Grier Heights’ identity as a black community run all the way back to the 1890s, when former slave Sam Billings bought 100 acres of land in the area — the first recorded time an African-American bought land in Charlotte.
Grier Heights originated as a farming community of four houses in 1886. The community, originally called Grier Town, was a suburb that was home to lower-income families as well as middle-class blacks, some of whom were teachers, masons, or worked for the U.S. Postal Service. By the 1920s, Grier Heights was home to several of Charlotte’s prominent black residents, including Arthur Samuel Grier, a funeral-home director for whom the community is named, and James McVay, founder of Grier Heights’ Antioch Baptist Church. In 1907, Sam Billings, John Jackson, Arthur S. Grier, Lee Father MacDuff Dinkins, and James McVay purchased additional land. The neighborhood grew slowly until the 1940s, when prominent African-American businessman Arthur S. Grier built 100 homes that were sold to black soldiers returning from World War II.
In 1927, landowners pursued the need for a school, however the Board of Education offered only a frame structure. Instead, the community, supervised by Nellie B. Dykes raised $505.00. The School Board Committee granted another $500 and the Rosenwald Fund provided funds as well. Sam Billings sold two acres and donated an additional acre for the school. The school came to be known as Billingsville School, which offered grades 1 thru 9 until Randolph Junior High School was built in the 1960s. Today, Billingsville School has been renovated into the Grier Heights Community Center. A low cost medical clinic, adult literacy tutoring and GED classes are offered at the center.
Like many other inner-city neighborhoods, Grier Heights faces gentrification, houses being converted to rental property, and other issues that are all-too-familiar to many communities in the Charlotte area. The neighborhood, bordered by Randolph, Wendover, Monroe, and Briar Creek Roads, is adjacent to several highly sought after and extremely affluent neighborhoods. Residents, however, have continued the community’s tradition of resilience by working with local non-profits such as CrossRoads Corp., Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and the Grier Heights Community Improvement Organization Board Retreat, hosted by the City of Charlotte in 2014.
For a more complete history and additional resources, along with accurate citations and credits, please visit a new Historic Charlotte Neighborhoods research guide created by Special Collections faculty and graduate students from UNC Charlotte’s Public History program.
Source: Assorted Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission publications