NoDa Arts District: Church Entwined With NoDa's History Faces Demolition

Press release from the NoDa Arts District:

Paula Martinac

June 2, 2021

Beginnings in the mill village

Sometime between 1909 and 1911, services moved to a mill house at 3063 North Alexander, which is still standing although in much-renovated form. Finally, in 1911, the church erected a building of its own near the corner of what is now 35th and Alexander. According to the Charlotte Observer, R.B. Alexander himself paid the construction costs of the simple frame building.

The first ordained minister to serve the congregation was George Cheek, who had just graduated from seminary when he arrived in North Charlotte in 1911. Like the many ministers who followed him, Cheek stayed only a few years before being called to a permanent post.

Rebuilt from the ashes

Plans for rebuilding quickly commenced, with funds from insurance, the Presbytery’s Home Mission Board, and private donations. Well-known Charlotteans stepped up to help. C.W. Johnston, owner of the Johnston Mill, donated the lot at the corner of 32nd and Myers (now 36th and McDowell), while Henry Belk provided the bricks and L.L. Herrin served as builder. While construction was underway, the congregation conducted services at the village community house — probably the assembly room of now-defunct Electric Hall.

With a permanent location and a congregation of about 100 members, North Charlotte Presbyterian took its place as an anchor of the Mecklenburg mill village. During the Great Depression, it provided food and clothing to members in need, and the women’s auxiliary held free chicken suppers for the public. Even during those tough economic times, the congregation was able to pay off the church’s debts in 1939, with nearby North Charlotte Baptist Church and Spencer Memorial Methodist Church helping to raise the final $2,250. The church was dedicated in June 1939 and valued at $15,000. Over the next two decades, it brought a variety of benefits to the community, such as vacation Bible school, a kindergarten, more revivals, and team sporting events.

Hard times for North Charlotte

Even as Black families moved into the neighborhood, the church remained primarily a white congregation. In a bit of irony, director Jeb Stuart used Johnston Memorial as a setting for his 2010 film, “Blood Done Sign My Name”. The film, based on a bestselling memoir, chronicled the brutal 1970 murder of a Black Vietnam veteran at the hands of three white shopkeepers in Oxford, N.C., and the Black community’s activist response.

Although the modest church didn’t have a renowned architect, a famous pastor, or noteworthy embellishments like stained glass, the building is steeped in history and worthy of preservation and adaptive reuse. According to the Urban Land Institute, the largest network of real estate and land use experts in the country, “Historic community buildings … embody the intentions, assumptions, and lives of those who built or lived or worked in them. They have stories to tell about what the community was and how it became what it is.” 

This press release was produced by the NoDa Arts District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.