Spec-built in 1954 – 55, this house was first occupied by Sylvester Lee, Jr., a plasterer with Kirkland Construction, and his wife Alice.
Plastering was one of the many building trades dominated by African Americans from slavery times through the mid 20th century. Such skilled artisans usually had steady work and decent pay — enough to afford a house in stylish new McCrorey Heights.
Edward High took out the permit to build this house in 1954. He then was a teacher at Charlotte’s state-supported black Carver College, also worked as a carrier for the Post Office, and eventually became an Administrative Assistant with the City of Charlotte. He was a civic leader who played a role in integrating Charlotte’s most important sports event in the 1960s, the Shrine Bowl, and he became an early black member of several boards including the Airport Commission. Wife Naomi was a lifelong educator, teaching at Sterling School among others.
Built 1957-58 for Talmadge and Rosetta G. Alexander. He was a “curbman” at the Plantation Grill, a popular drive-in restaurant in Charlotte. He also worked for the Post Office for twenty-five years and served, as well, as Treasurer at Statesville Avenue Presbyterian Church. His family was well-known in Charlotte; especially brother Romeo, who owned Razades restaurant and invested in real estate, and brother Oren, a bail-bondsman.
Edward D. White and his wife Lula D. White took out the permit to build this house in 1955. In an era when few African Americans owned businesses, the Whites owned and operated White Coal & Fuel Oil in Charlotte’s black Brooklyn neighborhood.
Built about 1954 for Rev. Cordell H. Kennedy, pastor of the Grier Heights Presbyterian Church, and his wife Ruth E. Kennedy, who taught at the Alexander Street School.
The Kennedys raised son Cordell Kennedy, Jr., in this house. At the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the mid and late 1960s he served as a statewide coordinator for Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
William Leon North, Sr., took out the permit on November 13, 1950 to build this house for himself and wife Rosalyn. He worked as a mail clerk for the Southern Railway and later for the U.S. Post Office.
A number of homeowners who built in McCrorey Heights during the 1950s and early 1960s were employed as mail clerks. With steady pay and some job security, it was among the best work open to African American men prior to the Civil Rights era.
Built in 1960 as the retirement residence of Bishop Walter W. Slade & Sallie Mae.
In a neighborhood with many ministers, Rev. Walter Slade was one of the most distinguished. He served as a Bishop in the A.M.E. Zion Church from 1944 to 1960, part of the 12-person governing body of this nation-wide denomination. His wife Sallie Mae was a Supervisor of Missionary Work in the denomination.
A later resident here was Ernest L. James, Jr., who headed Logan School in Concord, North Carolina, as its Principal for twenty-two years.
O’Dell Robinson took out the permit to construct this house in 1952, hiring prolific black contractor Mangie McQueen. Robinson served for many years as a top executive with Charlotte’s black McCrorey YMCA. His spouse Bertha Robinson taught at West Charlotte High and later at Double Oaks School.
In 1971 the couple took out a permit to add to the west side of the house, hiring Harvey Gantt to create the design. Gantt became a noted Modernist architect in the Southeastern U.S. as principal in the firm Gantt-Hubermann, and also won election as Charlotte’s first African American mayor, serving 1983 – 1987.
Built in 1965 – 1966 for George W.C. Moreland and his wife Margaret T. Moreland. George Moreland was one of Charlotte’s few African American real estate professionals, son of a Bishop in the A.M.E. Zion Church. Wife Margaret Turman Moreland taught in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools where she helped desegregate First Ward Elementary.
Four branches of the Moreland family resided in McCrorey Heights. George’s brothers Clarence and Howard, both school principals, were at 1617 Patton Avenue and 1722 Madison Avenue. Niece Alma Moreland Motley lived at 1726 Madison with her husband Rowe Motley, Mecklenburg’s first black County Commissioner.
Built about 1954 and occupied for over six decades by barber and community leader Albert D. Neal. “If you are a male and native Charlottean, chances are A.D. Neal gave you, or your son, and/or grandson your first haircut,” said his funeral program in 2016. “His career as a barber spanned more than 75 years to include over 50 years of owning and operating Neal’s Barber Shop.”
Mr. Neal’s community leadership started early. As a teenager at newly opened West Charlotte High, he not only was the school’s first football quarterback but also wrote the school song. As an Army sergeant during World War II he was chosen to be on the crew that loaded the first atomic bomb. In 1960 when JCSU college students conducted sit-ins at Charlotte lunch counters, A.D. Neal’s support helped rally the community behind the young activists.
Built 1954 – 1955 for Fred Davis, Sr., and wife Emma M. Davis. When he took out the permit, Davis worked cleaning railroad cars for the Southern Railway, one of Charlotte’s largest employers. He was later employed as a stevadore loading trucks at Central Motor Lines.
Mrs. Emma Davis was a registered nurse. She worked for thirty years in Charlotte, first at Good Samaritan Hospital, one of the longest-serving African American hospitals in the U.S., then at Charlotte Memorial Hospital.
Built in 1979 for Bampfield J. Stinson, “one of the first black Postal Clerks serving the city of Charlotte,” according to his obituary, and wife Dorothy Peoples Stinson, a schoolteacher.
Mr. Stinson came from one of the South’s most remarkable families. His great-grandfather was the famed Civil War hero Robert Smalls, an enslaved boat captain who commandeered a vessel in Charleston harbor and sailed it — with his family and other African Americans — through Confederate lines to safety. Mr. Stinson’s grandmother Elizabeth Smalls Bampfield served as postmaster in Beaufort, SC, a rare achievement for an African American woman. Mr. Stinson took after both ancestors, becoming a much-decorated World War II veteran, then helping integrate Charlotte’s post office.
Among the earliest post-World War II houses in McCrorey Heights, this dwelling was built in 1950-51 for James C. and Clara B. Brown. They owned the Dark Swan Smoke Shop & Confectionary in Charlotte’s Third Ward neighborhood.
Miss Blanche W. Tyson, one of the city’s longest-serving elementary school teachers, took out the permit to build this house in 1965. She had begun teaching in the early years of the 1900s at Myers Street School, the city’s first black elementary school. Later she operated her own private Tyson Kindergarten — in an era when kindergarten classes were unheard of in public schools in the South. She founded the The Bluebird Club, a social organization for her fellow teachers at the Myers Street School. Believed to be Charlotte’s first black female social club, it remains active in the 2010s.
Built 1950 – 51 for William L. Smith and his wife Velma. When the family moved into their new home on Patton Avenue, Mr. Smith was Assistant District Manager for Durham-based North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance, one of the largest African American economic forces in the South. The couple later ran their own W.L. Smith Insurance Agency at 1230 Beatties Ford Road.
Built 1954 for Edgar C. Goodwin, founder and longtime leader of Charlotte’s McCrorey YMCA, and wife Florence Cannon Goodwin, a public health nurse. The McCrorey YMCA was one of Charlotte’s largest and most important African American institutions. Mr. Goodwin raised money for its handsome 1951 building on Caldwell Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood, named in honor of JCSU President (and McCrorey Heights developer) Rev. H.L. McCrorey. Goodwin rounded out his career raising funds to build its suburban replacement on Beatties Ford Road, opened in 1972. After retiring, Goodwin worked for a decade as an employment counselor for the City of Charlotte, helping African Americans get hired in jobs that were opening up as a result of Civil Rights advances.
A permit was issued in 1951 to construct a dwelling at this address, but in 2016 this is a wooded vacant lot with no visible evidence that any house ever existed.
Ruth E. Blake, a teacher at Charlotte’s Myers Street School, took out a permit to construct this residence for herself in 1952. The address first appeared in the city directory in 1955, listing Blake as living alone in the house. Later directories in the 1960s showed her married to James P. Dixon, a sign painter.
Constructed in 1961 for Rev. James W. Smith, Sr., and his wife Margaret A. Smith. Rev. Smith served as Pastor at Charlotte’s leading downtown African American Presbyterian church, 7th Street Presbyterian, for a quarter century. Before building this stylish Ranch house, the Smiths previously resided in the church’s parsonage at 1650 Washington Avenue in McCrorey Heights.
Built in 1952-53 for Hubert and Henrietta Norris who both taught for decades at Johnson C. Smith University. Hubert Norris specialized in economics and political science, while Henrietta Norris taught early childhood education.
Built in 1958 for educators Lorenzo E. Poe and Dorothy Brewer Poe. Lorenzo Poe came to Mecklenburg County about 1937 to be the first principal of what is now the Ada Jenkins School in the town of Davidson, just north of Charlotte. He later served nineteen years as principal of Sterling High in Pineville, just south of Charlotte — its last leader prior to closing as part of Charlotte’s school integration. His wife Dorothy Brewer Poe also taught in the public schools.