Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Oct. 7, 1980, edition 1 / Page 21
Part of The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
» » Post Office Has Served Area For 143 Years When Kings Mountain Post Office holds a First Day of Issue Ceremony Tuesday morning for the Kings Mountain Postal Card commemorating the Battle of Kings Mountain, officials can look back at a history which spans 143 years. Historians say that because of the change in the boundary lines of the counties, as well as the site of the office, the Post Office was located during those years in three counties. The Post Office was establish ed on June 29, 1837 and originally located in Lincoln County. It was located in Cleveland County on May 10, 1842 in what was then called White Plains and was named Kings Mountain by the Postmistress Mrs. J.W. Tracy, after the battle of 1780. The Post Office was located in Lin coln County between 1842 and 1851, in Gaston County bet ween 1851 and 1866, ^scon- tinued on Aug. 31, 1868, reestablished on Mar. 11, 1870 and located in Cleveland County between 1873 and 1886. Of the 10 men who have serv ed as KM Postmaster, only two are living - Charles L. Alexander and Fred Weaver, both Kings Mountain natives. Weaver’s grandfather also served as Postmaster and both Weaver and George F. Hambright are direct descendants of the Revolutionary War hero Frederick Hambright at the Bat tle of Kings Mountain. The list of Postmasters: Turner M. Abernathy, June 29, 1837. Hiram A. Lowrance, May 10, 1842. Benjamin F. Briggs, June 5, 1851. William Falls, February 28, 1866. Miss L.A. Black, May 15, 1867. Thomas A. Ware, March 11, 1870. William A. Mauney, October 10, 1873. James W. Brown, April 26, 1889. Rufus S. Plonk, June 9, 1893. James W. Brown, June 23, 1897. Samuel S. Weir, August 7, 1901. Edwin L. Ware, November 18, 1901. George F. Hambright, May 24, 1910. Arthur H. Patterson, April 24, 1914. Samuel S. Weir, January 10, 1923. James S. Ware, May 19,1932. William E. Blakely, June 6, 1936. William T. Weir, January 15, 1955. Charles L. Alexander, August 24, 1956. Odus F. Weaver, April 8, 1978. Interesting facts tracing Kings Mountain Post Office Site is gleaned from a Kings Mountain Herald of about 1938 and follows: “When Uncle Sam buys a piece of property for any pur pose, he has to know from whom he is buying and who were the previous owners as far back as records can be found. That is how it all started with the site chosen for the new post of fice in Kings Mountain. “J.R. Davis, local attorney, was given the job of tracing the title of the land and in so doing came up with some interesting history of the town as well as the ownership and value of the pro perty - facts that are hard to believe. For instance, did you know that the whole acre of land of which the post office will own 1 one-third, in ..,,1875 sold for $20.00? The U.S. Government has paid $6,247.50 for its one- third! “Mr. Davis found that a large part of the land that is now Kings Mountain was first owned by a Mr. George Patterson who received it by grant from the government in 1783. “What happened to the I ownership until 1843 is rather obscure. The next title couldn’t be found, but about 1843 one John Blackwood sold to Robert Falls. It seems Mr. Blackwood was a shrewd business man for he received $275.00 for 100 acres of this grant on which the major (or older) portion of Kings Mountain now stands. “At $2.75 per acre, Mr. Falls ) probably crawled up on a stump GRJkNDFATHER AND SON SERVED AS POSTMJkSTER - Gaorg* Fradarick Hambright. lah, aarvad cm Kings Mountain Poatmoatar for four yaora baginning Mc^r 24, 1910. Hia grond- aon. Odua Fradarick Waorar. right, woa conuniaaionad oa KM Poatmoatar April 8,1978. Thay ora daacandcmta of tha Ravolu- tionory War baro Col. Fradarick Hambright. and yelled “gypped.” But he held the land until 1875 when he received $20.00 for just one acre - the one on which the new post office will stand. This acre, which Mr.Falls sold to A.P. and M.M. Carpenter, brought an elaborate profit and showed the influence of the cross-roads which boosted our town about that time. ‘The one acre stayed in the Carpenter famiy until one-third was sold to the U.S. Post Office Department for $6,247.50, which probably makes Mr. Falls want to jump from his grave and yell even louder than when he bought the whole acre for $2.75. “Figuring a little more, we find that when Mr. Falls bought from Mr. Blackwood, the third of an acre cost 9136 cents. This sounds ‘’screwy,” but we are not inclined to argue with court records!” The present Kings Mountain post office, for which construc tion was begun in 1939, is located at 100 E. Mountain St. and is the third Kings Mountain home for the U.S. Post Office in Kings Mountain. Historians say that the very first post office was in the home of Postmistress Tracy. The first building was in the 100 block of West Mountain St. The second building was in the 2(X) block of S. Battleground Ave. TuMday. OctobOT 7, ISM-KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Pag* 9B M I BOYD HOWEU BUDMEDUN BST NORMJIN BUkNTON wtSmFW^ ijf— \ HOWARD SMITH QUAY MOSS WILEY BLANTON FIRST REGULAR CITY CAR RIER — lamM WiUy Blanton U picturod in a photo from May 1,1928 whon ho bocam# tbo first rogulor city corrlor at Kings Mountain Postoffico. Mr. Blanton roHrod March 13, 1984. First regular rural carrier was the late 1. Ben Goforth Sr. in 1902-03. Mr. Goforth combed the county residences for the Charlotte Observer subscriptions and with delivery of the newspaper also established delivery of mail and so began the first rural carrier route in the Kings Mountain Post Office. His widow resides in Kings Moun tain on West Mountain St. James Wiley Blanton became the first regular city carrier on May I, 1928 and retired on March 13, 1964. Editions of ‘The Kings Moun tain Herald” from 1949 recount the efforts of then-Mayor J.B. Thomasson and Congressman A.L. Bulwinkle in completing plans and specifications for the new post office. Cost of the building on the Carpenter and Hord properties at the corner of Piedmont Ave. and Moun St. were estimated to cost $70,(X)0. Bids for the construction were let in September of that year. Comparison of cost of mailing Christmas cards from 1939 to date is revealed in an interesting story in The Herald in Dec. 1939. Then-postmaster W.E. Blakely was advising citizens to mail early. Unsealed yule cards cost one and one-half cents, seal ed cards were two cents, adn out- of-town cards cost three cents to mail from Kings Mountain. Photos By Katrena McCall and Gary Stewart MILLAGE SPIRES 1: /' /r_V Id AUiM ./ BILL WATTERSON BOB HULLENDER RAY HOLT Charles Alexander Former Postmaster Charles L. Alexander, Kings Mountain native, was Kings Mountain postmaster from August 24, 1956 through July 25, 1977. “When I became postmaster here, we had three city routes and three rural routes. We now have six fulltime city routes and four rural routes. In 1956 the post office was meeting seven trains each day for mail pickups, but now the mail is conveyed by highway post offices and star routes ...” Alexander recalled. Alexander is a member of First Baptist Church where he is on the deacon board. He is a former Scoutmaster, for many years active on the Board of Ad visors of Gardner-Webb College, past director of the K.M. Chamber of Commerce, former member of the KM redevelop ment commission and member of K.M. Rotary Club. During his tenure as Postmaster he served for two terms as President of the Na tional League of Postmasters of North Carolina. He also serves as 1st Vice President of theVla- tional Association of Postmasters of North Carolina. He was the first President of the CHARLES ALEXANDER Presidents club on the national level of the National League of Postmasters. He is presently serving as President of the Cleveland County Chapter of NARFE (National Association of Retired Federal Employees). Alexander’s wife. Ruby, operates Alexander Realty in Kings Mountain. They are parents of a son, Reginald Alex ander and daughter, Mrs. Larry Wood. They also have one grandson, Brandon Wood. RJU.PH ARROWCX>D NANCY ROSS MIKE HOWARD FRED BRIDGES GEORGE SMITH RAYMOND BUkNTON M •'/ MARSHJU.L VAN DYKE OUVER TATE SW: •■i ■ --i-" EDWARD LOVELACE i RONNIE ROSS 0 - BaL McDaniel FRED TATE EDWIN MOORE
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 7, 1980, edition 1
21
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75