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Rural Beginnings 1730-1772

1740 - Rural Settlers

The rivers of the Piedmont are difficult to navigate from outside areas, and this interior region becomes known as the Backcountry. Swiss and French settlers from Charleston, South Carolina slowly begin to make their way here. They join the English settlers.

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1768 - Charlotte Chartered

December 3, 1768 - Charlotte is chartered, which means the new town will have a courthouse and a prison. The law establishing a town for holding court in Mecklenburg County was first passed at a session of the colonial Assembly. It was then sent on to the governor, who made it effective on December 3 of that year. Here is the full text of the law from the State Records of North Carolina: 

 

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1768 - Creating New Counties

From western Mecklenburg County, Tryon County has been created. By 1850, it will be divided into several smaller counties: Cleveland County, plus Lincoln and Gaston counties, which border Mecklenburg along the Catawba River

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1750 - Slavery

In West Africa, men, women and children are captured and forced onto ships bound for the American colonies. These people will be sold as slaves. Although the Africans have their own beliefs, language, families and culture, their owners will not care. The slaves will lose the rights of free people to act and live as they choose.

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1770 - Designing a City

Surveyors mark off the locations of Charlotte's streets in a block pattern called a grid. The four sections defined by the crossing of Trade and Tryon streets will evolve into four areas, called wards. In years to come, each of the wards will change tremendously. Economic, racial and political issues will determine which buildings survive and which are destroyed.

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1750 - Hardship for Natives

Some settlers are afraid of the Indians, who look different and practice unfamiliar customs. Some Indians resent their new neighbors, who have invaded their tribal hunting lands. As a result of frequent battles with other tribes and with settlers, the number of Indians drops dramatically. Diseases brought by the colonists, such as smallpox, chicken pox, measles and yellow fever cause the deaths of many more Native Americans.

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1771 - First College

Queens College opens to train young men who will become ministers. But there will be problems when King George III refuses to grant the charter which will approve the school's operation. Later, the school's name will change to Queens Museum and will be followed by Liberty Hall.

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1755 - Founding a New City

Thomas Spratt and his family are believed to be the first settlers to drive a wagon through the rough backcountry of North Carolina. Between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers, they cross an Indian trading path. With them is Thomas Polk, who builds his home where these two roads meet. One day, this crossroads will be known as the Square. It will become the center of modern downtown Charlotte, and the streets will be known as Trade and Tryon.

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1772 - Moravian Girls School

Salem Female Academy opens. In these colonial days, few women can obtain the education afforded to men. Mecklenburg families who want their daughters to receive higher education send the young women to Salem, nearly 100 miles away.

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1755 - Great Wagon Road

Northern colonies in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are becoming crowded, and settlers move south to North Carolina. They follow Thomas Spratt's route, now called the great wagon road. Many of the families seek religious and economic freedom. Some have come from Germany. Others come from Scotland via Ireland; they become known as the Scots-Irish.

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