Monroe's Artesian Water

Early 1900s - ( from Stack & Beasley book)

"Not the least among the attractions of Monroe is its unexcelled artesian well. It is not a panacea for every ill that afflicts humanity. It is not the 'Fountain of Life' for which thousands have so eagerly sought for centuries--a certain shield for 'all the evils that wait on mortal life, from pain and death forever;' but it is a most excellent remedy for indigestion, dyspepsia, all kinds of gastric and kidney troubles, rheumatism, lassitude, debility from overwork, that 'tired feeling' that comes upon one when the season is changing from snow and ice into the balmy sunshine and gentle breezes of spring; in fact, were we to state in this article how many cures have been made by this water in the last two years, since it began to be used, it would sound like fiction or a tale from the Arabian Nights.

"Distilled and compounded in Nature's own laboratory, more than one thousand feet beneath the earth's surface, it is far beyond the reach of baccilli or fever germs, and there is no recorded case of typhoid fever in our city since this water came into general use, except in cases where they continued to use common well water. As it gurgles up from the fountain depths in two streams of 1028 and 968 feet deep, through solid slate rock, it bursts into the cistern and water mains, limpid and sparkling, clear as crystal and almost absolutely pure.

"The official analysis, made by the State Chemist, is as follows: Total solid matter in solution, 11.9 grains per U.S. gal. Total solids consist of: Calcium bicarbonate, 7.47 grains per U.S. gal; sodium chloride, 1.98 grains per U.S. gal; organic matter, soluble silica, magnesium sulphate, 2.45; iron bicarbonate, free carbonic acid gas, .36 cubic inches per gal; no sulphur present as gas. By this analysis is shown that the Monroe Artesian water is unsurpassed by any other in North Carolina, or as to that, in the South.

"The city fathers have erected a nice pavilion, hard by the well, where all who choose can go at any time of the day or night and drink the water as it comes from the well, and thus obtain all the benefits that it gives. The water is better at the well than from the mains, as some of the healthful gases escape before it gets from the cistern into the water pipes and to the houses.

"Knowing the great value of this water, we cannot see any peculiar reason why parties from the malarial sections should go further up the country to spend the summer, and endure hard beds and rough fare of some watering places when they could come here and enjoy all the comforts of home in Monroe's excellent private houses and first class hotels. Monroe is high enough above sea level to be free from malaria--the climate is delightful--very few sultry days in summer and not many excessively cold ones in the winter--good graded roads running in various directions, affording lovely drives--splendid livery accommodations--fine churches--good music--hospitable and clever people, who will extend a genuine, old fashioned Southern hospitality to all who come in their midst. We might say much more in this article, but we do not consider it necessary, as we know if you come to Monroe once, you will be a constant visitor thereafter. We are willing to let the following testimonials concerning the water speak for themselves: [excerpts follow]

"Dr. Ashcraft's Statement...prior to the use of the Monroe Artesian water, the town was visited almost every year by an epidemic of that dreaded disease, typhoid fever. Since the town has been supplied with this pure water, typhoid fever is unknown to us, except now and then an isolated case, where the water has not been used...The water is a wonderful patent remedy in gouty and rheumatic conditions...corrects digestive failures.

"I have been drinking Monroe artesian water about six weeks and it has entirely cured me of dyspepsia. I have been railroading in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina for twenty-two years and I pronounce the Monroe artesian water the best that I have ever used and cheerfully recommend it to all who may be suffering from indigestion and kidney troubles. -J.S. Morris, Engineer S.A.L. Railway

"The people of Monroe should get upon their knees every night and thank Almighty God for blessing them with such incomparably fine water. -Hon. T.A. McNeill, Judge of the Seventh Judicial District of North Carolina, Lumberton, NC

"Mr. J.J. Moody, of this city, an ex-Confederate soldier, bearing in his body the baneful effects of exposure in camp and field during those dreadful years of war, also the numerous wounds received in battle, has for years been almost a physical wreck, unable to work, sometimes too feeble to walk around, and in consequence his digestive organs completely out of gear so that he could eat nothing, only the lightest kind of food, and then suffered almost death from indigestion and dyspepsia. About two years ago he began drinking the artesian water...today he is strong and healthy as he was in the hey day of his young manhood.

"The State Sanitary Chemist, after an examination of water of various towns and cities says: 'Monroe has the finest water in the State.'

"It gives me pleasure to say that I have been using the Monroe artesian water for some time and pronounce it a splendid water...It only needs to be known in order to attract people to your splendid young city to live. - Geo. G. Shannonhouse, Conductor on Atlanta Special

"...We make a specialty of supplying this famous water, carbonated and plain, for drinking purposes. We use it exclusively in every bottle. Our ales and soda waters are as good as the very best, because we use only the best materials and are very particular that cleanliness is used extravagantly. They cost no more than the common kinds and are far superior. Our specialties are ginger ale and carbonated water, put up in 5-cent bottles. - Monroe Bottling Works"

Stack & Beasley - Sketches of Monroe and Union County 1902

Thomas J. Shannon House 1901 - 406 W. Franklin Street

Photo included in Stack & Beasley's Sketches of Monroe and Union County

In 1900, Thomas J. Shannon (1868-1907), who ran a general store, purchased a lot on which he built this Queen Anne/Classical Revival style house. 

"This firm is composed of T.J. Shannon and F.M. Welsh. Mr. Welsh resides in South Carolina and is the father-in-law of Mr. Shannon. The latter first began selling goods at Jefferson, S.C., but moved to Monroe in 1894. Shannon & Co. do a wholesale and retail mercantile business in hardware, dry goods, shoes, notions, etc., and also deal largely in wagons, buggies and farming implements. Their principal stores are in the Shute building, at the corner of Franklin and Hayne Streets. They run a livery stable on Franklin Street and a grocery store at the corner of Church and Franklin Streets. They also have a retail store at Jefferson, S.C. Mr. Shannon, aside from his other enterprises, deals largely in stock and cattle and farms considerably. He is a very busy man and a splendid business man." (Stack & Beasley's Sketches of Monroe and Union County 1902)

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"Its patterned slate roofs with sheet-metal ornamental ridges have intersecting hipped sections with pedimented gables on the northwest, northeast and southwest corners, the latter two over three-sided bays. These gables have patterned tongue and groove sheathing. At the southeast corner the roof pushes out into a round corner bay over the projecting second story porch. This porch has turned columns in pairs, a spindle fringe and a railing with balls set between the balusters in a garland pattern. The main porch runs across the front of the house and has Tuscan columns, though the railing is like that of the second floor. Over the front steps is a small portico with diagonal board patterning in its gable end. Underneath the porch
are two large diamond-shaped windows. Other windows on the house are one over one. At the west side of the house is a rectangular bay window, and at the rear a one-story, gable-roofed wing. There are interior and exterior end chimneys, both with corbelled caps." (National Register 1987)

Dr. J. M. Belk House 1903 - 401 S. Hayne Street

Dr. John Montgomery Belk House 1903

The largest and most impressive of the Neo-Classical Revival residences built in Monroe during the first two decades to the 20th century, this massive frame house was erected in 1903 for Dr. John Montgomery (J.M.) Belk (1864-1928), a South Carolina native, who with his brother W.H. Belk founded what was to become the largest chain of department stores in the southeast United States.

J.M. Belk received his medical degree from New York University and practiced medicine in neighboring Anson county for a number of years. His older brother, William Henry Belk, had moved to Monroe and opened a general store in 1888. Dr. Belk gave up his medical practice in the mid 1890s and moved to Monroe to join his brother in the business world. They quickly moved to open stores throughout North and South Carolina, with 38 stores operating in the two states by the time of the doctor's death.

In 1895 W.H. Belk moved to Charlotte where they had recently opened a large store, leaving his brother in charge of the Monroe store, but they often exchanged places as they took active roles in the management of the chain's operations. Dr. Belk also served the community, being a member of the city school board and the board of trustees of the Ellen Fitzgerald Hospital; the philanthropies of the Belk brothers are also well known.

The remarkably intact house, known locally as the "Belk Mansion", features a two-story, double-pile, center-hall plan main block covered by a slate hipped roof with a widow's walk. The roof extends over an engaged two-story, full-facade portico with monumental composite Order fluted columns. There is also a one-story Ionic order full wraparound porch with a porte cochere on the south elevation and a turned balustrade on both the deck and the roof. A two-story semi-circular bay on the north elevation and a two-story semi-hexagonal bay on the south also have turned balusters on the roof. Two small gabled dormers are located on the side and front slopes of the hipped roof; those on the front flank a larger gabled dormer with a Palladian window and a balustraded balcony. These dormer windows light a full attic.

On the first floor of the three-bay facade, one-story semi-hexagonal bays flank the entrance, which has a double-leaf door between full-size one over one sidelights and below a three-part transom in a paneled surround. The transom and upper sash of the sidelights have stained glass. Tall corbelled-cap brick chimneys are in interior end and interior positions, and a wide frieze is decorated with a dentil course. Extending across the rear is a one-story, L-shaped wing with an engaged porch which has turned posts and balustrade and wood lattice between brick piers. A semi-circular walk leads to the house from the sidewalk; a high hedge runs along the north edge of the property, to the line of the east edge of the house where a chain link fence begins. (National Register)

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John Montgomery Belk was born in Lancaster, SC on July 12, 1864. His parents, shown here, were Abel Nelson Washington Belk (1833-1865) and Sarah Narcissus Walkup, who were married November 22, 1859. "During the Civil War when Union troops came thought Lancaster county, they caught Able. They thought he had hidden his Gold from them. They held him underwater in Gills Creek to get him to tell where it was hidden. Instead he was drowned." (ancestry.com)

A.N.W. Belk and Sarah Walkup had three children: Thomas Milburn Belk (1860-1875), William Henry Belk (1862-1952) and John M. Belk (1864-1928). These young boys were ages five, three and one when their father was killed in 1865.

John Montgomery (J.M.) Belk married Hallie Bennett Little (1871-1918) in 1890. By the 1910 Monroe Census, John M. and Hallie J. Belk had a house full of daughters: Nellie 19, Sadie W. 17, Mabel C.15, Daisy 12, Hallie May 10, Henry 8 and one-year-old John Elizabeth.

Background History from 1987 National Register Nomination

A Portion of Gray's 1882 Map of Monroe, Union County, NC - Click to Enlarge

Although the town of Monroe was incorporated by the state legislature in 1844 as the county seat for Union County (established 1842), its historic built environment, for the most part, reflects the period of growth and development which began in the early 1870s. While the city as a whole has a few buildings dating from the incorporation period, most notably the former Monroe City Hall (National Register, 1971), the Monroe Residential Historic District contains only two buildings thought to have been constructed prior to the Civil War. One is an outbuilding and the other, the Laney-Lee House, was enlarged and remodeled in the early 20th century, so that only some original interior trim attests to its early date.

For Monroe, like many small and medium-sized towns across the state, the arrival of the railroad was essential for the town's growth and progress. It was in 1874 that the Carolina Central Railway Company completed its line between Wilmington, the state's major seaport, and Charlotte, a southern Piedmont city which was eventually to become the state's most populous.

The station which was established at Monroe enabled the town to become a trading center for Union and the surrounding counties, notably Stanly to the north and Chesterfield and Lancaster across the border in South Carolina. The economies of all four counties were based primarily on agriculture, and farmers were now able to ship their agrarian products to far-flung markets much more easily and to purchase a diversity of goods not produced on the farm or locally available. The Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railway was incorporated by the state legislature in 1887, and by 1892, it had linked the growing town of Monroe with the major city of Atlanta, thereby opening even greater markets for the products of Union County and its neighbors.

In its maturation after the railroad's advent, the town of Monroe sits squarely in the context described by Sydney Nathans in The Quest for Progress: The Way We Lived in North Carolina, where he, following the lead of Walter Hines Page, delineated two types of North Carolina towns in the 1870s and 1880s. The first group included those which remained "in the grip of the past, their sleepy tone and leisurely habits set by former planters." Monroe was among a second group, characterized thus,

"Other towns were hubs of enterprise, with reputations for business and energy .... It was in these go-ahead towns, which were smaller in scale but identical in ambition to the dynamic cities of the North and the Midwest, that money was pursued without shame, that idleness was scorned, and that the ideology of progress took root."

Nathans goes on to discuss the growth of the middle class in these towns and their effect on the towns' development through, first, their establishment and support of a wide assortment of stores and services, and, secondly, the construction of large and stylish residences located in gracious settings of commodious lots enhanced by a variety of shade trees and other plantings.

Finally, the impetus that stimulated the development of areas such as the Monroe Residential Historic District is stated graphically by Nathans,
   
"The widening network of railroads, the dramatic expansion of industry, and the gradual growth of towns and cities brought a new measure of well-being to middle- and upper-class North Carolinians. Reflected in proud new civic and commercial buildings, that wealth also found expression in private residences and suburban development."

Unlike the planned suburban neighborhoods where a certain uniformity of architectural style, materials, scale and physical relationships occurs, the areas and buildings within the Monroe Residential Historic District exhibit a great deal of physical variety. All of the variant elements reflect the evolution of the area over a period of seventy years and contribute to its richness as a picture of that evolution.

Not surprisingly, the houses erected in Monroe during the period of significance employed many of the nationally popular styles of the time, as well as more traditional local patterns. In the former case, the railroad had made the popular architectural styles and the requisite building materials accessible to local builders and potential owners.

As Nathans pointed out in describing Hickory, North Carolina, "The coming of the railroad to the town in the previous decade {1870s} had brought new prosperity and put the community's home builders and buyers directly in touch with the latest trends of the era. On the railroad came the newest pattern books for homes. At sawmills nearby or far away, orders could be placed for elaborate manufactured moldings, factory-produced woodwork and doors, even for entire stairways. Carolina's traditional house-box-shaped, two-story—gave way to homes more modish and decorative."

After the Civil War, textiles became the dominant factor in the town's economic base, sped by the arrival in 1874 of the rail line linking Wilmington and Charlotte.
Growth and development in Rockingham accelerated after this event, and the area within its historic district experienced its greatest period of construction. In contrast, the growth of Monroe in the last quarter of the 19th century was based much less on manufacturing (its first cotton mill opened in 1890) than on trade. But with the exception of the inequality in the number of surviving antebellum buildings, the districts are similar architecturally and spatially, with houses in the popular architectural styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries located on streets radiating in three directions from the central business district.

The area incorporated by the state legislature for the town of Monroe consisted of a rectangular grid-plan tract of 75 acres—30 chains (1980 feet) by 25 chains (1650 feet)—centered around a courthouse square bounded by Jefferson, Hayne, Franklin and Lafayette (now Main) streets.

In February 1861 the town was enlarged with an addition of land to the west of the original boundaries, and several other additions were made over the following 20 years, to the south, east and west.

Most of the tracts added were owned by a handful of individuals and families. They included merchant and builder J.D. Stewart, who erected several important brick commercial buildings in the central business district during the 1870s and owned land in the west and southwest areas of the district. Another merchant, J.R. Winchester sold many lots in the late 1870s and early 1880s to individuals wanting to build on Washington and Crawford streets and Lancaster Avenue. The widow of Monroe mayor and Union County state senator D.A. Covington owned substantial tracts between Lancaster Avenue and Church Street, as well as land on Houston Street east of Church Street. Attorney and one-time Union County representative to the state General Assembly. M.T. McCauley owned an estate which included land located in the eastern portion of the district. MORE...

Gray's Map image was not included in the nomination report.

Interesting Photos from Late 1800s Monroe, North Carolina

Commercial Hotel on Jefferson near Depot 

Main Street - 1898

Crow Bros.1890 Main & Jefferson

July 4th Parade with Goat Cart - Hayne Street

Stable on Main

Main Street in front of Central Hotel 

Heath-Morrow Hardware1899 on Franklin Street

Fire Wagon and Fire Department on Main Street

Photos from Heritage Room Collection

A.A. Laney and George S. Lee

Laney-Lee House - Early Photo - Heritage Room Collection

The House

Laney-Lee House circa 1858 - 202 E. Windsor St.

National Register of Historic Places - 1987 Residential Historic District Nomination

"The earliest section of this large two-story frame house is said to have been built in 1858 for cotton planter and merchant A. A. Laney (1824-1902), who owned substantial tracts of land in Union county and operated a sawmill, a tannery and a saddle and harness shop in Monroe. Patternbook Greek Revival interior trim in the front section of the house provides confirmation of this date.

Patricia Poland photo - Church St. view

"After the death in 1909 of Laney's widow, their daughter moved into the house with her husband George S. Lee (1857-1931). The latter was a prominent local merchant, a founder with his brother James H. Lee of the Lee and Lee general store; in the last years of his life, Lee engaged in dairy farming. The Lees expanded and remodeled the house several times over the next twenty years after they occupied the house, with local contractor G. Marion Tucker carrying out much of the work.

"Owned and occupied today by several Lee daughters and a cousin, the house has a double-pile main block topped by a high hipped roof with a central hip dormer, a two-story pedimented bay on the east elevation, a two-story ell on the rear which extends beyond the west elevation of the main block and one-story enclosed porches along the full length of the west elevation. Tall single-shoulder brick chimneys with decorative caps bracket the front block; three additional chimneys with similar caps are in interior locations. The three-bay facade has a central projecting vestibule entrance with a transom above double-leaf doors.

Windsor Street view

"Spanning the facade and continuing along the east elevation to a porte cochere is a one-story porch whose original supports and balustrade were replaced with wrought iron in 1963. Windows have a variety of arrangements and sash patterns, including one over one, two over two, and six over six, as well as diamond and lozenge patterned sash in the dormer. Two huge magnolia trees flank the front walk and hide the front of the house. West of the house is a paved parking lot; it is the former site of the J. Frank Laney House, which was demolished in the 1960s.

"Garage, rear of 202 E. Windsor St. circa 1915 - Frame two-car garage topped by standing seam tin hipped roof; has exposed rafter ends and louvered cupola with weathervane." (National Register)

Augustus Alexander Laney (1823-1902)

was born November 25, 1823, in then Mecklenburg County, to Archibald Laney and Susannah Blakeney. "A. A." Laney married Mary Elizabeth Pistole April 1, 1858 (he was twice her age 34 & 17). Mary Elizabeth (1840-1909) was the daughter of Charles B. Pistole and Margaret Williams of then Anson County.

In the 1850 census, 24-year-old Alex A. Laney was farming with his father in Union County. By 1870 he became partner of  E.A. Armfield in the firm Armfield & Laney. The firm "did an immense business and contributed much towards the growth of Monroe.

George S. Lee - (Stack & Beasley)

George Samuel Lee Sr. (1857-1931)

was born in South Carolina, March 27, 1857 to Thomas Newton Lee (1831-1900) and Rebecca S. Collins. On November 23, 1887, George married Mary Margaret Laney, daughter of Augustus Alexander Laney and Mary Elizabeth Pistole.

1910 Census - George S. 52, Mary L. 42, Archie L.(Archibald Laney Lee) 21, George S. Jr 18, Virginia 15, Dorothy 8, Marion 5 and one-year-old Margaret Lee.

1930 Census - George 72, Mary L. 60, Marion 23 and Margaret 19. George is noted as a farmer. Value of home $10,000. J. Frank Laney 65 (conductor for Seaboard RR), was living next door with wife Lillian 60, daughter Mary Dean 25 and servant Dora 39. This house was valued at $55,000 (demolished 1960s).

In their 1902 book, Stack & Beasley wrote, "George S. Lee is South Carolinian by birth and was reared on a farm. He followed farming until he came to Monroe in 1880 to become a salesman for Marsh & Lee. He worked for that firm until 1886, when he opened up a clothing store. in 1896 he joined his brother, James H. Lee in the large dry goods house of Lee & Lee. In May 1901, Mr. Lee was elected alderman from the fourth ward and is one of the most popular officials the city ever had. In his public and private life Mr. Lee is one of the purest and best of men."

Lee & Lee

LEE & LEE - (Stack & Beasley book)

Stack & Beasley 1902, "When a stranger drops into the handsome building opposite the southwest corner of the public square, he will receive all the favorable impressions usually conveyed by an up-to-date city store. This handsome new structure is the "Lee Building," just erected by Mr. Jas. H. Lee and occupied by Lee & Lee with their big stock of dry goods, millinery, clothing, shoes and hats. The building is three stories, and one of the prettiest to be found anywhere. Over five thousand square feet of floor are in use by Messrs. Lee & Lee, with double that amount available. There are more than sixty electric lights in the store room. 

The co-partnership of Lee & Lee was formed in 1892 by Mr. Geo. S. Lee, who was in business here, and Mr. Jas. H. Lee, who came from Marshville that year and bought the Heath & Williamson stock. Before the end of the year these gentlemen moved to the Bickett Building on Lafayette Street, where they continued till their recent removal to the Lee Building. Mr. J.H. Lee is the manager, owing to the fact that Mr. G.S. Lee's health necessitates his spending much of the time out of doors. Mr. Lee employs a force of ten clerks even during the dull seasons. Beside the active work of his own business, Mr. Lee is connected with other business enterprises. He had rendered invaluable service in the construction of the handsome new Methodist Church. He is a most public-spirited and progressive citizen, always in the lead when work for his town is to be done."

Description of the Downtown Historic District

1987 Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places

The Monroe Downtown Historic District consists of the Old Union County Courthouse with its square and approximately six blocks of commercial buildings to the west and south of the courthouse. These blocks include the surviving, intact, pre-1935 portions of the city's central business district. The commercial buildings that make up the district are from one to five stories tall, all of masonry construction, in a variety of styles and dates from 1875 to the early 1930s, illustrating the development of the downtown during that period. There are twenty-six contributing properties in the district and nine non-contributing ones, plus one property already listed in the National Register, the Old Union County Courthouse.

The Old County Courthouse is located on a ridge overlooking the valley of Bearskin Creek and the railroad corridor next to it. For anyone approaching the downtown, the great height and mass of the courthouse's tower provides a landmark. Surrounding the courthouse is a landscaped square containing several large trees and, on the west side, the Confederate Monument. Sloping downhill from the courthouse on all sides is a grid pattern of streets, part of the original plan for the county seat laid out by commissioners appointed in 1843.

1847 Jail -1893 City Hall

Historically, the two major streets in the central business district have been N. Main (formerly Lafayette) street and Franklin Street, which intersect at the southwest corner of the courthouse square. Until the early 1970s, Main Street led to the railroad station, but in the 1970s, Main, north of the old courthouse, was converted to a mall at the end of which was placed the new courthouse. The east side of the courthouse square, which was the last side to be built up with brick structures, has also been the most redeveloped and has lost its integrity. The north side of the square, while retaining several early buildings, including the oldest structure in the city [1847Jail], the old Monroe City Hall [1893] (individually listed in the National Register), has also lost its integrity due to alterations.

Hotel Joffre circa 1918

Two corners of the courthouse square are anchored by buildings which, by their height and formality, reinforce the old county courthouse. At southwest corner is the Hotel Joffre Building of 1917-1919, a five-story yellow tapestry brick, limestone trimmed Classical Revival style edifice that stretches down W. Franklin Street, filling the north end of its block. At the southeast corner of the plaza is the three-story Bank of Union of 1905-06, a tan brick classical Revival style bank/office building with a prominent, domed corner tower which is supported by flanking buildings of a similar style.

Bank of Union circa 1905

In addition to the Hotel Joffre, the west side of the courthouse plaza includes the two-story, stuccoed brick Peoples Bank Building of 1875. Although altered on the first floor around 1900, this building is one of the earliest and most handsome masonry structures built in Monroe.

The south face of the plaza consists of two-story brick commercial buildings dating from the 1870s to the late 1920s in Italianate, Classical Revival and Italian Renaissance Revival styles. Some shopfronts have been altered, but the upper levels of the buildings, and several of the shopfronts are intact.

N. Main Street slopes down from the courthouse plaza to the beginnings of the residential area at its south end. Historically, the greatest concentration of buildings has been at the north end of Main Street, and this is also the best-preserved section. 

Lee Building 1901

At the southwest corner of Main and Franklin Streets is the Victorian Eclectic styled Lee Building, constructed in 1901. Although the building's shopfront has been replaced, the ornate upper levels of the former dry goods store are intact. Next to the Lee Building are two other Victorian Eclectic buildings, constructed for the Belk Brothers in 1901 and ca.1905, which are now joined at the first floor. On the east side of the block are two-story brick commercial structures dating from the turn of the century to the early 1930s, anchored at the south end by the three-story Belk/Bundy Building of 1901. While the building's Spanish tile pent cornice has been removed for safety reasons, the yellow brick clad Italian Renaissance Revival style design enlivened by white glazed terra cotta trim conveys the prosperity of Monroe's early twentieth century business district.

Belk/Bundy Building 1901

Across narrow Morgan Street from the Belk/Bundy Building is the former Monroe Bank & Trust company Building (1919-20). Faced with Indiana limestone and with white glazed terra cotta capitals, the two-story bank has a stylized classical Revival design unusual for North Carolina. A row of late-nineteenth century and 1920s two and three-story brick commercial buildings fills the remainder of the block, the former elements of which were originally part of Monroe s best-known hotel in the late-nineteenth century, the Stewart House.

The rear side of this block, facing N. Hayne Street, is completely filled by the 1924 Monroe Hardware Company Warehouse's three-story brick and concrete mass. Across the alley from it to the north is the Monroe Hardware Company Building of 1928, constructed with a similar tapestry brick. The long side elevation of the red and yellow brick Classical Revival style Secrest Building, reconstructed in 1928, completes the block.

On the south side of E. Franklin Street are a row of one-story brick stores, constructed ca. 1908 but with altered fronts, and two larger, more richly-detailed two-story brick commercial buildings constructed ca.1902 and ca.1912. One of these, 200 E. Franklin, is associated with J. Shute and sons, and like their buildings at the corner of Hayne and Franklin Streets, is faced with yellow brick.

As is common in commercial districts, the first floor fronts of many of the Monroe downtown buildings have been rebuilt. However, in most cases the upper levels of the buildings have retained their integrity or the changes made to them are readily reversible. Some rehabilitation has taken place in recent years, most notably that of the Bank of Union Building. The recent restoration of the Old Union County Courthouse and its plaza has greatly improved the historic feeling and integrity of the district.

Significance

Early Monroe Depot

The Monroe Downtown Historic District consists of the recently-restored 1888 Old Union County Courthouse, already listed in the National Register and sited on a landscaped square and two sides of the square extending west and south to include approximately six blocks of commercial buildings. These twenty-six contributing and nine non-contributing properties form the surviving commercial core of the City of Monroe prior to 1935. The district qualifies under Criterion A in the area of Commerce because it is representative of the growth and development of the city as a south-central piedmont North Carolina railroad hub and cotton exchange from the coming of the railroad in 1874 to the early years of the Depression. Many of the properties in the district are associated with a small number of owners who played important roles in the city and region, including W. H. and J. M. Belk, who established one of the southeast's largest retailing networks in Monroe in 1888, and J. Shute and Sons, who were involved in numerous business activities from brickmaking to cotton ginning to wholesale groceries. Another important regional business founded in Monroe was the Monroe Hardware company, begun in the 1880s, and by 1919 the largest hardware jobber in the Carolinas, who built a large warehouse and two stores in the district in the 1920s. The district qualifies under Criterion C in the area of architecture because it contains well-preserved examples of the eclectic late-Victorian brick commercial buildings typical of many piedmont North Carolina main streets, together with buildings of unusual sophistication for a small turn-of-the-century city. Although many of the buildings have received some alteration, individually, and as a group, they retain an integrity of design, setting, materials, workmanship and feeling with local significance in both commerce and architecture.

Historical Background

Belk's "New York Racket" Store - Late 1800s

Union County was formed by an 1842 act of the General Assembly from portions of Anson and Mecklenburg counties. A supplemental act provided for the appointment of commissioners to determine a county seat, which would be located within two miles of the center of the county, and which would be named in honor of President James Monroe. On June 8, 1843, Henry Chaney conveyed 75 acres to the chairman of the county court, on which the commissioners laid out the nucleus of the new county seat. At a high point at the north end of the plat they located a courthouse square, bounded by Jefferson, Franklin, Hayne and Lafayette (now Main) streets, each eighty feet wide. The use of a grid plan with squares for public buildings followed a tradition in North Carolina urban planning at least as old as William Christmas's 1792 plan for the new state capital, Raleigh, but which is pre-dated by plans for Fayetteville (1783) and Pittsboro (1785). However, these and other North Carolina plans drawn in the late 18th and early nineteenth centuries generally employ a form apparently derived from Pennsylvania practice, in which streets intersect the sides of the square. The block square, in which the courthouse is located in a central square, without intersecting boulevards, appears to have spread east from Tennessee in the early nineteenth century. Another example of this type of plan from the same period is Shelby, in nearby Cleveland County.

Over the next thirty years a predominantly frame business district grew up around the courthouse square, in which was located a frame courthouse. The block faces surrounding the courthouse did not develop evenly; along Franklin and Lafayette streets were located the largest and most important businesses. During that period Monroe served largely as an intermediate point in highway travel between North Carolina cities and the South Carolina counties immediately to the south.

The December 1874 completion of the Carolina Central Railway between Wilmington and Charlotte brought important changes in the town's commercial standing. Monroe became a market town where agricultural products from Union and the surrounding rural counties of North and South Carolina could be exchanged for manufactured goods brought in on the railroad. It was a hub between the state's greatest seaport and its fastest growing metropolis. Construction of the Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railroad in 1887-1892 between Atlanta and Monroe further strengthened the city's status as a railroad center. These railways were merged into the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1901 and, since the railroad did not go through Charlotte, Monroe became an important link in the seaboard's north-south route. MORE...

Images courtesy Heritage Room Collection, Monroe, NC

Description of the Monroe Residential Historic District

1874 Houston-Redfern House 506 S. Church St.

1912 J.H. Lee House 501 S. Church Street

1903 Dr. J.M. Belk 401 S. Hayne Street

1901 Dr. George B. Nance House 303 E. Houston St.

1900 Thomas J. Shannon House 406 W. Franklin St.

1898 Gaston Meares House 110 S. College St.

1870 R.V. Houston House 201 Lancaster Ave.

1926 M.G. Sheppard 323 E. Houston Street

1987 Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places 

The Monroe Residential Historic District consists of an irregularly configured area of approximately 181 acres extending to the east, south and west of the city's central business district. Within the district are a variety of street patterns, influenced by the original incorporation limits, later territorial additions to the city, and the location of major roads leading out of the city. Most of the residential area of Monroe developed between 1870 and 1940 is contained within its boundaries.

These residences, varying in size from small cottages to large and imposing dwellings, include representative examples of the Italianate, Second Empire, Victorian Eclectic, Queen Anne, Tudor, Spanish Mission, Colonial Revival and Craftsman styles, and particularly, various manifestations of the Classical Revival. While wood is the dominant building material in the district, with few solid masonry buildings, there is a heavy sprinkling of brick veneer houses—mainly bungalows and Colonial Revival or Craftsman-influenced houses—dating from the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to residential uses, there are two churches in the district, one contributing and one non-contributing, a senior citizens center, a number of houses converted to commercial uses, and the three earliest sections of the Monroe Cemetery. There are 381 contributing and 90 non-contributing resources in the district.

While many of the buildings have received some alteration, individually, and as a group, they retain an integrity of design, setting, materials, workmanship and feeling. The district encompasses a portion of the grid-patterned original 75-acre town tract and sections of the city, also laid off in a grid pattern, as additions to the original area. This rectilinear grid is broken by areas whose layout was dictated by the angled route of roads to Lancaster, South Carolina (Lancaster Avenue) in the southwestern quadrant and Wadesboro, North Carolina (East Franklin Street and US 74) in the northeastern quadrant.

Like the rest of the city, the residential historic district is set on gently-rolling hills typical of Piedmont geography, with the grid system superimposed without apparent concern for topography. Although the earliest system of land division created uniform blocks and lots, almost from the beginning these were subdivided in a random manner and lot sizes vary considerably. Setbacks and distances between the houses vary widely, as does the size of individual houses. Larger houses on larger lots are generally set back farther from the street, regardless of age, but most houses in the district are set on the front half of their lot, creating a substantially uniform appearance. Most areas of the district, particularly the major streets, are lined with mature trees, providing a further unifying element. There are no planned open spaces within the district, other than the Monroe cemetery, landscaped grounds around major houses, and parking lots.

Bands of twentieth century construction, parking lots, major thoroughfares and areas of the downtown affected by urban renewal separate the central business district (a portion of which is being nominated to the National Register as the Monroe Downtown Historic District) from the residential district. The latter is overwhelmingly residential in character, with the majority of the buildings having been erected as single family dwelling units. A number of houses have been divided into two or more units, and there are some small apartment buildings, mostly constructed within the last twenty years, scattered throughout the district.

The majority of the houses remain in single family use, although some have been subdivided into rooming houses or apartments. Most of the district's buildings are in fair to good condition. Although a number have been altered, many of the alterations were carried out early in this century, while other alterations have left intact the basic form and character of the building and are reversible. Many of the residences have been maintained continuously, and there is a substantial amount of rehabilitation occurring in the area.

Most outbuildings within the district are garages, generally small, and of frame or brick construction contemporary with the main house. A few early residences, such as the Houston-Redfearn House retain complexes of outbuildings, including barns and well houses. Several large garages have been converted to apartments or offices, including those of the Belk House and the M.G. Sheppard House on E. Houston St.

Although the town was founded in 1844, there are no houses in the historic district which survive in recognizable form from this period. MORE...

Images courtesy The Heritage Room, Monroe, NC.

Leonard Green Jr.

Leonard Green Jr. (1819-1902) and wife Cynthia Ellen Carriker married in Union County in 1838

Leonard Green Jr. was the 4th great grandson of Farnifold Green, owner of the first land patent for land that would become Beaufort.

Leonard Green Jr. was born 100 years after his 4th great grandfather Farnifold Green was massacred by Indians in 1714 at Greens Creek in Craven County, North Carolina. 

Born February 8, 1819 in Cabarrus County, NC Leonard died May 3, 1902 in Lauderdale County, Alabama. On March 4, 1823 he married Cynthia Ellen Carriker in Union County, NC. Cynthia was born January 20, 1819 in Cabarrus County and died September 1, 1895 in Lauderdale County, Alabama. Their many children were born in early Monroe, Union County, NC.

Leonard and Cynthia’s son Levi Green was born in 1850 in Monroe and died 1892 in Gordon, Palo Pinto County, Texas. Levi married Rebecca Susanna Tucker in 1871 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. According to family lore, Rebecca was shot in the foot with an arrow and had only minimal usage of that foot. While in Palo Pinto County, Texas, local Indians stole milk and chickens while Rebecca was milking the cows.

Leonard Green's third great grandson lives in Eagle Point, Oregon and raises llamas; he is retired from NASA.

Martin Luther Flow

Ad in Monroe, NC (1922-23) City Directory

George Washington Flow

Portrait - Mary Caroline Crowell Flow
Mary Catherine May Flow Death Certif.

M.L. Flow Death Certificate

"Judge" Martin Luther Flow (20 Apr 1857 - 26 Jun 1942) was born in Goose Creek, Mecklenburg County, NC, son of George Washington Flow (1826-1914), Clerk of Superior Court Union County, and Mary Caroline Crowell (1833-1915). As Justice of the Peace Flow, Esq. M.L. Flow performed many marriages.

1860 census - Union County (post office Monroe): G.W. 34 farmer, Caroline 25, Martin L. 3, John E. 2 and Margaret M. 7mo.

1870 census: Monroe - G.W. 44 Clerk Superior Court Union County, Mary C. 34, Martin L. 14, John E. 12, Margaret M. 11, Eliza J. 9, David W. 7 Harriet E. 6, Michael E. 5, George E. 3, Mary Ellen 1, Jane Miller 25 servant and Thomas Crowell 22 deputy clerk.

-Martin Luther married Mary Catherine May - Saturday, August 2, 1879, MONROE ENQUIRER We learn of the marriage at Lumberton on last Thursday night of Mr. M.L. Flow of this place, to Miss Kate, daughter of Rev. D. May.  
-Mary Catherine May (1861-1951) was born in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the daughter of Rev. Daniel May and Susan Littlejohn. She died at 406 Jefferson Street.
-Children: Nellie Inez, George D., Dan, Evan V., Eunice Lee, Harold Ware and Paul R. Flow.

1880 census: Martin L. Flow 23 Deputy Clerk of Court, wife Mary C. 18.

-May 8, 1890 -Monroe Enquirer-Express: Judge Flow’s bar room, which was located on a high embankment on the side of the Wolfe Pond road, a mile and a half south of town, was turned over into the road the other night and the jugs and bottles smashed."
-1902 Sketches of Monroe and Union County: “M.L. Flow, dealer in fancy groceries, has long been connected with the public life of Monroe. For a long time he was deputy clerk of the Superior court and a most efficient one he was. He has served many years as a justice of the peace, notary public, commissioner of affidavits, etc., and always does his business with tact and skill. Mr. Flow conducts a fancy grocery and carries in stock a large assortment of candies, fruits, canned goods. 
-In 1905 Inez Flow was recorded at the North Carolina College for Women in Greensboro, NC.

1910 census: On Jefferson St. - Martin L. 52 grocery merchant, Mary C. 48, Inez 26, George D. 23, Evan (?) V. 18, Eunice L. 15, Harold W. 10, Paul R. 7 and mother-in-law Susan E. May 73.

1920 census: Luther 63 justice of the peace, and Mary Flow 58 with: Dan 33, Paul 17, Eunice 25 with husband Frank Lander and two young grandsons Frank Jr. and Harold.

-Monroe, NC (1922-23) City Directory: Flow, Martin L. (Mary C.) United States Commissioner for Western Dist NC, commr of deed for South Carolina in North Carolina, notary public and justice of the peace Union County, Office 404 Jefferson Ave. Phone 60. Home same.

1930 census: M. Luther Flow 73 lawyer, wife Catherine 68 and Inez Flow 46. Value of home $10,000.  Residence: M.Luther Flow on Jefferson Street, Paul Flow (fireman for railroad) on Crowell/Alfalfa, M.E. Flow (retired farmer) on West Crowell Street.
-Martin Luther Flow’s death certificate 26 Jun 1942 noted: (Squire) Martin Luther Flow as Justice of the Peace, Political Life. Daughter Miss Inez Flow was the informant.