| John and Anna Carr House
200 N. McDowell St
1904
This was the Queen Anne style home of John Price Carr
and his wife, Anna Eliza Little Carr. When it was built in 1904,
probably by a local carpenter, the house was on the edge of town.
Mr. Carr, who grew up in the Hopewell or Long Creek
section of Mecklenburg County, became Charlotte's premier hauler of
heavy equipment and machinery at the turn of the century. First with
wagons and mules and later with an impressive collection of specialized
vehicles, Carr transported all kinds of big things around town. He
delivered huge newspaper presses from the railroad station to the
Charlotte Observer building. He moved buildings of all types, sizes
and shapes. He hauled massive amounts of equipment to Camp Greene during
World War I. He was the principal deliverer of merchandise from the
railroad stations to the stores of merchants like William Belk and
George Ivey.
A member of Second Presbyterian Church, Carr was
active in civic affairs. His most notable contribution came as a member
of the Board of Directors of Presbyterian Hospital. In July, 1917, the
hospital stood on the verge of collapse. It could not raise the money
needed to purchase the former campus of Elizabeth College at the top of
the hill at the eastern end of Elizabeth Ave. Carr joined with other
Board members in personally guaranteeing a $40,000 loan that allowed
Presbyterian to move from West Trade St. to the new site in the suburbs.
Anne Price Carr Wurzburg remembered her parents as
loving and gracious. "Papa and Mama did so much entertaining. It was
quite a grand place, quite the biggest in the neighborhood. It was
really a wonderful place to grow up."
By the 1970's, the Carr House had fallen into
disrepair and had been turned into a modest apartment complex. But T.
Bragg McLeod, another of Charlotte's heavy movers, decided that he
couldn't sit by and let the house just fall in. His company bought it
and restored the Carr House to its former glory. Look just across
McDowell St. when you go to the Uptown Post Office, and you will see
this magnificent home. |
