(Granite Row image - Charlotte Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.)

Investing in the Future

Enthusiasm for the railroad ran high in Charlotte.  Even before the tracks linking Charlotte to Columbia, South Carolina were laid down, businessmen and developers in the town asserted their confidence in the road and the success of their town.  In 1850, a group of investors including merchants Thomas H. Brem, S.P. Alexander, Peter M. Brown, Alexander Graham, R.C. Carson, and Braley Oates purchased the land known as "Davidson's Corner," off the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets.  They constructed a series of  five, three-story brick commercial structures, one of the first of such kind ever built in Charlotte.  The buildings were connected by their granite and stone facades and became known as "Granite Row."  When they opened in 1851, the store fronts were occupied by the dry goods establishments Brem & Alexander, Elias & Cohen, John F. Irwin, and J. Sloan & Company, as well as jeweler Thomas Trotter.

 

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