, too, earning 25 to 50 cents per day.

Date of Event:

1873 - Charles W. Chesnutt

African American novelist Charles Waddell Chestnutt (1858-1932) leaves his home in Fayetteville and arrives in Charlotte to teach school. He is fifteen years old. Chestnutt would eventually become an assistant to the principal. After leaving Charlotte in 1877, he became a successful business man. Chestnutt was also a highly respected author and writer and became popular for such works as The Conjure Woman, a collection of stories. 

Date of Event:

1906 - Mercy Hospital

An order of nuns called the Sisters of Mercy opens a 25-bed hospital. It is Charlotte's first hospital designated for white patients that admits blacks. Begun on First Street, Mercy Hospital will move to Fifth Street. In the 1990s it will become part of the Carolinas Medical System.Mercy Hospital

Date of Event:

1910 - Changing Economy

Industry grows, attracting people away from farms to the cities of the South. Investors come, too, bringing jobs. Charlotte's population finally surpasses that of Raleigh, North Carolina's capital. As the region shifts away from the mostly agricultural economy of tobacco and cotton, it becomes one of textile production and industry. 

Date of Event:

1873 - A Beginning for Schools

At Miss Hattie Moore's house behind St. Peter's Episcopal Church, the first North Carolina graded school opens. There is no tuition charge for the 175 students who are taught by eight teachers. But the school will run out of money, and disputes over taxes will delay permanent funding for the school.

Date of Event:

1880 - First Cotton Mill

Until now, cotton grown in Mecklenburg County has traveled north to be made into cloth, or milled. At West Fifth and Graham streets, R.M. and D.W. Oates begin the Charlotte Cotton Mill. They employ 70 people, mostly women, to clean, spin and weave the cotton thread into cloth.

Date of Event:

1911 - Myers Park

On 1220 acres of farmland southeast of downtown Charlotte, landscape architect John Nolen is at work. He designs a neighborhood of winding streets, much different from the downtown grid pattern, for a new area called Myers Park. At the same time, developer E.D. Latta brings the Olmstead Brothers of Boston to Charlotte. Famous for designing the White House grounds, these innovative architects will turn their talents to Dilworth, and create the curved avenues and side streets of Dilworth Roads East and West.Beginning of Myers ParkAerial View of Myers Park 

Date of Event:

1873 - Center for Elegance

The old Mansion House, built in 1840 at the corner of Trade and Tryon streets, is transformed into the elegant Central Hotel. Leading citizens will gather at its elegant ballroom, dining room and bar. The Central Hotel will be considered by many patrons the finest hotel between Richmond and Atlanta.Central HotelView from NW corner of Trade and Tryon

Date of Event:

1897 - Duke Power

American Tobacco Company executive James B. Duke is buying land along the Catawba River. He believes a type of power, called hydro-electric, can be made here. Until now, most mill machinery has been powered by steam. Duke's enterprise, the Southern Power Company, will attract industry to the area when they offer affordable hydro-electric power.James B. Duke

Date of Event:

1885 - Dr. Annie Alexander

A Charlotte woman died because she was too embarrassed to let a male doctor examine her. Dr. Annie Alexander returns to Charlotte to become the city's first female physician. She has just earned the highest score in her class on Maryland's medical exams. Dr. Alexander will practice medicine for an entire year before she earns $2.00.

Date of Event: