History of Brooklyn » Brooklyn Time Line

Brooklyn Time Line

Time Events

1865

 Area of Brooklyn used for housing workers at “the Wharf.” Initial name was Logtown.
1886 Myers Street School opens (Jacob’s Ladder School)
1897 First reference to Brooklyn in Charlotte Observer
1907 Afro-American Mutual Insurance Company building opens
1910 AME Zion printing house opens
1912 W.S. Alexander article in newspaper suggests the black community should be segregated in the western part of Charlotte, despite acknowledging that eventually upper-class whites will take this back for development.
1917 Black neighborhoods present in all four wards of Charlotte
1918 Charlotte National Bank opens
1923 Second Ward High School and Carver College open
1930s VA/FHA loan program move black residents to the west side
1935 Savoy Theatre opens
1937 The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) came to Charlotte to survey neighborhoods’ suitability for mortgage companies to access risk in giving loans. The HOLC’s “red-lining” of all ethnic and working-class neighborhoods contributed to the increased segregation of blacks and whites. All black neighborhoods, including Brooklyn were given the lowest rating of ‘D,’ which meant an undesirable neighborhood.
1944 Independence Blvd. project announced which would use federal money to create a highway that would go through Brooklyn
1947 Under the new zoning law, put in place by the city of Charlotte, Brooklyn was zoned industrial.
1949 Independence Blvd. completed through the Brooklyn community. Federal Housing Act of 1949(63 Stat. 413). Establishes the national housing objective to provide Federal aid to assist slum-clearance, community development, and redevelopment programs.
1949 Congress revises urban renewal guidelines – money can now be used to demolish residential housing
1954 Berman vs. Parker, Supreme court case allowed removal of “blighted” older buildings, or “slum clearance.”
1956 North Carolina passes state law on Urban Renewal. Eisenhower Federal Highway Law passed which brought money to states and what was eventually used for I277
1957 Integration of schools through U.S. Supreme Court case Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, saying separate is not equal in the case of schools. Jim Marshall announces plan to redevelop Brooklyn neighborhood into a municipal plaza and civic center. Charlotte’s Urban Renewal Commission is appointed and federal funds are sought.
1958 City mentions that redevelopment property would be sold at auction for private development.
1959 Vernon Sawyer becomes Charlotte’s director of Urban Renewal and creates a plan for clearing and redeveloping 238 acres (later increased) in the Brooklyn area. He served in this position for 26 years. 228 acres of Brooklyn officially designated as a “blighted areas” under NC Redevelopment Law.
1960-1967 1,480 housing structures were demolished in Brooklyn, displacing 1,007 residents. The redevelopment project cost $10 million, cleared 263 acres of land, and displaced 215 businesses.
1960 The Brooklyn urban renewal project passes the city council by a vote of 4-3 after councilman Gibson Smith switched his vote.
1961-1969 Stanford Brookshire served as mayor of Charlotte with a strong agenda for urban renewal.
June 1961 The first phase of the Brooklyn project was approved for 36 acres bounded by East Third, South Brevard, South Davidson, and Independence Blvd.
1962 The Urban Renewal Administration in Washington threatens to end funding if Charlotte does not erect some low-income public housing. This directive came on the heels of a report stating “the wholesale displacement going on in Brooklyn.”
1962 Mayor Brookshire pushes for businesses to build in the Brooklyn redevelopment area. In the spring of this year, he argues that race relations and crime are closely intertwined. He asks United Community Services to conduct research on low-income areas and the black race’s self-development.
1964 Federal Housing Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 769). Section 312 provided rehabilitation loans. CHA gets much money for redevelopment from this Act. The second phase of the Brooklyn urban renewal project began. The area for this phase was bounded by East Fourth, South Davidson, South McDowell, and Independence Blvd. More than 475 families lived in this area.
1965 The third phase of the Brooklyn urban renewal project began.
1965 The Voting Rights Act is passed by the U.S. Congress, which would abolish poll taxes and tests, hindering many southerners from voting.
1965 Frederick Douglass Alexander is elected as the first African-American member of Charlotte’s city council. He would openly challenge city actions, which encouraged geographic division and urban renewal efforts, which relocated African Americans to northwest Charlotte.
June 1966 The fourth phase of the Brooklyn urban renewal project began. This phase included 40 acres bounded by Independence Blvd., Ridge Street, Kenilworth, and South McDowell.
1966 Plans developed for future Urban Renewal projects to include Greenville, First Ward, Dilworth, and other areas of Downtown.
1967 Earl Village, public housing in First Ward for those displaced by Urban Renewal.
1968 Civil Rights Acts (82 Stat. 73) Title VIII of this Act provides for fair housing.
1969 Second Ward High School and Carver College were demolished.
June 1969 The fifth and final stage of the Brooklyn urban renewal project began.
1971 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, which ruled that Charlotte must bus students in order to achieve racial integration.
1977 The final phase of the Brooklyn urban renewal project ends.