PLACES AND SPACES SPECIAL SECTION
Photo courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Black Historical Sites in Charlotte: Remembering and Preserving the Past By John Burton, Jr.
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ccording to the National Register of Historic Places, only two percent of their 95,000 entries focus on the experiences of African Americans. Sadly, this narrative seems to hold true for many of Charlotte’s Black historical sites. Much of the Queen City’s rich Black heritage is vanishing, leaving very little for many to understand about the troubles and triumphs of our ancestors, wiping African American efforts out of public view. The fight to preserve Black historical sites in Charlotte and throughout the U.S., signals a raising of voices by African-Americans to declare the value we place on our history and the historical places we inhabited and often created.
Here are 8 existing Black historical sites in Charlotte Mecklenburg Investment Company
Built in 1922, the Mecklenburg Investment Company Building was a key structure in Charlotte’s Brooklyn neighborhood that housed Black businesses, professional offices, civic and social organizations. It was funded by and named after the Mecklenburg Investment Company, an investment group made up of leaders in the Brooklyn community. Its purpose was to support Black businesses.
Pearl Street Park
Pearl Street Park, located across Kenilworth Avenue near the Metropolitan Complex at 1200 Baxter St., is known as the first Negro playground and first AfricanAmerican park in Mecklenburg County. A little more than six acres, the park was an important social gathering place for Black families. It served as the athletic field for the football and baseball teams at nearby Second Ward High School. The city of Charlotte purchased the park from Thompson Orphanage in 1943. In 2005, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Heritage Committee dedicated Pearl Street Park as the first African American Park in Mecklenburg County. Visitors can listen to stories about the park and learn about its historical importance at an audio history station located in the park.
Mecklenburg Investment Company building, located at 233 S. Brevard Street in Charlotte
The Excelsior Club, 921 Beatties Ford Road, Charlotte
The Excelsior Club
Founded in 1944 by the late Jimmy McKee, the Excelsior Club was once a seven-room house on Beatties Ford Road. The club beame a longtime center of social and political activity. At a time when racism and Jim Crow laws kept Blacks out of whites-only establishments, the Excelsior hosted famous musicians such as James Brown, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong. McKee, an AfricanAmerican bartender at a club for white members, opened the Excelsior Club when he recognized that Black people in the area needed a gathering place to socialize. The club operated as a members-only business and shortly after opening, it became one of the major cultural attractions for Black professionals in the city. Membership included doctors, educators, politicians, lawyers, and prominent businessmen.
The Cherry Community
Pearl Street Park is located at 1200 Baxter Street in Charlotte
Developed in 1891, Cherry is one of Charlotte’s oldest neighborhoods. In the 1900s, Cherry was home to the working class — farmhands, factory workers and railmen. Homeownership increased by almost forty percent from 1905 to 1925. Cherry’s Black population has dwindled from 66 percent in 1990 to only 37 percent by 2015. Most of its original homes and landmarks have vanished. November-December 2021 | Pride Magazine
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