| |
 |
Stallings |
|
Address
315 Stallings Road
Stallings, NC 28104
|
Phone
704.821.8557 |
| Visit Website |
|
|
Matthew Thomas Stallings was born in Cabarrus County on January l0,
l867. He was a prominent farmer and merchant near Harrisburg and served six years as a Magistrate, according to a biographical sketch printed in the Historical Section of The Monroe Enquirer on February l, l9l2. He moved to Union County and bought 200 acres of land on the Mecklenburg County line northwest of Indian Trail in the spring of l902. Mr. Jim Smith stated in an article in The Enquirer-Journal back in l975 that the land "was all in timber, the finest timber you've ever seen."
Mr. Stallings built a home and opened a country store near the Seaboard
Railway track. The l9l2 article states Mr. Stallings "began to improve his holdings with a view to building up an important settlement and encouraging enterprise and industry in his vicinity." Mark Conder opened a sawmill giving Stallings its first industry. About a year later, M. T. Stallings' brother, Martin Stallings, also moved from Cabarrus County, bought another tract of land for farming; and thus, the community became known as "Stallings". Martin Stallings was the father of Carl "Tip" Stallings, who became the first Mayor of the town after its incorporation. Many people were employed with the sawmill, store and farming. The lumber was shipped by rail on to Charlotte and other destinations. An undated
article by J. W. Harkey states: "Every year after crops were laid by, Mr. Stallings would have a regular picnic long about August. And have foot races, sack races, egg races, and all kinds of games. Lemonade and cold drinks were set out under the big oak tree back of the store."
The l9l2 article states "there was a good school in operation with about
75 pupils enrolled and some twenty families settled on the original purchase.
The Seaboard Air Line has a regular station there, named Stallings, and all prospects bid fair to make this locality of much future importance. Mr. Stallings will be glad to offer special inducements to manufacturers or others desiring sites for plants or permanent homes." A few years later a new store was built across the road, and the old building was used for a Methodist Church and a schoolhouse. The one-room schoolhouse was located where a large industry, AEP, is now located. Stallings Methodist Church was started about l9ll, largely through the efforts of P. D. and
Margaret Drye, and the first pastor was the Rev. J. W. Self. A new Methodist
Church was built in 1912 and the old building was torn down. In l9l9 the
church was struck by lightning and burned. A bucket brigade was formed but the building could not be saved. The church was immediately rebuilt and that building remains today.
The store business changed ownership at least four times in the next fifty
years, was burned to the ground once and rebuilt, but was always known asthe Country Store, furnishing the community with groceries, feed and notions during the day, and a gathering place in the evenings. Mr. Jim Smith owned and operated the store from l9l6 until l948. "Mr. Jim" was also one of the largest farmers in the area, and his farm still exists today as Smith Brothers Farm. The store was finally torn down and a strip of small businesses built it its place.
The March l975 article states that "From the turn of the century until the
Depression in the l930's Indian Trail and Stallings were trading centers for cotton farmers as far away as Wesley Chapel to the south and Stewart's Mill to the north." In an undated article by Bob Noles about Mr. Jim Smith's store, he stated it was "nothing to have 50 bales of cotton on the store yard".
In 1910, the Seaboard Railway built a depot and furnished passenger
service as well as freight service for several years. The depot gave the town's residents and merchants easy access to suppliers. With the Depression, however, the trains stopped running and the depots in Stallings and Indian Trail were both closed. The depot in Stallings had closed earlier because the train could not get up steam fast enough to climb the grade into Matthews if it stopped in Stallings.
"Mr. Jim" was quoted in the l975 article that "Years ago there wasn't
nothing to get money out of but cotton and watermelons." B. C. Fincher wrote recently in The Union Observer: "The giant Bradford watermelons grew well in the sandy soil and were sold in Charlotte by the truckloads and shipped to New York by rail by the carloads."
Mr. Fincher goes on to say: "And then the wheels came off. Blight killed
the watermelons, boll weevil feasted on the cotton and the Depression made peasants of all." The l975 article stated, "After the Depression, less reliance on the railroad and greater availability of automobiles and trucks prevented either (Stallings or Indian Trail) from taking up where it left off."
A new four-lane highway, U.S.74, was built in the early l950s and came
through Stallings from Monroe to Charlotte. Growth and population grew quickly in the l960s and early l970s. The town was incorporated on June 24, l975.
Stallings, though still classified as a small town, now has a population of 2,152 and more than 200 businesses. A new shopping center is soon to be built featuring a Winn-Dixie Supermarket and Kerr Drugs and several other busi- nesses. Affordable housing is available with good schools for the children and a low property tax rate of 9 cents per $100 valuation.
Mr. M. T. Stallings' prediction back in l9l2 that "all prospects bid fair to
make this locality of much future importance" seems to have been very
accurate.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
| Take the headaches out of moving with our moving guide. |
 |
|
|
| |
| Looking for North Carolina homes? Prequalify before you buy. |
| |
|
|
| |
| Indian Trail |
| Take our Indian Trail Tour! |
|
|
|
|
