On September 5, 1891, George W. Vanderbilt II purchased land for the Young Men’s Institute in Asheville.During construction of his lavish home in Asheville, Vanderbilt decided to establish a community center for his African American workers. The building, constructed in 1892 and 1893, was designed by Richard Sharp Smith, who was also the supervising architect of the Biltmore House.
Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On September 4, 1826, early industrialist John Fulenwider died.
On September 4, 1957, Dorothy Counts enrolled at Harding High School, one of four segregated white schools in Charlotte to receive their first African American students that day. She was accompanied by Reginald Hawkins, a dentist, who would go on to be the first black man in the modern South to seek statewide office when he ran for governor in 1968.
On September 3, 1991, a fire swept through the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet, killing 25 people and injuring 56 others in one of the state’s deadliest industrial accidents.
On September 3, 1960, Wilbur Hardee opened a drive-in hamburger stand in Greenville, launching what would become Hardee’s Food Systems, Inc., the fifth-largest fast-food restaurant chain in the United States.
On September 2, 1952, gubernatorial candidate William B. Umstead dedicated Grandfather Mountain’s Mile-High Swinging Bridge near Linville, and his daughter Merle became the first person to cross it.
On September 2, 1911, Romare Bearden, one of the 20th century’s most important African-American artists, was born in Charlotte.Bearden studied at the Art Students League in New York City, Columbia University and the Sorbonne. For 30 years, he worked on his art at night and on weekends while employed as a social worker in New York City.
On September 2, 1890, Elon College opened as a four-year liberal arts college in Alamance County.