The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-10-26


trunk line railroads into this Piedmont
region. the New England of the South.
And the centre OF all this great manu-.
featuring region is Charlotte.
None Of her rivals, husky as they are and
forging ahead at n prodigious pace, has
yet caught up with her. or is even seriously
crowding upon her heels. for the present at
least She calls herself proudly the Queen
City, and there is none now to dispute her
right, none indeed, in all the great manu-
featuring region around about her for
a radius OF 100 miles which to all appear
ances has brighter future before it.
TIE OLD AND THE NEW.
And wi h all Charlotte's present dash
ard go-ahead spirit. the time was, and
that not 60 very many years ago. when
she was as typical Of the dry rot OF the old
South a. she now is Of tho splendid life
and vigor Of the new. Charlotte had not
even bsgun to wake up in 1880.
The 5000 population she then had in the
municipality and the total Of 1000 in the
township. was just about what II was In
size and in ambition for years before the
war. In the old slavery days the town
was just the county seat and the market
town Of drowsy agricultural region that
extended out into the bcautifm county OF
Mecklenburg for miles around.
PINE PUBLIC BurLptN,,
The old cost House. is still standing
tucked away and elbowed right and left by
crowding modern buildings Of brick ana
stone that look as though they had moved
bodily in from some thriving manufacturing
town Of the East or West. II is only
rainshackle old structure that II turned TO
all sorts OF odds and ends Of use, this old
court house of the antebellum days.
But its very survival is interesting as
foil and contrast to the superb new one,
beautiful specimen of modern archi-
lecture, the two buildings being so typ
ical, respectively, of the era which is 50 rap
idly melting away into the twilight OF
history, and the era in the South which Is
so glowing with the bright promise Of the
coming dawn. And in the two city halls,
for the old one Is still standing, the con-
trast between the old and the new is
equally striking.
North, South. East or West there are
not in any civ Of the country. even those
Of fro 5000 to 10000 inhabitants, two
finer public buildings than the new rity
hall and the new court house OF Meckien-
burg county, here in the city Of Charlotte.
CHARLOTTE oUToRows HER LIMITS
1t was in the decade between 1880 and
1890 that Charlotte really began to grow.
In that interval the township gained 1900
inhabitants and right here IL may be as
well TO explain point around which there
might grow some confusion regarding
Charlotte's figures Of population.
The city proper does not comprise as
vet the entire township. but that is mere
technically. As a matter of fact the city
ha. ou,grown its municipal boundaries
In all directions.
It's gas and sewer and water mains all
extend for beyond the technical city limits,
just as do the streets Of beautiful resi-
dences and the manufactures Of all sorts
The artificial dividing line is maintained
for the time being for the good and suf-
fcient reason that there Is large and
growing population beyond this inagn-
AIRY line that has all the advantages Of the
city's fine municipal equipment without
being compelled to pay the taxes incident
10 the maintenance OF the same.
This 10 condition which meets the
hearty approval Of those who thus have
the city benefits without paying for them.
and Is not looked upon with tho same en-
thusiastic eye of approval by those who
have the city benefits and do pay for them.
OF course one day there will be a change
in all this and Charlotte will be Charlotte.
now matter how far into what is now the
country IL may 60.
The TRUE POPULATION
The arrangement does an injustice 20
Charlotte In another respect II results
In the city's not getting credit for all the
population that IL really her own.
For instance. the census Of 1890 gave
the population Of Charlotte as 900. max
ing the growth in the ten years only 5000.
whereas, as matter Of fact, the real
population OF the actual commercial unit
that was Charlotte and should have been
50 called, was 5000. and the growth In
the decade 5000
In the same way in the census Of 1900,
the population Of Charlotte is put down
as trife over 1900, whereas the actual
population OF Charlotte township. which
means Charlotte city. was recorded as
rs. 500
At tho present moment the population
Of Charlotte is probably close to $1,000.
II is not an extravagant estimate To put
down the population Of the city by the
time the next census 10 taken. in 1910, at
upward of 10000
DEVELOPMENT or EIGHTEEN YEARS.
And all this the development within
hardly more than eighteen years OF dull
little country seat we'll back in the interior
of the State, that for nearly century had
been at a dead standstil in every respect
except in those Of the natural process OF
decay!
Eighteen years ago tho first step onward
had been nade--a timid, faltering step
at the best. Yet there had been developed
hero then sufficient commercial courage
to build Just one cotton mill.
GOLD MINING.
To-day in Charlotte there are Just seven
teen such mills and more are coming. TO
saw nothing Of other manufactures Of
various kinds, schemes for which are as vet
floating In the air, but many OF which will
take tangible form.
There is gold In these hills here that IL
even now being worked out at a small
profit, and certain New York men who
arc In touch with good deal OF capital