South Tryon

View of South Tryon looking North from 3rd Street in the 1900's.  The Academy of Music is the second building on the left with highly decorated pediments.  Two doors north is the YMCA.  The old Opera House is hidden behind the trees across the road from the YMCA.

1885 Sanborn map showing location of Opera House

Charlotte Opera House, built in 1874

1896 Sanborn map showing the Opera House opposite the YMCA building

Charlotte and the Carolina's first YMCA building built in 1888 at 206 South Tryon Street 

1905 Sanborn map showing the Academy of Music two doors down from the YMCA

Charlotte's Academy of Music was situated in the new Southern States Trust Building built in 1902

1929 Sanborn map showing west side of South Tryon.  Notice that the Academy of Music and the YMCA have both been replaced

On the other side of the street the building of the old Opera House is still extant, but is now serving as a movie house

South Tryon Street, “Performance Arts District” 

An examination of the second block of South Tryon Street between 1874 and 1929 gives us a fascinating insight into Charlotte’s rapid urbanization and the attendant growth of cultural institutions in the Queen City after the Civil War.  This block became a focus for music performance after the opening of the Opera House in 1874 and the trend continued until an accidental fire razed the Trust Building and with it the Academy of Music in 1922.  By this time auditoriums built within larger businesses had been superseded by bigger stand-alone auditoriums, so the Johnson Building that replaced the Trust Building had no such facility.

• Following the national trend Charlotte’s Opera House was opened in 1874 as the city’s first purpose built auditorium.  It served a wide range of entertainments including musical shows and concerts.  The 1885 Sanborn map above shows that the Opera House was the third urban building on the east side of Tryon Street south of 4^th Street.  South of the Opera House were a smattering of widely spaced smaller, probably residential buildings and across the street was a similar scene.
• By 1896 the Opera House was joined on Tryon by the YMCA, which provided a second auditorium for musical gatherings and concerts.  Urbanization was slowly edging south.
• By 1905 the South Tryon scene has taken major strides towards extending the urban core with the addition of The Trust Building, which housed the Academy of Music.  Many photographs from this period proudly parade this side of South Tryon.
• The 1929 Sanborn maps reveal a strongly urban block and surprisingly also indicate how quickly the urban environment can change, since neither the Academy of Music nor the YMCA exist any more.  Interestingly the old Opera House can still be spotted in its new guise as a movie theatre. 

During the first half of the 19^th century Charlotte and Mecklenburg County were supported by a farming economy based on cotton and slave labor.  Charlotte was a small town similar to many others in North Carolina with few businesses and many residences in the downtown area.  A frenzied period of gold mining stimulated the Charlotte economy and gave the city the prestigious U.S. Mint, but when gold was discovered out west speculation in the area quickly curtailed and with it the additional population. 

It was the crossing of major rail lines through the center of the city that transformed Charlotte into a major center for trade and distribution and led the way to steady growth and prosperity in the post war period.  Industrial development quickly followed and with it a growth in banking and financial services which characterize the Queen city today.

Charlotte’s exponential growth in population transformed both the fabric of the city and the cultural expectations of its leaders and citizens.

   Year              Population[1]
   1860             2,265
   1870             4,473
   1880             7,094
   1890             11,557
   1900             18,091
   1910             34,014
   1920             46,338