Record #:

8110

Author(s):

Hollowell, Shella

Abstract:

A commemorative plaque hangs on the East Trade Street wall of the Downtown Civic Center in Charlotte to honor the naval yard that stood there from 1862 to 1865. Although no ships were ever built there, large numbers of naval supplies and machinery were manufactured and assembled there. The largest steam hammer ever built in the south was engineered there, and a yard workman invented a machine that made perfect spheres for cannon balls and shells. Federal troops took possession of the Naval Yard in April 1865. John Wilkes repurchased the property and established the Mecklenburg Ironworks on it, but it was destroyed by fire ten years later.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 53 Issue 9, Feb 1986, p15, por

Subject(s):

North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Naval operations--Charlotte