Grier Heights is a historically Black neighborhood in
Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded around the 1890s, originally called Grier Town, when a former
slave
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
Sam Billings bought 100 acres of land in the land.
History
Grier Heights was originally a farming community of four houses in 1886.
Billings wanted to create a place where
Black people
Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...
could learn and thrive in their own community.
Eventually, it became a suburb that was home to lower-income families as well as middle-class African Americans.
By the 1920s, Grier Heights was the home to several prominent Black residents, including Arthur Samuel Grier, a
funeral-home director for whom the community is named after, and James McVay, founder of Grier Heights’ Antioch Baptist Church.
Additional land was purchased in 1907.
In 1927, the landowner pursued the need for a school. However, the
Board of education
A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution.
The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
offered a structure. Instead, the community, supervised by Nellie B. Dykes raised $505. The School Board Committee granted $500 and
Rosenwald Fund. After this, the neighborhood got a school, Billingsville School.
The school was eventually renovated into the Grier Heights Community Center, currently a virtual learning hub due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The neighborhood grew until the 1940s when Arthur Grier built 100 homes that were sold to
African American soldiers returning from
World War II.
Gentrification
Like many inner-city neighborhoods, Grier Heights faces
gentrification. Houses are being converted to
rental property
Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for a ...
. The neighborhood is adjacent to several highly sought-after and extremely affluent neighborhoods.
Website Grier Heights Community Center
References
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Neighborhoods in Charlotte, North Carolina
Ethnic enclaves in the United States
1886 establishments in North Carolina