Where We've Been

16/02/2023

“We bought this house in 1967. We paid $19,350,” historian Dan Morrill said. “We paid less for this house than you pay for a car -- even a small car.”

“We paid less for this house than you pay for a car -- even a small car.”

13/07/2022

From the article: "If approved, McCrorey Heights would join seven neighborhoods in Charlotte deemed historic: Fourth Ward, Dilworth, Hermitage Court, Wesley Heights, Wilmore, Plaza Midwood and most recently, Oaklawn Park."

One of those residents is Marilyn Twitty Brown, who is part of the effort to protect McCrorey Heights. When she was a young girl living in the 1953 home her parents built, the neighborhood was filled with dirt roads and few other residences.

09/07/2022

Big thanks to Neighboring Concepts, Charlotte Urbanist, Five Points Plaza, and Shook Kelly for organizing a tour of the West-End neighborhoods surrounding Beatties Ford. I learned a lot about what's in store; the dreams, the plans for the future, and the challenges to make it a reality. All for those who live there and those beyond.

27/06/2022

Photo illustration: Maura Losch/Axios. Photos: Courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and Anna Jean Mayhew.

06/06/2022

Years of complicated ownership agreements amidst a booming neighborhood has stifled progress and improvements to Brookhill Village. Now a portion of it is scheduled for demolition.

Driving the news: Within the next few weeks, the new owner of the South Tryon Street community will tear down 20 vacant buildings as they start redeveloping the 36-acre property, the firms partnering on the work announced in a release late last month.

18/02/2022

Awesome news!

Big News! 100 homes in West Boulevard now have free internet access via MeckTech Connect, the neighborhood network powered by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library! Homes with access will receive door hangers, so keep an eye out! Visit mecktechconnect.org for more details and to see if your home is in the pilot coverage area. Stay tuned for updates as the network grows!

06/12/2021

A big road block for Kenwood Investments. But CEO Darius Anderson believes that the project will meet its agreement with the city and be completed by 2024.

A band performs at the Excelsior Club in the late 1950s. Courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

29/11/2021

Inside are online slots and “fish games,” where you bet money to shoot at colorful fish swimming across the screen. Another location even had poker.

03/11/2021

Why it’s important: We’re in an affordable housing crisis. In the Charlotte Region, income has not kept pace with the cost of living. Since 2014, the annual average Mecklenburg Co. home price rose by 34%; income has only risen 18%

25/10/2021

Happy Monday! A new episode of Where We’ve Been is out and ready for you to learn about Hidden Valley.

Also on this episode is local documentarian and historian Fred Murphy, History Before Us. We discuss gentrification, white flight, and the future of Black communities.

01/09/2021

Like many cities, Charlotte is divided along racial and socioeconomic lines. Those divisions developed over time, but not necessarily in the time period you might think.

26/08/2021

Data from 2019 showed that lenders in Charlotte "were 50% more likely to deny loans to Black applicants than white ones with similar financial profiles." Even when Black applicants had a higher income and less debt than white applicants, they were still denied.

An investigation by The Markup has found that lenders in 2019 were more likely to deny home loans to people of color than to white people with similar financial characteristics — even when controlled for newly available financial factors the mortgage industry for years has said would explain racia...

09/08/2021

The KnowCLT app, developed by Levine Museum of the New South and Johnson C. Smith University, allows users to step back in time to visit the historic Black neighborhood razed in the 1960s.

19/07/2021

Organizers say the "Tuck House," listed at $170,000 on Tuckaseegee Road, will be matched with a buyer soon.

10/07/2021

"The median price for a home in Charlotte is $337,790, up 20% from just a year ago."

The current situation around prices of homes in Charlotte has turned the American Dream into something more like a nightmare.

01/07/2021

A step to decrease the food insecurity along Beatties Ford, this grocery store will be owned by and for the community. A piece of ownership comes in with a one-time $75 contribution to the co-op.

After being snubbed by traditional grocery stores for years, westside leaders close in on a food co-op model that will help food insecurity and pay a livable wage.

28/06/2021

Charlotte continues to grow, but that progress is leaving many people behind.

Melissa Gaston, a community advocate and widow of Darryl Gaston, in front of one of the sites DreamKey Partners is looking to sell. Photo: Danielle Chemtob/Axios.

22/06/2021

Passed with a 6-5 vote, city leaders have approved the expansive plan.

The Charlotte City Council Monday night voted 6-5 to approve the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, a document that seeks to make Charlotte a more dense, affordable and walkable city.