Neighborhood Founded: 1912
Achieved Historic District Designation: August 2022
Excellence in Preservation: A person, group, or project that preserves the cultural or built heritage of a neighborhood or community. Acceptable nominees include, but are not limited to: local governments, neighborhood associations, clubs, nonprofit organizations, or individuals.
McCrorey Heights sits on approximately 71 acres just north of Uptown and is one the most important historically Black neighborhoods in the nation. Founded in 1912 by H.L. McCrorey, the second Black President of Johnson C. Smith University, the area developed in the 1950s and 60s as a neighborhood for Black teachers and preachers, becoming a catalyst behind the Civil Rights Movement. Meetings to challenge the racially-segregated status quo and to establish new freedoms for Black people were often held inside these modest, mid-century homes. Many refer to McCrorey Heights as a neighborhood of firsts. McCrorey Heights residents were the first Black people to demand to eat in the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, to join city government, to become top administrators at Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, to integrate local public schools and to fight to tee off on an all-white golf course. Over the years, McCrorey Heights residents were business owners, lawyers, medical doctors, ministers, school principals and presidents of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
In addition to the neighborhood’s cultural and social significance, it is one of Charlotte's best-preserved neighborhoods from the boom decades following World War II, with both pre-war and post-war examples of ranch style and related designs. All of the houses are custom built, with many plans selected from magazines and newspapers of the day. A favorite builder of McCrorey Heights residents was Mangie McQueen, perhaps Charlotte's busiest Black residential contractor of his time and a resident of McCrorey Heights. Architect Harvey Gantt, Charlotte’s first Black mayor, designed two prominent buildings in the neighborhood—the Matilda Spears house and the First Baptist Church West complex on Oaklawn Avenue, both in his characteristic powerful 1970s modernist style.
Some 70 years later, thanks to the efforts of local residents and the McCrorey Heights Neighborhood Association, a majority of the homes constructed in McCrorey Heights remain relatively intact.
Additional information about the neighborhood was compiled for the association by historian Dr. Tom Hanchett and is available on his website historysouth.org or by clicking the link below.
Over the course of a year, the Neighborhood Association worked to educate homeowners about the merits of obtaining Historic District Designation in order to protect the historic character and environment of the community. They sought signatures from at least 51% of the homeowners, completed a detailed survey of the neighborhood, and completed a detailed photographic survey of the neighborhood.
Many members of the McCrorey Heights Neighborhood were displaced from Brooklyn during the 1960s and 70s as a part of "urban renewal." The Neighborhood Association worked hard to create a dialogue with the whole community to ensure residents understood the power of historic district designation as a preservation tool intended to protect the community and their homes. The tireless efforts of the leadership committee ensured the success of the project.