Kings Mountain Downtown Historical Walking Tour
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Description
Stroll through history with Kings Mountain's Historical Downtown Walk
1. Patriot's Park
Owned by the City of Kings Mountain. Elementary School children named the park in a citywide contest. The gazebos cupola originally resided on the Old City Hall and Police station building. Patriots Park is the site of numerous city events. Liberty Falls Amphitheater was dedicated on August 19, 2019.
2. "Kings Mountain in the 1700s," A Mural
This second mural by Clive Haynes, painted in 2000, depicts the area's rich history of log cabins, local creeks, native animals, an ironworks facility, and the Kings Pinnacle, the site of the American Revolutionary War Battle of Kings Mountain in 1789.
3. Joy Theater
Built as a movie house in 1949, the Joy Theatre provided Entertainment for Downtown Kings Mountain. The Cash family owned the theater and had a contest to name the theater. Grace Nice Lower Page won the contest and named it The Joy. The theater was used for church gatherings until sold to the Kings Mountain Little Theatre, which began in 2001 and produces 3 - 4 plays a yearly in the Joy Performance Center. The Little Theater shows free movies for the community at selected times and is the home of the Real to Real Film Festival, sponsored by the Cleveland County Arts Council.
4. "Kings Mountain In The 1800s" A Mural
Commissioned by the City of Kings Mountain and completed in 2003 by muralist Clive Haynes of Forest City, NC, "Kings Mountain in the 1800s" celebrated the advent of the railroad and the discovery of gold. The life span of the mural is expected to be about fifteen years.
5. Kings Mountain Baptist Church
The large Neo-classical Revival brick structure is the oldest remaining church in Kings Mountain and the first Baptist congregation. Organized by Lucinda Smith Cornwell and Margaret Isabelle Nevitt Kendrick in 1890, the old building was razed in 1913, and this one was built in 1915. In 1957, fifty members bought a lot at West King and Sims Streets to build a new church, which opened July 3, 1960, as the new "First Baptist Church." However, a group of 221 members decided to remain in the old structure, creating "Kings Mountain Baptist Church." The stone building to the right is the Scout Hut, used for Sunday school classes.
6. George Washington Cornwell House
In the late Greek Revival Style with a center-hall plan, this home was in 1876 for George Washington Cornwell and his wife, Frances Lou Smith (Lucinda). It was one of the first of Kings Mountain, founded in 1874. The Cornwells sold their land to their son, Clarence, in 1910, and the house was rolled on logs to the far side of the property to make room for Clarence's new house. Central United Methodist Church, who bought the Cornwell property in 2005, donated the house to the museum foundation. The kitchen ell and back porch are missing but will be reconstructed during continuing restoration. The house will interpret the early years of incorporated Kings Mountain.
7. Barber Log House
Robert and Sarah Barber were the first to live in this house, a hall and parlor plan with Federal interior styling built in the second quarter of the nineteenth century near what is now the US Highway 74 Bypass and Countryside Road. George Washington Ware bought the Barber land at auction in 1885. According to Ware Family documents, the property included this log-framed house, originally sided. Tenants who worked on the Ware Family farm lived in the house until the 1950s. The house was donated to the museum foundation in 2002, photographed, and its timbers numbered before being reassembled on its present site to provide citizens with a glimpse of early 1800s life in the area.
8. Kings Mountain Historical Museum
Dedicated to the city history of Kings Mountain, the museum exhibit hall is housed in the 1939 Post Office, which closed in 1986 when a new building was constructed at Gold and Gaston Streets. The museum opened in September 2000 after a four-year restoration. Today, the Kings Mountain Historical Museum Foundation encompasses the museum and the Cornwell and Barber Houses on the commons out back.
9. Kings Mountain Woman's Club
Organized in 1905, primarily to beautify and care for the Mountain Rest Cemetery, the club soon became a Civic League, realizing other needs in the community. It began to put on flower shows, which continue today as the "Fall Festival." in 1923, the group joined the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs to become a Woman's Club. Meetings were held in Pythian Hall over Griffin's Drug Store until a permanent home was needed. Mr. Charles E. Neisler promised much for the new building, so the women began raising funds in 1931. Many generous contributions included Dorris (Dorus) Mauney's, who donated 10,000 dollars in honor of his wife, Sadie. The first meeting was held in 1932. The Woman's Club is still active today, working for the betterment of Kings Mountain.
10. First Presbyterian Church
The Presbyterian Church of Kings Mountain began with eighteen members on April 5th, 1884. In 1936, Mrs. Ida Neisler gave the lot for the current structure designed by Wenner and Fink of Philadelphia in the English Gothic Style. The great chancel window portrays the Life of Christ in medallions.
11. Paul M. Neisler House
A good example of the Neo-classical Revival Style with Georgian Revival elements. This home was designed and built by Paul M. Neisler, treasurer of Neisler Mills, in 1940. Painted and signed by Mr. Settlemyer in December 1941, a mural on the walls of the basement media room depicts local teenagers dancing.
12. Dorris (Dorus) & Sarah Mauney House
Founder of Sadie Cotton Mills. Dorris (Dorus) Carl Mauney built this Georgian or Federal Revival Style home in 1909. He also served as president of Bonnie Cotton Mills and was prominent in the Kings Mountain Manufacturing Co. and Mauney Steel Co. His wife, Sarah "Sadie," was a charter member of the Kings Mountain Woman's Club and helped organize one of the city's oldest social clubs, the Thursday Afternoon Book Club.
13. Central School
Built-in 1876, the first Central School opened in 1878 and educated the boys from Captain Bell's Military Academy. State-funded in 1905, the building burned in 1910 and was rebuilt the same year. It received accreditation in 1920, adding the ninth and eleventh grades. All of its records were destroyed again by fire in 1932. The present-day Central School was completed in 1932 with a gymnasium and a cafeteria, the latter built by Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal Works Project Administration Lunchroom Program. Central School was a member of the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, a high rank for a high school. It became the junior high when Kings Mountain consolidated its schools into one system. Central School closed in 1994 and was converted into offices.
14. Saint Matthew's Lutheran Church
Chartered in 1876, a sanctuary was built by the end of 1879. It appeared to have burned in 1921, though a salvaged part still remains. The structure was built from 1953 to 1954 but burned on Christmas morning, 1999. The congregation rebuilt within the same walls, which preserved one of the county's leading pieces of Gothic Revival architecture.
15. Reverend John David Mauney House
In the Queen Ann Style, this home was built around 1900 for John David Mauney and his new bride, Bessie Miller Frantz. They lived here shortly, John becoming a Lutheran minister who served churches throughout Georgia and the Carolinas. The octagonal tower, neo-classical details, a hip roof with gables, and the decorative iron fence around the backyard are focal points.
16. Sugg House
Captain R. S. Sugg built this two-story I-house around 1874. The large portico was added in 1940. Sugg was a charter member of Central United Methodist Church and operated a drug store where the Joy Theater now stands.
17. Captain Freno Dilling House
Captain Freno Dilling, an early Kings Mountain settler and industrialist, who built the sawmill that supplied the railroad with timber, constructed this one-and-a-half-story frame house with a multi-gable roof between 1872 and 1881.
18. I. Walton Garrett House
A large two-story frame house with a man-sard roof, this is the city's only remaining Second Empire structure. Built-in 1874 by I. Walton Garrett, an early Kings Mountain merchant, and leader, the house was remodeled in 1890 by Charles Dilling, Garrett's grandson. Rich Victorian gingerbread detail is found on the exterior and interior. It was the first house in Kings Mountain to have electricity (1908); the original switches remain.
19. Mauney Memorial Library
The Mauney Memorial Library is located in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. The library began as a vision for the mill town to have a way of escape from the Depression and a place for educational opportunity. Since 1947, the library has found a home in the Hord mansion, which was gifted to the city by the children of Jacob S. Mauney in memory of their father. The Mauney Memorial Library has continued to be a place for learning and a landmark of the community. Today the library is a full-service library. It contains programs for all ages and free access to technology, electronic collections, genealogical resources, and many other resources.
20. King Street Overhead Bridge
Built-in 1938, in the streamlined Art Moderne Style, the concrete bridge connects the 100 and 200 blocks of West Kings Street over the railroad. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Comparing the two bridges, King Street has seen massive innovation compared to the earlier bridge, "Southern Railway Company Overhead Bridge."
21. Southern Railway Company Overhead Bridge
Located between the 100 blocks of North Railroad Avenue, this quaintly narrow concrete automobile bridge circa 1904 spans the railroad. It is one of the state's oldest tee-beam bridges. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. This location has historic architecture from the early 1900s.
22. (First) William Andrew Mauney House
The oldest surviving building in Kings Mountain, the first Williams Andrew Mauney House, was originally a store built in 1872, further distinguishing it as one of the county's oldest surviving commercial buildings. Expanded into a house in 1873, it became the residence of store owner William Andrew Mauney, the city's first mayor. Kings Mountain Historic Home Preservation acquired the structure in 1998. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the house is open for tours by appointment.
23. (Second) William Andrew Mauney House
This two-story vernacular Victorian house was built in 1877 by William Andrew Mauney, who founded the Kings Mountain Manufacturing Company in the late 1880s. William Andrew Mauney was Kings Mountain's first mayor. This house serves as a historical location within Kings Mountain as it became William Andrew Mauney's primary home.
24. Old Southern Railway Depot
Current home of the Southern Arts Society, the depot was built in 1925 in the Arts and Crafts style and served as a passenger and freight depot until the mid-1960s. Restored in the late-1970s, during the J. H. Moss administration, it served as Kings Mountain's first Senior Center. When plans for a new Senior Center were approved in 2000, the city began leasing the building to the Southern Arts Society in 2002. The Society renovated the building and now provides art exhibits and workshops. The Art Center is open Thursday through Sunday.
