Calendar of Historic Dates: Charlotte and Mecklenburg County [1]
Since the material in this history is treated topically, the following chronological list of events and movements which have taken place locally may be helpful to the reader.
1750 Trade routes from Charlotte to Charleston established over Indian Trails.
1762 December 11. Mecklenburg created by Act of the Legislature, from Anson County (effective February 1, 1763).
1766 First log courthouse built in Charlotte.
1766 Dr. John Kennedy, first physician in Mecklenburg, was practicing medicine. The second was Dr. Ephraim Brevard.
1767 January 15, 360 acres purchased for site of Charlotte by Abraham Alexander, Thomas Polk, and John Frohock from George Augustus Selwyn for ninety pounds.
1768 November 7. Charlotte incorporated.
1768 Tryon County formed from Mecklenburg.
1770 Jeremiah McCafferty opens first store in Charlotte.
1771 Queens College, later Queens Museum, opened in Charlotte.
1771 Presbyterian ministers given permission by the King to perform marriages, a privilege which had been restricted to ministers to the Church of England.
1773 Governor Martin gives notice that the King has disallowed the charter of Queens College.
1774 Charlotte designated as County Seat of Mecklenburg County.
1775 May 20. Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence signed at Charlotte.
1775 May 31. Signers of Mecklenburg Declaration reassembled and draw up Mecklenburg Resolves.
1775 June 3. Captain James Jack arrived in Philadelphia with Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
1777 Liberty Hall incorporated (successor to Queens Museum).
1780 October 3. Skirmish at McIntyre's farm (Battle of the Bees).
1780 October 12. Cornwallis withdraws from Charlotte referring to the place as a Hornets' Nest.
1780 Epidemic of smallpox strikes Charlotte.
1780 Colonel Thomas Polk appointed Commissary General by General Nathaniel Greene.
1781 February 1. Battle of Cowan's Ford in which General William Davidson was killed.
1781 Gold first discovered in sections of Mecklenburg which in 1782 became a part of Cabarrus County.
1791 Saturday, May 28. President George Washington visited Charlotte.
1792 Cabarrus County created from eastern section of Mecklenburg.
1792 Andrew Jackson licensed to practice law in Mecklenburg.
1792 United States Post Office established in Charlotte.
1795 November 21. James Knox Polk, 11th President of the United States, born in Mecklenburg, 12 miles south of Charlotte.
1805 Nathaniel Alexander elected governor - the first citizen of Mecklenburg to be so honored.
1812-1814 Five companies of Mecklenburg troops serve throughout the War of 1812.
1815 Property bounded by Trade, Church, Sixth, and Poplar Streets set aside for church and cemetery purposes by all denominations.
1816 First law enforcement officer appointed in Charlotte, called Town Watch.”
1823 August. Earliest church building in Charlotte dedicated by Rev. Dr. McRee (or McCree).
1824 October 4. First issue of the first newspaper published in Charlotte, The Catawba Journal.
1830 Miner’s and Farmer’s Journal states talk about dissolution of the Union has become so common as not to excite horror, as it once did.”
1833 Sons of Temperance organized.
1834 Branch of the North Carolina Bank opened at Charlotte.
1837 October 19. Branch of the United States Mint begins operation with John H. Wheeler as Superintendent.
1838 Charlotte Male Academy opens.
1842 Union County formed form Anson and Mecklenburg Counties.
1847 April. Company of Dragoons under Green W. Caldwell leaves for Vera Cruz to serve in Mexican War.
1852 October 21. First passenger train arrives in Charlotte.
1852 First telegraph office opened in Charlotte - succeeded by Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856.
1856 Railroad from Charlotte to Goldsboro completed.
1857 January 19. Charlotte Female Institute organized, forerunner of Presbyterian College for Women (1896) and later Queens College.
1858 First street gas lights turned on in Charlotte.
1859 North Carolina Military Institute opens with Daniel Harvey Hill as Headmaster.
1861 United States Mint - Charlotte Branch appropriated for military organizations by Confederate authorities.
1861 May 20. North Carolina seceded from the Union.
1861 April. Faculty and cadets of North Carolina Military Institute go to Raleigh to drill troops for service in War for Southern Independence.
1862 May. Center of Naval Ordnance of Confederate States of America moved to Charlotte from Norfolk, Virginia.
1864 January 7. Confederate munitions and supplies located in Charlotte destroyed in $10,000,000 fire.
1865 April 18. Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, arrives in Charlotte with his Cabinet, gets first news of Lincoln’s assassination.
1865 April 20. Last full meeting of Confederate Cabinet held in Charlotte.
1865 May 7. Capt. M. C. Runyan and 9th New Jersey Volunteers occupy Charlotte.
1867 December. United States Mint reopened as assay office only, with Isaac W. Jones, assayer.
1869 January 25. First daily issue of the Charlotte Observer; name and ownership subsequently changed several times.
1872 Last of Federal troops depart following occupancy which began at the close of the war.
1873 October 21. First graded school opened in North Carolina at Charlotte by Dr. J. B. Boone.
1874 Last stage line discontinued - the route was between Wadesboro and Charlotte.
1875 February 18. Commercial National Bank chartered (North Carolina National Bank).
1875 May 20. Centennial celebration of signing of Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, attended by 30,000 people.
1881 First cotton mill in Mecklenburg begins operation.
1882 September 11. First tax supported public school opened in Charlotte.
1887 Thompson Orphanage organized.
1887 First electric street lights installed.
1887 Horse-drawn cars first appear in Charlotte.
1888 Charlotte News established.
1890 Dilworth real estate development began.
1891 February 12. Public library service began in Charlotte with incorporation of Charlotte Literacy and Library Association.
1891 September 23. Good Samaritan Hospital dedicated.
1892 September 17. Adlai Stevenson, Vice-President of the United States, visits Charlotte.
1893 Electric street cars replace horse-drawn cars.
1895 Presbyterian College opened - later Queens College.
1897 Charlotte National Bank chartered (Wachovia Bank and Trust Company).
1898 Presbyterian Hospital began as private institution - later presented to group of Presbyterian churches and opened by them February 24, 1903.
1898 December 11. Two companies from Charlotte in the North Carolina regiment land in Havana in Spanish-American War.
1901 July 15. American Trust Company began business as Southern States Trust Company (North Carolina National Bank).
1902 February. Deepest snow recorded in Charlotte, 17.4 inches.
1903 July 2. Carnegie Library opened.
1904 Automobiles first mentioned in business section of Charlotte City Directory.
1904 Southern Railway Passenger Station, originally built in the 1880’s, greatly enlarged and redesigned to resemble Moorish architectural style.
1905 January 1. Prohibition becomes effective in Charlotte as a result of election held July 5, 1904.
1905 October 19. President Theodore Roosevelt visits Charlotte.
1906 Mercy Hospital founded at 8 East First Street.
1907 Motion pictures first mentioned in business section of Charlotte City Directory. Theatre names: Odeon and Wonderland.
1909 May 20. President William Howard Taft visits Charlotte in torrential rain.
1909 First Charlotte skyscraper (Independence Building) built on northwest corner Trade and Tryon Streets.
1913 July 1. United States Mint - Charlotte Branch closed finally.
1913 Myers Park residential development began with opening of Queens Road. First home that of Mr. and Mrs. Word H. Wood.
1914 September 23. Queens College opened campus on Selwyn Avenue.
1916 May 20. President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson visit Charlotte.
1916 July 14-16. North Carolina flood.
1917 March 9. Mecklenburg Chapter American Red Cross formed.
1917 Camp Greene, temporary U. S. cantonment, constructed at Charlotte.
1918 January 21. First of 10 holidays in eastern half of United States ordered by Fuel Administration to conserve fuel for war purposes; commonly called Heatless Mondays.
1918 January 24. Cerebro Spinal Meningitis quarantine ordered in Charlotte for two weeks, closing all amusement places, churches, schools, libraries, Y.M.C.A., Y.W. C.A., and forbidding all public gatherings.
1918 October 24. Charlotte quarantined because of epidemic of Spanish Influenza, 400 cases in Charlotte and many in Camp Greene.
1919 April 26. Mecklenburg Federation of Home Demonstrating Clubs formally organized.
1919 August 25. Street car strike riot, killing five, wounding 25.
1920 July 14. First S & W Cafeteria opened at Charlotte.
1921 First inter-city bus line operated out of Charlotte by Love-Lowder Bus Lines.
1921 Radio Station WBT installed.
1921 Cameron Morrison of Charlotte elected Governor of North Carolina.
1922 May 20. General John J. Pershing visits Charlotte.
1922 Radio apparatus first mentioned in business section of Charlotte City Directory.
1922 December 16-17. Trust Building, housing Academy of Music and many offices, burned and, along with it, Brockmann’s, dealer in books and office equipment.
1924 October 23. Chrlotte City Hall at 600 East Trade Street, cornerstone laid. Building formally opened October 25, 1925.
1925 January. Charlotte Music Club organized.
1927 December 1. Federal Reserve Bank Branch opened.
1928 Spring. Mecklenburg County Court House at 700 East Trade Street opened.
1929 June 2. Armory-Auditorium completed. Burned June 8, 1954. Rebuilt and renamed Park Center.
1930 April 2. First air mail service to Charlotte, Pilot Gene Brown.
1930 Radio Station WSOC began operation.
1932 Charlotte Symphony Orchestra organized.
1936 American Legion Memorial Stadium completed.
1936 Municipal Airport opened.
1936 September 10. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visits Charlotte as guest of honor at a Green Pastures Rally.
1936 October 22. Mint Museum of Art formally opened.
1937 Repeal referndum won by Drys.
1938 Buses replace street cars for local transportation in Charlotte.
1939 June. Wachovia Trust Company merged with Charlotte National Bank.
1939 June 30. Charlotte Public Library closed when voters failed to approve appropriations for library purposes.
1940 March 15. Guthery Apartments fire in which eight persons were killed.
1940 July 1. Charlotte Public Library reopened when voters approved, by a vote of 10,172 to 1,966, on May 25, a maximum county-wide tax levy of four cents on every $100 valuation for library purposes.
1940 October 2. Memorial Hospital opened for patients.
1940 William R. Barringer Hotel opened, incorporated October 14, 1939.
1941 April 21. Morris Field dedicated with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia of New York City and Governor Broughton of North Carolina as principal speakers.
1942 Charlotte Navy Shell Loading Plant of the United States Rubber Company construction began June, production began December.
1944 March 19. First Methodist Church sanctuary dedicated. First Methodist Church formed in 1927 from Tryon Street Methodist (1840) and Trinity Methodist (1896).
1946 September. Charlotte Center of University of North Carolina founded - later (1949) Charlotte College.
1947 January 10. Charlotte City Club incorporated - formally opened June 1, 1948.
1947 June 14. Alcoholic Board of Control election won by Wets. Seven stores opened September 27, 1947.
1947 September. Second Ward Extension School founded - later (1949) Carver College.
1947 November 12. Charlotte Christmas Festival Parade held - later (1950) Carolinas Carrousel.
1947 Television first mentioned in business section of Charlotte City Directory.
1948 June. Methodist Home for the Aged opened in Charlotte.
1953 December 20. Covenant Presbyterian Church holds first services in new sanctuary at 1000 East Morehead Street.
1954 May 18. President Dwight David Eisenhower visits Charlotte.
1954 July 10. Douglas Municipal Airport dedicated.
1955 September 11. Ovens Auditorium and Charlotte Coliseum dedicated.
1956 November 19. Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, Main Building at 310 North Tryon Street, and several branches officially opened.
1957 November 29. Commercial National Bank and American Trust Company merged to become American Commercial Bank. (North Carolina Bank 1960.)
1958 February 16. Wachovia Bank Building, corner of Trade and Church Streets, dedicated.
1959 March 4. North Carolina Legislature met in Charlotte for second time. First was February 22, 1939.
1959 December 31. Charlotte city limits greatly expanded.
1960 Charlotte’s population passes 200,000.
Blythe, Legette and Brockmann, Charles Raven. Hornets' Nest: The Story of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Charlotte, N.C.: Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, 1961.