West Boulevard Corridor

Westover Hills

Capitol Drive

Clanton Park

Reid Park

Ponderosa

Renaissance West

Revolution Park

Pinecrest

Carr Heights

Arbor Glen

BarringerWoods

Kings Park

TyvolaCrossing

Wingate

Bent Oaks

1701 City View

Little Rock Apts

Roseland

1

Charles H Parker

Born into slavery 50 miles east of Charlotte, Charles Parker secretly learned to read as a child. His lifetime commitment to

education bore fruit with the creation of Plato Price School.

“Pioneering leader and visionary” of Moore’s AMEZ.He helped acquire land for the church and later for

the Brothers and Sisters Aid Societies.

Planting Churches and Fraternal Societies

2

150 Years of Community Building

Fewer than one in ten African American farmers owned the land they farmed.

Farming the land, 1880

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library photo circa 1900

75% of the land of Mecklenburg County was

owned by <2% of the population.

3

Growing cotton for cash limits available food

crops.

Buying Land

By 1920 the area was home toa number of African American

farm owners. Many were relatedto the Parkers.

Charles and Rachel Parker bought 12 acres of land on

Remount Road in 1898.

US Geological Survey, 1902 4

Buying Land and Building Homes

West Boulevard

Nathaniel and Lizzie Carr created Carr Heights on West Boulevard

for black buyers in 1924.

5

“To be used only for religious purposes

by the Baptist denomination of the

colored race.”

Nat and Lizzie Carr provide land for

Shiloh Baptist Churchin Carr Heights

1927

1986/2006

New Churches, Stronger Community

2600 Elmin Street6

New church building, 1959 2400 West Boulevard

Amay James started a Sunday school in 1922 which grew into a church in 1942.

The Amay James Community Center opened in 1977.

Amay James, Community Builder

Deep Roots, New Growth

7

Ross Reid grew up in the corridor, working on a farm and getting only months of formal schooling. He would became a

carpenter and a builder of homes.

Deep Roots, New Growth

He was able to acquire more than 150 acres of

land and shape the development of that land

for the benefit of his family, friends, and

neighbors.

8

Deep Roots, New Growth

Reid Park was created out of land that Ross purchased and made available for

sale to black residents in 1946.

9

Olivia Sims

Ollie Parker

AnnisePettice

Pearl Torrence

Julia Davis

RosaMoore

The Legacy of Community BuildingChildren of Charles and Rachel Parker

The Parker children created theParker Heights Apartments in 1970

to provide affordable housing on the land that Charles and Rachel Parker

bought in 1898.

10

New Subdivisions for White Homebuyers

1954-63

11

Revolution Park (part)

BarringerWoods

Pondersosa

Pinecrest

Rollingwood

Clanton Park

Westerly Hills #2

Ashley Park

Wandawood

Westerly Hills

Marlborough

Regal Heights

Walls o

f Segregation

Clo

se In

12

Revolution Park (part)

BarringerWoods

Pondersosa

Pinecrest

Rollingwood

Clanton Park

Westerly Hills #2

Ashley Park

Wandawood

Westerly Hills

Marlborough

Regal Heights

“Big Four” contractors build more than 2,000 new single family

homes, 1954-63

Walls o

f Segregation

Clo

se In

13

Revolution Park (part)

BarringerWoods

Pondersosa

Pinecrest

Rollingwood

Clanton Park

Westerly Hills #2

Ashley Park

Wandawood

Westerly Hills

Marlborough

Regal Heights

Walls o

f Segregation

Clo

se In

All exclude African American homebuyers and renters

14

“Big Four” contractors build more than 2,000 new single family

homes, 1954-63

Supermarkets follow the

new homes

1961

White Flight and Black Arrival

1970

West BoulevardCorridor

West Boulevard Food Desert Today

West Boulevard Convenience Stores

Building the Future

19

Three Sisters MarketCooperative Grocery

Legacy of Community Based Self-Help