In the process of getting a few Kossacks together for Moral Monday in Charlotte, I came across a wealth of information around the history of Charlotte and the namesake of Marshall Park, the official site of the event. This diary is the result.
What I uncovered connects the result of Progressive policies enacted during the Great Depression to some of Charlotte's most venerable institutions, including its airport. Travelers today know it as Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. Locals know it as an epicenter of the power struggle between Charlotte and Raleigh.
Former Charlotte Mayor, now Gov. Pat McCrory and his supermajorities in Raleigh know it as a target for takeover by the state government. It's not flying with Charlotte voters, pun intended.
An Observer poll in May found that, by a 3-1 margin, Charlotte voters want the city to keep control of the airport.
And though legislation that would take it away from the city received nearly unanimous support from GOP lawmakers in Raleigh, the move drew opposition from several high-profile Republicans in Charlotte, including City Council members Andy Dulin and Warren Cooksey.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/...
There's nothing like the smell of GOP infighting in the rain! Follow me below the swarm of hornets for more history, a little lacrosse, and why Charlotte's roots run bluer than you think.
First, who is Marshall, and how did he get a park named after him?
This Park is named for James B. Marshall who was City Manager of Charlotte 1935-1940. It is said that Marshall's office in City Hall overlooked the property, and he dreamed it would someday be a park. The property was cleared by urban renewal in the early 1970s, and the park was dedicated by the city on June 2, 1973.
Marshall Park specs, per the Charlotte-Mecklenburg government website:
5.50 acres
Open space for gatherings and events
Small lake with concrete bottom, walking path and bridge
Large fountain
Small amphitheater on tiered grassy slope
Built-in power outlets in open space area for small events
Beautiful view of Charlotte uptown skyline
Martin Luther King memorial statue
Holocaust memorial monument
Marshall Park via projectwedding.com
Map of the region:
View Larger Map
James B. Marshall was Charlotte's first City Manager. Since the Town of Charlotte was first established in 1768, Something Big must have happened to both have this position created, and this man chosen to fill it. The year was 1935. I wonder what that could have been?
Charlotte was run by a commission form of government from 1768 until the Civil War. According to cmstory.org (emphasis mine),
Following the withdrawal of Federal troops, an aldermanic form of government was adopted with aldermen and mayor elected by the people. The number of aldermen varied from time to time, reaching a total of twenty-two in 1907. Political reforms, necessitated by Charlotte's industrial growth, were accomplished by a change from the aldermanic to commission form of government in 1917. At that time, three commissioners replaced an assortment of elected officials which included the mayor, twenty-one aldermen, the city clerk, tax collector, and water commissioners.
While the commission form worked well in comparison with the preceding aldermanic government, it failed to keep abreast of the needs of a growing city. In 1929, by a vote of 4,436 to 2,496, a city manager and council plan of government was instituted, whereby a professional city manager was employed to execute policies and instructions issued by a board of seven elected councilmen. Hardships imposed by the depression of 1929-1933 shook the faith of many in the city's new form of government, but during the incumbency of Mayor Ben Douglas, 1935-1941, a City Manager James B. Marshall, faith was restored, and has since been happily maintained.
I can't vouch for the "happily maintained" part, especially since Art Pope took over the state and Anthony Foxx headed to DC (good on him!) At the end of Mayor
Ben Douglas' incumbency in 1941, Marshall left public office and went on to
design the highways needed to accommodate Charlotte's ever-expanding suburban footprint.
Another major project championed by Marshall was the construction of the American Legion Memorial Stadium in the Elizabeth community of Charlotte, completed in 1936. This is where professional lacrosse comes in. You didn't even know Charlotte had a pro lacrosse team, did you? We do, and the Stadium History page of the official Charlotte Hounds website proved to be an invaluable if unlikely resource on Charlotte's Historical Dudes Marshall and Douglas.
Douglas hired James B. Marshall as City Manager. A native of Anderson, SC, Marshall was a brilliant engineer who had graduated from the College of Charleston before settling in Charlotte in the 1920s. By the end of May, 1935, Marshall was busily at work preparing a list of projects for submission to the Works Progress Administration for possible funding.
The W.P.A. had a major presence in Charlotte. A district office of the Works Progress Administration was established on Tryon St. in July. John Grice, its Director, urged Charlotte-Mecklenburg officials and those in surrounding counties to submit applications for projects. On August 28, 1935, local attorney Marvin Ritch appeared before the City Council and urged that "some immediate action" be taken "toward completing the stadium in Independence Park." Not surprisingly, Marshall included the completion of Charlotte’s stadium on his list of W.P.A. applications. The largest project for which the City sought W.P.A. funding was the creation of a municipal airport.
From
Wikipedia:
American Legion Memorial Stadium is 21,000-capacity stadium located on 7th Street in the Elizabeth community of Charlotte, North Carolina. Memorial Stadium is mainly used for high school sporting events and also serves as a public venue. Prior to the construction of nearby Bank of America Stadium, Memorial Stadium was Charlotte's largest outdoor venue, and is still the largest municipal venue in the city.
From the
Charlotte Hounds' Stadium History:
The American Legion Memorial Stadium (1936) was a direct result of substantial Federal assistance to local government and was the first municipal structure in Charlotte that could accommodate thousands of visitors...
American Legion Memorial Stadium, 1946
The stadium bore dramatic testimony to a shift in attitudes in the 1930s about the role of the Federal government in societal affairs. The construction of the American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte was intimately bound up with the relief programs of the Great Depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt persuaded the U.S. Congress to create the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) in April 1935, with an initial appropriation of $4.88 billion dollars to provide jobs for millions of unemployed laborers, artists, writers, scholars, and others. The W.P.A. provided most of the funding to construct an assortment of structures, including airports, seaports, bridges, schools, museums and stadiums. The W.P.A. also supported programs in the humanities, including the Federal Arts Project, Federal Writers Project, Federal Theatre Project, National Health Survey, and the Historical Records Survey.
Sounds pretty progressive to me! Located in the same complex as the stadium is the
Grady Cole Center, which hosted then-Senator and Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama in 2008.
Grady Cole Center, March 2008
Charlotte Hounds Lacrosse
Memorial Stadium, 2012
Meanwhile,
ground was broken in 1935 for the new municipal airport.
Construction began in December 1935 under the direction of N.C. W.P.A. director George Coan and John Grice, Charlotte Regional W.P.A. Director. Hundreds of unemployed men, bundled in overcoats, stood in line for the first W.P.A. jobs, which consisted of clearing the site of trees and underbrush. One hundred and fifty of those men found work on the airport the first day. Many of those present had no means of transportation and walked six or more miles to the airport site. The Charlotte airport project grew into the W.P.A.’s largest project, in allotted funds, until that point; W.P.A. funds accounted for $323,889.47, which were combined with an investment by the City of Charlotte $57,703.28. Of this money, $143,334.96 was paid in salary to the workers on the site.
Charlotte Municipal Airport, 1938
When W.P.A. construction ceased in June 1937, the new Charlotte Municipal Airport boasted an administration/terminal building, a single hangar, beacon tower, and three runways—two 3000 feet-long landing strips and one 2,500 strip, each 150 feet wide.12 The following year, the U.S. Department of Commerce added a "Visual-type Airway Radio-beam" system and a control building, which allowed pilots to engage in blind flying and blind landing.13 Of these structures, only the Hangar remains.
The City Council wasted no time putting the new airport to use. They appointed an airport commission, chaired by William States Lee, Jr. to operate the new facility. Eastern Airlines flew the first plane into the new airport on May 17. Six daily flights took off from Charlotte Municipal Airport in its first year of operation; by 1938, the number of flights increased to eight. In 1940, the city officially dedicated the site, "Douglas Municipal," in honor of the mayor who spearheaded the movement to built the airport
Six flights a day. Today it looks like this.
So yes, we in Charlotte are just a bit peeved at having our airport taken over, our civil rights curtailed, our teachers trampled, our lady parts legislated and our votes suppressed. Whether you're here in person or in spirit, know that progressives who came before us made it possible to fly into a modern airport, navigate the streets safely, take in a sporting event, and march forward together for what is good, and right, and moral. We stand on the shoulders of the proud Progressives who came before us.
More on Charlotte Moral Monday here.