Built in 1959. First owner-occupants were Rev. Calvin M. Young, Jr. and spouse Margaretta R. Young. Rev. Young was one of McCrorey Heights’ many Presbyterian ministers, but unusual in the fact that he did not work in Charlotte but rather commuted to Gastonia, where he led that city’s main African American Presbyterian congregation for a quarter century. His wife Margaretta taught at Highland High in Gastonia and West Charlotte High near McCrorey Heights.
Built in 1958 – 1959 and first occupied by Charles E. Sammons and Lena M. Sammons. Charles Sammons was one of several McCrorey Heights men who worked for the U.S. Post Office — among the best-paying steady jobs available to African Americans before the 1960s. Lena Sammons was a life-long educator — a career path she shared with the majority of McCrorey Heights women. She taught at York Road High School and Garinger High School, served as Director of Public Relations at Johnson C. Smith University, and finished her career as Principal at Hidden Valley Elementary.
Built in 1958 – 59. Original owner-occupants were Rev. Herman L. Counts and his spouse Olethea W. Counts. Rev. Counts was a Johnson C. Smith University professor of theology and active civic leader. Wife Olethea taught kindergarten at Oaklawn Center nearby. Their daughter Dorothy Counts had made national headlines when she integrated Harding High the year before the family moved to this house.
Built 1959-60. First occupants were William P. Crawford, a laborer, and his wife Dorothy R. Crawford, librarian at Charlotte’s short-lived black state-supported Carver College, a predecessor of Central Piedmont Community College.
Built in 1960 – 61 for Jack S. Brayboy, professor and director of athletics, one of Johnson C. Smith University’s most respected and beloved figures. Brayboy Gymnasium, the school’s basketball arena, is named in his honor. His wife Jeanne M. Brayboy, an elementary school music teacher, became one of Charlotte’s most active civic women, serving on many boards.
Built in 1956, this house’s first owner-occupants were Bernice Bullock and her husband Lawrence, a bellman at the Mecklenburg Hotel. In a neighborhood of impressive women, Bernice Martin Richardson Bullock was notable both for her own achievements as a college administrator at Bethune Cookman College and JCSU and also as mother to three daughters who became closely involved in local and national Civil Rights efforts: Dr. Annie Richardson who headed the National Institute of Science, Catherine Hawkins whose husband Dr. Reginald Hawkins became Charlotte’s most outspoken and effect Civil Rights crusader, and Emily Ivory, whose family led Civil Rights efforts in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Built about 1959 and first occupied by leading Charlotte educator Libby Randolph and her husband John D. Randolph, maintenance man at Charlotte’s Brookhill Village low-income housing development. Elizabeth “Libby” Randolph was Principal at University Park Elementary when the couple moved here. During the 1960s as a CMS administrator she launched kindergarten classes across the school district. She rose to become Assistant Superintendent in the 1970s, the first African American female in top administration, and was named WBT Woman of the Year — the city’s highest honor. The main building at the School Board’s administrative campus is named in her memory.
The second longtime resident in this house was Rosemary Lawrence, Revenue Manager for the City of Charlotte.
Built 1956 for Clarence E. Moreland and his wife Helen P. Moreland. He was the founding principal of Northwest Junior High (now Northwest School of the Arts), which was the city’s only black middle school when it opened in 1954. She taught at Fairview School.
The Moreland clan were highly regarded as civic leaders in Charlotte. Two of Clarence Moreland’s siblings lived nearby in McCrorey Heights, elementary school principal Howard Moreland and real estate executive George W.C. Moreland. Howard’s daughter also resided in the neighborhood, wife of Mecklenburg County’s first black County Commissioner Rowe Motley.
Built about 1981 and first occupied by William E. and Dorothea M. Cornelius. He was a small business owner, proprietor of a laundromat in Charlotte’s African American neighborhood called Brooklyn — “the first black washerette” in the city, according to his funeral program.
Constructed 1956 – 57 for Stanley Fisher, clerk at the U.S. Post Office, and his wife Clotelle, a high school teacher. The builder was Clotelle’s father Mangie McQueen, perhaps the city’s most active African American contractor, who built many dwellings in McCrorey Heights.