PAGE 4
Tire$ton« MSWi
JULY, 1959
ii
BltAiafDS
't.
TOWN'S MAIN STREET, Battleground ave
nue, commemorates decisive encounter between
Colonials and Redcoats at Battle of Kings Moun
tain, October 7, 1780. Right: Looking east on
Mountain street in heart of business district.
EMPLOYEES’ HOMETOWNS
History And Progress Meet
In Kings Mountain Area
HISTORY—At Kings Mountain National Battleground Park
museum staff member Ed Campbell reviews events leading to
"turning point of the Revolution" for Mr. and Mrs. Freelon Ramsey.
Mr. Ramsey is a Shop employee at Firestone.
m
A well-balanced community
keeping pace with progress, but
proud of its glorious past. This
is Kings Mountain, population
almost 10,000, located six miles
from Gastonia in the heart of
the Carolinas industrial Pied
mont.
Kings Mountain is a name
familiar to every student of
American history. The name is
from the nearby peak of the
same designation. Because of the
town’s nearness to the Revolu
tionary War battle shrine in
South Carolina, it stakes claim
to being “The Historical City,”
a slogan that appears on the
town’s auto license plates.
The Kings Mountain National
Military Park of 4,200 acres,
created by act of Congress in
1931 and located six miles from
town, is a shrine dedicated to
the battle which turned the tide
of victory toward the struggling
colonies near the end of the
Revolutionary War.
Victory For Colonials
Here on the afternoon of Oc
tober 7, 1780, the British forces
of Col. Patrick Ferguson were
defeated by a band of mountain
men. Ferguson lost his life. His
grave is one of the principal
landmarks of the battleground.
British defeat forced Lord Corn
wallis to retreat from Charlotte,
and led to his ultimate surrend
er at Yorktown, Va., ending the
struggle for American inde
pendence.
The Battleground Park has a
museum, open daily the year
round; an imposing obelisk
erected by the U. S. Govern
ment, a smaller monument
placed in 1880, and numerous
other markers memorializing
events of the battle.
More than 150,000 persons
from almost every state and
Gastonia is "hometown" to
the major number of Firestone
Textiles employees. But a few
hundred of those who work here
commute to their jobs from
dozens of outlying communities
in North and South Carolina.
Several of these employee com
munities are large enough, and
boast a number of Firestone
people sufficient to merit feature
stories in the plant newspaper.
This is the first of a series.
many foreign countries sign the
park register every year.
Founded After Civil War
The town of Kings Mountain
had its beginning about 1869-71,
—More on Page 8
BRAVE MEN—Sons of the Freelon Ramseys—Jerry (left), and
Keith—study one of many historical markers in Battleground Park.
This one is a short distance from Centennial Monument, the U.S.
Marker, and Col. Ferguson's grave.
LIBRARY—The Jacob S. Mauney Memorial Library (below
left) is one of many fine public buildings in town of Kings Moun
tain. Building is named for its benefactor, whose family continues
to operate one of town's largest textile mills. At right below: Mr.
and Mrs. Cicero Falls, both employed at Firestone, check references
in the Mauney Library.
|.a
CHURCHES—A recent cens^J®
showed 90 per cent of Ki*^9®
Mountain population to
churched. This is main spire o*
St. Matthew's Lutheran.