NoDa Arts District: A Look Back At NoDa's Electric Park

Press release from the NoDa Arts District:

Michele Lemere

May 12, 2021

This elaborate recreational space was Electric Park. Located on what is now 36th Street between Spencer and Holt streets, it was named as such because it was the last stop on the North Charlotte trolley run (electric trolleys ran in Charlotte from 1897 to 1938).

By 1904, the poorhouse had been moved to North Tryon Street and Harris Boulevard, and Highland Park Mill #3 was operational. The Mecklenburg and Johnston mills followed within 10 years.

A June 1909 Charlotte Observer article welcomed a 7-month-old lion to the “Electric Park Zoo.” The anonymous owner stated the lion – “gentle as a child” but kept in a cage – had come straight from Panama and was on loan to the zoo for the summer. The other “beasts” at this zoo included squirrels, rabbits, and “several score monkeys” that occasionally escaped from their cages.

On June 22, 1914, The Observer declared the park had “risen from the darkness of oblivion,” in part because Lakewood Park had since been “given to negro people,” thus creating a demand for a whites-only park.

The October 14, 1920, edition of Mill News, The Great Southern Weekly for Textile Workers lauded the new facility as “… a thing of marvel. No community house has been erected in the State that is as pretty as the one being completed at this park for mill employees alone.”

Lois Moore Yandle interviewed several residents about Electric Park for her book “The Spirit of a Proud People.” They remember roses planted around the lake and free rowboat rides on the weekends. Residents gathered at a bandstand near the lake for concerts featuring local musical groups or the Woodmen of the World band. Small-pin bowling was in the basement and silent movies on the second floor. Square dances were held on the main floor, and later, part of the main building was turned into a gym for basketball and wrestling. The Red Shield boys and girls clubs met there, and the Salvation Army had an outpost on site.

In a land swap negotiated by the mill, the church moved to Electric Park and remodeled the facilities while the YMCA built a new building and razed the former church property to create the current day parking lot. Spencer United Methodist remodeled the community center and held services there until its new sanctuary was complete in 1961. The church is now known as North Davidson, A United Methodist Congregation, and development continues.

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