Named in honor of Judge William Gaston, Gaston County was established as a county in the year 1846. Judge Gaston spent several years as associate justice of the Supreme Court only after helping to finance the establishment of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in 1842. During his time, Judge Gaston was highly admired by local citizens for several reasons, one being his generosity toward the first Catholic church in Gaston County and another being his poetic talents from which he wrote "The Old North State," which later became North Carolina's state song. He also worked energetically for the enfranchisement of free black slaves in the state.
The City of Mount Holly is located in northeast Gaston County, in the Southern Piedmont area of North Carolina. It is situated on the western bank of the Catawba River, north of Interstate 85 and south of NC 16.
Mount Holly is bordered by a non-incorporated Gaston County area known as Lucia-Riverbend to the north; the Catawba River and the City of Charlotte to the east; the City of Belmont to the south; and the City of Gastonia which is located approximately ten miles west of Mount Holly.
The American Indians of the Catawba Nation were the first settlers of the Mount Holly area. Europeans, primarily of German, Scotch, or Irish descent, settled into the area in the early 1770's. The Catawba Indians fought as allies with the local settlers in the French-Indian and Revolutionary Wars. Unfortunately, by the early 1800's various epidemics had drastically reduced the number of Catawba Indians residing in the area. Eventually the Catawba were resettled to a reservation in South Carolina after the execution of a treaty in 1840. The treaty was signed in nearby Mecklenburg County at a site located on present day Nations Ford Road.
First crops grown in the Gaston County region: corn, rye, wheat, barley, and later cotton
First businesses in the Gaston County region: general stores, iron works, brick-making operations, and smithies.
Land Grants by King George II were first issued in the area around 1750. In 1754, a land grant was issued to Dutchman James Kuykendall in the Mount Holly locale known as Dutchman's Creek. Later in 1838, the post office in the area would be known as Woodlawn. Finally in 1875, the name was changed to Mount Holly. The name change was in honor of the Mount Holly Cotton Mill that was started in 1875. The name "Mount Holly" was used in recognition of the famed yarn made at a spinning mill in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
A.P. and D.E. Rhyne and Ambrose Costner originally owned the Mount Holly Cotton Mill. It was the fourth mill to be built in Gaston County and is the oldest surviving mill today. The mill is located on North Main Street adjacent to Dutchman's Creek. The mill's success and the prosperity of the area as a whole led local residents to petition the North Carolina General Assembly for incorporation of Mount Holly in 1879.
The first railroad in Gaston County, the Carolina Central Railway, began serving Mount Holly in 1860. The line, which runs parallel with NC 27, is still in service and operated by CSX. In 1911, construction began on the area's second railroad known as the Piedmont and Northern Railroad. On May 20, 1912 it made its first run from Charlotte to Gastonia.
Electricity became available to homes and businesses around the turn of the twentieth century. The Woodlawn Mill, located on Woodlawn Avenue, was built in 1906 and was the first mill in Gaston County to be served with electricity. Local rivers would not only serve new comers as a source of food and water, but would later be used as a source to generate hydroelectric power.
|
