Historic Charlotte

✧
Right: James B. Duke.
COURTESY OF CAROLINA ROOM, PUBLIC LIBRARY OF
CHARLOTTE AND MECKLENBURG COUNTY.
Below: The Egyptian Revival style Masonic
Temple was a distinctive Charlotte
landmark until its 1987 demolition. Built
during the long growth period before the
Great Depression, the Masonic Temple was
an anchor of the South Tryon streetscape.
Its demolition helped spur the County
Commission to establish a revolving fund to
save historic landmarks.
COURTESY OF CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG HISTORIC
LANDMARKS COMMISSION.
HISTORIC CHARLOTTE
70
August 1917. Some 60,000 soldiers, many
from New England, would eventually train at
Camp Greene — about as many people as
then resided in Charlotte.
The initial headquarters for Camp Greene
were located in the James C. Dowd House,
which still stands on Monument Avenue off
Wilkinson Boulevard. The most tragic events
at Camp Greene occurred during the Winter
of 1918-1919, when a worldwide Spanish
Influenza epidemic swept into Charlotte.
Susie Harwood VanLandingham received a
personal commendation from President
Woodrow Wilson for her supervision of the
Red Cross Canteen at Camp Greene.
David Ovens is best remembered as a lover
of the arts. He served for eighteen years, from
1934 until 1952, as president of the
Community Concert Association. His job was
to bring excellent professional actors and
musicians to perform in Charlotte. The problem
was that the city had no building that
could meet even the minimum performance
requirements of artists during the 1930’s and
1940’s. Founded in 1932, the Charlotte
Symphony Orchestra played its initial concerts
at Alexander Graham Junior High
School on East Morehead Street before moving
to the auditorium at Piedmont High
School and then to the Armory Auditorium
on Cecil Street, later Kings Drive. “There was
a time,” remembered Ovens, “when the old
Armory was becoming so shabby that people
didn’t want to go to artistic events there, and
the attendance fell off.” Ovens played the pivotal
role in securing public backing for Ovens
Auditorium, originally called the Civic
Center, and the Charlotte Coliseum, now
Independence Arena. Charlotte architect A. G.
Odell, Jr. designed both buildings, which
opened in 1955.
Myers Park’s most powerful and influential
resident was James Buchanan Duke. On March
8, 1919, Duke purchased the Colonial Revival
style home that architect C. C. Hook had
designed in 1915 for utilities executive Z. V.
Taylor. Duke transformed the already-substantial
house into a majestic mansion of 45 rooms
and 12 baths between 1919 and 1922. Two
considerations were uppermost in causing
Duke to purchase the property. First, business