Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

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1942 - Evac Hospital

The 38th Evacuation Hospital, made up of Charlotte doctors and nurses, gives medical aid to the troops fighting in North Africa and Italy. After the war, Charlotte will remember her veterans by collecting donations and memorials. The money will fund the building of Freedom Park in 1948.Freedom Park

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1960 - King Richard

February 28, 1960 - On a half-mile dirt track at the Charlotte Fairgrounds, 22-year-old Richard Petty wins his first race. He will go on to become the winningest driver in the history of stock car racing, known as NASCAR. 

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1975 - Case Closed

July 11, 1975  - It has been seven long years since Julius Chambers first filed the legal case, Swann vs. the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. Integration has worked for one year. Judge James B. McMillan is confident it will continue to do so and gives control of the schools back to the board. The judge who had endured threats against his life officially closes the case. The city that made integration work has earned another place in America's history books.

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1956 - New Libraries

November 19, 1956 - The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County boasts a new, modern facility on the North Tryon Street site of the old Carnegie Library. The expansion also includes branch libraries for the Mecklenburg towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Matthews and Pineville. While many buildings restrict by segregation where black people can go, Charlotte's library quietly accommodates black patrons. In 1961, the Brevard Street library that has served the black community since 1905 will close. Soon, laws will prohibit segregation. 

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1971 - Nixon and Graham

October 15, 1971 - President Richard Nixon visits the Queen City to help honor native Charlottean Reverend Billy Graham. The event becomes even more famous for the actions of officers, called the Secret Service, who protect the president. The Secret Service keeps out some men with long hair, because the officers suspect the men are activists, people who speak out against U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam.

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1965 - Dangerous Times

November 22, 1965Eight-year-old Kelly Alexander, Jr. lies asleep in his bed. Kelly's father has been working to obtain the same rights for black Americans that whites enjoy. But on this night, a bomb explodes in Kelly Jr.'s bedroom and in the homes of three other Charlotte civil rights workers. The victims are the families of Julius Chambers, Reginald Hawkins, Fred Alexander and his brother, Kelly Alexander, Sr. Miraculously, no one is killed. No one will be arrested for these crimes. House destroyed by fire

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1958 - I-85

The first section of Interstate 85 opens in Mecklenburg County. The super-highway will link the Charlotte to Atlanta, Durham, and other important business centers. By the time construction begins on Interstate 77, the Queen City's future as a fast-growing economic hub will be assured.

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1961 - Mayor Brookshire

May 8, 1961 - Charlotte businessman and journalist Stanford R. Brookshire begins his first of four terms as mayor. He will lead Charlotte through desegregation and preside over the re-development of downtown. Brookshire will be recognized nationally for his efforts and will serve as an advisor to President Lyndon Johnson. 

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1960 - Students Protest

February 9, 1960

Black students from Johnson C. Smith University join their fellow protesters from Greensboro when they, too, sit down at a whites only lunch counter at Charlotte's Kress store. Mayor James Smith responds by forming a committee to solve the problems of segregation. Soon, lunch counters will be integrated.

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1959 - JFK visits Charlotte

January 15, 1959 - Senator John F. Kennedy gives the keynote speech at the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce annual dinner. He has visited Charlotte before. In 1940, he attended a wedding at the Duke mansion in Myers Park. Kennedy will make a campaign stop in the Queen City next year, then will be elected president. 

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