bungalows and skyline views
belmont
Much like Optimist Park, Belmont was farmland before the textile boom.
The construction of the Louise Cotton Mill in 1897 changed this and created what is now Belmont. Together with the adjacent neighborhoods of Villa Heights and Optimist Park, Belmont was part of Charlotte’s first entirely working-class suburb.
Belmont, like the other Mill District neighborhoods, grew rapidly during Charlotte’s textile boom. Churches and schools sprung up to support the community, and rails for both streetcars and the Seaboard Railway crisscrossed its footprint. Grocery and general merchandise stores, a lifeline for busy workers who didn’t have the time or money to visit the larger stores, could be found throughout the neighborhood.
Today, Belmont is a mix of old and new homes. The community is also home to Charlotte’s second oldest community garden and a section of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway. While many of the corner shops have been lost to time, place like the Belmont Pharmacy Building still stand to tell this neighborhood’s lively origin story.
