South Tryon
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 By this time auditoriums built within larger businesses had been superseded by bigger stand-alone auditoriums, so the Johnson Building that replaced the Trust Building had no such facility.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 4th 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 19th 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
[1] LeGette Blythe and Charles R. Brockmann, Hornet’s Nest, The Story of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, McNally of Charlotte, 1961, p 449