1640 Madison Avenue

The house was “spec built” in 1957 by Ervin Construction, the leading suburban builder in the Charlotte area during the 1950s – 60s. The initial occupants were Joe and Mildred Grier, educators in Charlotte’s public schools. The family lived here for over half a century, well into the 2010s.

Joe Edward Grier (4.10.1921 – 8.2.1991) was born and raised in Charlotte. He likely met Mildred Smith, his future wife, when she came to Charlotte to attend Johnson C. Smith University. She was a member of the class of 1945 alongside Catherine Hawkins, who would marry Civil Rights activist Dr. Reginald Hawkins, and Darius Swann, who would eventually become the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court’s landmark school busing case Swann v Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.

After college Mildred taught for several years in the small eastern North Carolina town of Fairmont in Robeson County while Joe went off to graduate school. A brief note in the Carolina Times, the Durham newspaper that reached African Americans throughout much of the state, mentioned in 1952 that “Joe E. Grier, husband of Mrs. M.S. Grier, instructor at Rosenwald School, was a recent visitor in Fairmont. Grier is a graduate student at University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois.” A story in the county’s Robesonian newspaper listing teachers assigned to various schools in 1954 reported that Mildred Grier was teaching history and math at Rosenwald School in Fairmont.

Shortly after that the couple made the decision to return to Charlotte, moving into this new house on Madison Avenue about 1958.  Joe died in 1991 and was buried in Oaklawn Cemetery adjacent to McCrorey Heights. Mildred continued to reside in the family home on Madison Avenue into the 2010s.