1705 Patton Avenue

Built 1951-1952 for Berthon T. Holloman and Louise K. Holloman. Berthon filed the permit on March 5, 1952 and contracted with builder G.C. Holmes to construct the residence. This was one of the earliest dozen or so houses completed in McCrorey Heights following World War II.

Berthon T. Holloman (this spelling is from his wife’s funeral program; other sources sometimes spell it Berthron) was a clerk with the U.S. Post Office — one of the top jobs available to African American men in the era of segregation. Nothing more has been discovered about his personal history.

Louise K. Holloman (11.12.1908 – 9.20.2002) was born in Catawba, South Carolina, but as a youngster in 1925 moved with her family to Charlotte. After high school at Second Ward High, she earned a teaching degree at Winston Salem Teachers College (now Winston Salem State University). She would later do graduate work at NC Central University in Durham and also New York University in NYC.

She taught in Charlotte’s public schools for forty years. Most of her teaching was at Isabella Wyche School near the site of today’s Panthers football stadium. After that school closed during desegregation, she taught at Merry Oaks Elementary off Central Avenue on the city’s east side.

Like most McCrorey Heights women, Mrs. Holloman participated actively in church and social groups. She had joined Gethsemane AME Zion Church in 1925 as soon she arrived in Charlotte. She served on the Trustee Board, among many other activities, and the church twice honored her as a Woman of the Year in 1975 and 2001. She also was lifelong participant in Delta Sigma Sorority, helping starts its adult chapter in Gastonia. She played bridge with the Sans Souci Bridge Club, made up mostly of McCrorey Heights women, and enjoyed the Les Amies Social Club. In the late 1950s she was one of the leaders of the Oaklawn-McCrorey Heights Community Club, forerunner of today’s neighborhood association.

During the depths of segregation, when voter suppression laws kept most African Americans away from the ballot box, Mrs. Holloman always voted. “She registered to vote in 1933, right out of college, and has been voting ever since,” her funeral program noted with pride. “In the year 2000 she was honored by the League of Women Voters as being one of the oldest Afro-Amercan women voters.”