Charlotte began as a small trading village in the 1700s, but it had grown enough by the 1850s that city leaders split the city into four wards, each with its own elected representative.
The wards grew as the city spread outward, and the city added seven more as suburbs such as Dilworth and Myers Park were built. The ward system was abandoned in 1945, but uptown neighborhoods still are identified that way, with Trade and Tryon streets as the dividing lines.
Today inside Interstate 277, which circles uptown, the wards are thriving, with new single-family, townhouse and high-rise condo projects.
Fourth Ward was the first to see a major renaissance after 1950s residents fled to the suburbs. It's a neighborhood filled with Victorian houses that in the early 1900s were home to the city's most affluent residents. Next to see redevelopment was Third Ward.
First Ward has experienced the most recent face-lift, with condos and houses replacing decrepit public housing.
Second Ward remains the least inhabited. A good chunk of the mostly black neighborhood there was known as Brooklyn. In 1961, the Charlotte City Council started condemning land as part of the nationwide "urban renewal" movement. Bulldozers moved in during the '60s, and people moved out. It's now mostly a collection of hotels, parking lots and government buildings, but one condo building is under way and plans for more follow it.
Don't miss: Alexander Michael's, 401 W. Ninth St., a historic Fourth Ward neighborhood restaurant and meeting spot.
