Historic Charlotte

een short on pride,” said the Charlotte News
on May 11, 1956, “but with the chips down,
it has often exhibited distressingly little interest
in higher education in the past.”
Dramatic breakthroughs for Charlotte
College did occur in 1957 and 1958. The
school began holding its first day classes; it
acquired an independent Board of Trustees;
local property tax revenues in support of the
school increased; and Charlotte College
secured options on land for its own campus.
On August 12, 1957, the Charlotte College
Board of Trustees voted to buy land on
Highway 49. Businessman Oliver Rowe
remembered going to the site with Bonnie
Cone when the only buildings on the tract
were a barn and a silo left from farming days.
“She reached down and grasped a handful of
earth, let it sift through her fingers and said,
‘This is the place. This is the place.’”
Charlotte College moved to its suburban
campus in 1961. On May 8, 1962, the Board
of Trustees voted to request the addition of the
junior year in 1963 and the senior year in
1964. The North Carolina General Assembly
did approve four-year, state-supported status
for Charlotte College in 1963. Victory came on
March 2, 1965, when the General Assembly
approved the transformation of Charlotte
College into the University of North Carolina
at Charlotte, effective July 1, 1965. A spontaneous
celebration erupted on campus when
word reached Charlotte from Raleigh. “Miss
Cone, can you hear the victory bell ringing?”
exclaimed her secretary into the telephone.
Certainly, there were influential women in
this community before Bonnie Cone. Not the
least among them was Gladys Avery Tillett.
Tillett labored tirelessly for the ratification of
the 19th Amendment in 1920, even using a
handkerchief embroidered “Votes for
Women.” She helped found the Mecklenburg
League of Women Voters and was an active
Democrat until her death in 1984.
It was in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s that
substantial numbers of women began to
assume positions of political influence in
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. In 1954,
Martha Evans, an exuberant redhead, became
the first female member of the Charlotte City
Council. She twice ran for mayor, against
James Smith in 1959 and against Stan
Brookshire and James Smith in 1961. In 1972
Myers Park resident Elizabeth or “Liz” Hair
won a seat on the Board of County
Commissioners and became chairperson of
that body in 1974. A founding member of the
Charlotte Women’s Political Caucus, Hair was
determined to advance issues that were especially
important to women. She was instrumental
in establishing the Mecklenburg
County Women’s Commission, the Council
✧
The beginnings of the University of North
Carolina at Charlotte campus, 1962.
At this time, it was Charlotte College–
a two-year school.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, ATKINS LIBRARY,
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE.
HISTORIC CHARLOTTE
86