SouthEnd "Gold District"

[KJHburg]

10 hours ago, CLT> said:

The Hawk is nice and all, but it's definitely not in the Gold District  

are you sure?  could have flown over there for a better view of uptown. 

[11 HouseBZ]

9 hours ago, tarhoosier said:

Today I learned that the street is named Catherine Street and not Saint Catherine, though obviously for the mine. Official 1935 street map of Charlotte has it so named and placed.

I searched for ten minutes and could not find the origin of the name Saint Catherine for this mine. It seems to have been McCombs mine first, then St Catherine.

A shiny new dime for whomever uncovers the reason for Saint Catherine mine name.

Let me try, but it's not exact because of forgotten history. 

Tl;dr This too fudging long research essay I wrote basically says that I don't know and involves entirely too much conjecture for my theory.

First link, page 129, paragraph 2:

It briefly describes Samuel McCombs finding gold on his property in 1825 and the first to mine in Mecklenburg starting in 1826. It later states (2nd sentence), he operated for "several years, and then disposed of it to a mining company". The "why" Mr McCombs sold is found in the following sentence. "Gold mining machinery was scarce and ineffective, and as a consequence, the development of the industry was slow." 

Now we're brought to the question of the "who" he sold it to. This book, the pdf and the next link go on further to describe how in 1830, Chevalier Rivafanoli came to Charlotte on behalf of a/ the London mining company. He brought with him knowledge and skill of the industry, along with many experienced and skilled foriegn miners. He started skilled mining operations at the Rudisill mine under a lease from Bissel and Baker. On page 8, first sentence from the continuing paragraph, it states that a newspaper reporter visited the "St. Catherine" mine which was then managed by Rivafanoli. This answers the "who" Mr. McCombs sold to.  The 2nd link further confirms this on page 80, paragraph 2 describing a Professor Renwick of Columbia College writing a report on the visit of the mining operations of Rivafanoli in 1832. This included the "St. Catherine" mine. 

Now all this to say I can't really answer your question of why it changed to "St Catherine". Though it does answer about when, sometime between opening (1826) and take over of a/ the London mining company (1830/1831). Leaning more towards when Rivafanoli took over managing. Although, all this research led me to a theory. Many pieces of this theory I can't confirm because a lot of news articles and books aren't available on the internet or are hidden behind paywalls. 

My Theory: It involves 3 things, religion, mining practices and miner rituals.

To start we begin with the religion of Rivafanoli and his "foreign" workers. Rivafanoli is Italian and was educated in Germany. From this I make the assumption that he's Catholic. Italy is the obvious, but nothing states what part of Germany he was educated in. But the pdf references a funny story of his love for German sauerkraut (page 17, ref note 15). Sauerkraut mainly being of southern German dishes and that region mainly following of the catholic faith leads me to his assumed faith. His workers though were mostly of Cornish descent making them most likely Methodist or of the church of England (pdf page 17, ref note 10). That being said, it would make both parties believers in saints. This is important.

Mining practices of St Catherine. The pdf describes what being near the mine would of been like. It described seeing a Chilean mill being used at St Catherine mine (page 8, paragraph 2 and picture). The 2nd link confirms this in Professor Renwicks report describing St Catherine using the "Mexican method", basically milling the ore with a big stone.

Finally miner rituals and the completed theory. Before going a few hundred feet below ground, what do you think those religious miners did? You prayed. Mining was/ is a dangerous profession and probably why later 80% were slaves before the Civil War. And if you're catholic or Anglican? You prayed to a saint for their protection. Which saint though? As you look around at the buildings surrounding the entrance of the mine, what do you see? The central focus of everything is the Chilean stone, milling all the ore your bring up, the source of your livelihood. And who is the saint of all those who work with wheels (millers in the case of this mine)? St Catherine. 

Professor @tarhoosier, grade my work. I've spent entirely too much time on this. But thanks for the assignment, I enjoyed the research.

https://books.google.com/books?id=z3IlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=mccombs+st+Catherine+mine+Charlotte&source=bl&ots=A72mD9IZRp&sig=ACfU3U2LuYbAmCWHsq8SaR-whtnXaUDeDw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGrtzRpInoAhUCEawKHe3CA-sQ6AEwBnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=mccombs st Catherine mine Charlotte&f=false

RudisillSROctober2017-EASedit-2-1.pdf

https://books.google.com/books?id=CcwM-BIS2bsC&pg=RA1-PA79&lpg=RA1-PA79&dq=mccombs+st+Catherine+mine+Charlotte&source=bl&ots=HWqsjuYHca&sig=ACfU3U0pvC4fzydwGXkT5vLB9expGG8BBg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjanqa9p4noAhXYFjQIHQrvBGU4ChDoATABegQIBBAB#v=onepage&q=mccombs st Catherine mine Charlotte&f=false

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by 11 HouseBZ
Added stuff I remembered because I couldn't sleep

[Guest]

Is this the lot?  They going to demo all these buildings?

259 apartments, zero retail.


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[atlrvr]

I'm not positive, but didn't think the 3 buildings in the lower right part of that block were included.

[Guest]

I'm not positive, but didn't think the 3 buildings in the lower right part of that block were included.

They are not.


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[tarhoosier]

11House:

A+

Well done. One shiny dime held for you. About what I assumed from my search though you found more substance than my cursory investigation. 

On a first visit to the Reed Gold Mine site (highly recommended) I saw the remaining side shafts of the mine which are sized for a man with a tool, a torch,  and a leather sack to slither through. The story of Cornish immigrants drawn to the work because of tin mines in Cornwall told me that life in Cornwall must have been nasty bad to come all this way to engage in the work. At the time of that visit the stamp mill could still operate. I know not if that is still true. Being next to a stamp mill in operation is a frightening experience. No video does justice to a stamp mill that can be heard from a mile away.

[Hushpuppy321]

9 hours ago, Tyree Ricardo said:

259 apartments, zero retail.


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I’m not sure if that’s such a loss for this area though?  There’s retail at the bottom of Apartments built on South Blvd (at Remount) that’s still vacant a couple years after the Building opened.  Gotta be tough to be the first to have ground floor retail because it could be many years before suitable tenants take the plunge along this corridor.

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

I’m not sure if that’s such a loss for this area though?  There’s retail at the bottom of Apartments built on South Blvd (at Remount) that’s still vacant a couple years after the Building opened.  Gotta be tough to be the first to have ground floor retail because it could be many years before suitable tenants take the plunge along this corridor.

For sure, but they should at least build it so it can be converted when the time arises. 

[norm21499]

44 minutes ago, Tyree Ricardo said:

For sure, but they should at least build it so it can be converted when the time arises. 

How many years do you think it will be before retail opens in the vacant retail spaces?

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, norm21499 said:

How many years do you think it will be before retail opens in the vacant retail spaces?

Depends on how much this area builds out really. So far there are two fairly large residential projects planned, and townhouses. 

[kermit]

This renovation (314 W Bland, across from the backside of Seoul Food) really snuck up on me. I am impressed!

 

Edited March 14, 2020 by kermit

[AP3]

Technically Wilmore, but couldn’t locate the thread. New townhomes on West Blvd near Mint Street. I believe the same developer is building the same townhomes across the street adjacent to the Wilmore Neighborhood Center.



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[QCxpat]

Today @ 10:30 a.m. - Norfolk Southern tracks adjacent to Charlotte Pipe & Foundry, W. Summit Ave.

 

[kermit]

^ everybody forgets how much land Charlotte pipe is sitting on

[Nick2]

On 4/5/2020 at 2:55 PM, kermit said:

^ everybody forgets how much land Charlotte pipe is sitting on

Literally over twice the size of all of the legacy union land.

[KJHburg]

Notice the guy putting up the construction fencing at the Spectrum Properties apartment site at Carson and S Mint.   Today. 

[turtleman]

 

Came across this old aerial of the Gold District from 1938. Did anyone know there used to be a baseball field at the corner of Winona & Graham?

[atlrvr]

Probably a company field for Charlotte Pipe.  Would think they probably had multiple teams, but also occasionally played other manufacturer company teams.  Cool find, and a great signal of how much society has changed.

Edit:. Interesting, was Wearn field, owned by lumber magnate... nothing to do with Charlotte Pipe.  See the Charlotte Hornets played there, which threw me, because I thought their home was always in Dilworth, but that opened much later than I thought.

[jjwilli]

Wearn Field, home of the Charlotte Hornets for a while. Babe Ruth hit a home run there. Would be cool to turn the area into a park as most of that land will be unused after the train maintenance facility is completed. Run a greenway up to the new Gateway station district.

[Guest]

49 minutes ago, turtleman said:

 

Came across this old aerial of the Gold District from 1938. Did anyone know there used to be a baseball field at the corner of Winona & Graham?

SO COOL!

[tarhoosier]

Thank you, jjwilli. Wearn field was the baseball field in Charlotte.  When Dilworth was platted in 1890 there was a baseball field in what is now Latta Park. Wearn Field came later. Wearn Field is remembered as one of the homes of the Charlotte professional baseball teams on the wall of the current field as seen here:

https://www.cmlibrary.org/blog/history-baseball-charlotte

The Wearn family had a lumber company. The company was on Winona and Graham just south of Little hardware. If one uses Google or your vehicle or feet to navigate to Graham and Winona then head down Winona and look on the roof of the one level building. The ventilation and exhaust pipes for sawdust and other dangerous fire risks can be seen on the roof of the building. The current building siding on Winona is a repainting and reskin of the old unpainted building exterior which I recall. I also recall a weathered "Wearn" name on the side of that building, now lost to the newer uses.

Left and right field look to be an easy fly ball reach. Deep center field? Hoo-boy.

Throwing up a wooden grandstand and fence would be easy peasy for a lumber company.

[ertley]

Is it too much to dream that enough people could be made aware of this so that a future new development in the area--park or housing--could be given the name Wearn Field??  After a while all the Apexes, Pinnacles, Summits and the like start to numb the mind.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, ertley said:

Is it too much to dream that enough people could be made aware of this so that a future new development in the area--park or housing--could be given the name Wearn Field??  After a while all the Apexes, Pinnacles, Summits and the like start to numb the mind.

I'll suggest it to Clay Grubb they are looking at apartments catty corner to the site

Edited June 15, 2020 by Guest

[tarhoosier]

Also: looking again at the 1926 clipping from above I just noticed it was by Jake Wade. I recall reading about him in the past. He was a (nearly) famous sports writer here and with top marks everywhere he went. Here is a short biography. During the golden age of sports and journalism, he was our city's finest.

https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/morton/2012/05/09/the-poetic-prose-of-julius-jennings-wade/

[Madison Parkitect]

6 hours ago, turtleman said:

 

Came across this old aerial of the Gold District from 1938. Did anyone know there used to be a baseball field at the corner of Winona & Graham?

Man, talk about a short porch in the corners...