Mountain Island is a neighborhood of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, United States. Located in the extreme northwestern part of Mecklenburg County and Charlotte, it is an affluent home to many private schools and lakes. It is approximately north of Mount Holly. Like Steele Creek, Mountain Island was once largely its own township but nowadays has largely either been annexed or closely integrated to Charlotte. Mountain Island is named for a small island in

Mountain Island Lake Mountain Island Lake is a lake northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina created in 1924 to coincide with the building of Mountain Island Hydroelectric Station. It is named after the mountain which appears as an island in the lake, and the surrounding ...

, on the border of Gaston and

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

counties. Located on the extreme southwestern end of the lake, the island is mainly used as an anchor point for recreation, picnicking, and camping. A cotton mill, said by some authorities to be the first in Gaston County, was established on Mountain Island in 1848 by Thomas R. Tate and Henry Humphreys, owners of the Mount Hecla steam-powered mill near

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

. They hoped to take advantage of the less expensive water power from the

Catawba River The Catawba River originates in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina, where it later becomes known as the Wateree River. The river is approximately 220 miles (350 km) long. It rises in the Appalachian Mountains and drains into ...

. The site at river's edge featured a partially completed canal around the shoals that could be used for a mill race, and a steep island whose top now rises from the lake. Machinery was moved from the Mount Hecla mill by mule-drawn wagon and operations began in 1849. A village of brick houses grew around the mill. The mill and village were destroyed on July 15, 1916, in a flood caused by a hurricane. In 1920 the Charlottesville, Virginia company of Rinehart and Dennis was awarded a

Duke Power Company Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...

contract to build a dam at Mountain Island for the purpose of using water power to generate electricity. To supplement housing for its workers, a large number of temporary frame houses were built by the contractor. In 1923, only seven years after the flood, the Mountain Island Hydroelectric Plant was completed and in service.Glenda R. Loftin, "Mountain Island – From Mill to Hydroelectricity", The Belmont Banner - Mount Holly News. Retrieved on 2008-07-05 from
Gaston County History
/ref> The Mountain Island Dam and Hydroelectric Station still operates today. St. Joseph's Catholic Church was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in North Carolina Unincorporated communities in Gaston County, North Carolina Populated places established in 1848 Geography of Charlotte, North Carolina Neighborhoods in Charlotte, North Carolina

Neighborhoods A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...