Bob Amon

Bob Amon has sold insurance and played several important roles in the Mooresville community for many years.

Thank you so much for your time. Again, I really appreciate it.

I’m glad to.

How long have you lived in Mooresville?

A little over 40 years. Actually, almost 41 years.

Did you go to school in Mooresville?

No, I actually grew up in Statesville, so I graduated from Statesville High School. Then after college, we moved to Mooresville.

Okay, great. And would you mind sharing some of your background in business?

Sure! After I graduated from college – I went to Mitchell College [in Mooresville] for two years – and back then, it was a private school, so I got an Associate of Arts degree. And then I transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where my degree is in Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures. And I worked in radio all the time I was in college – high school and college – and really liked it, but there wasn’t a lot of money in it back then. So I went into the insurance business just until I could get honest work, and that’s been 43 years ago. So I guess I’m still looking for honest work, so to speak. But we moved to Mooresville, I went to work for an agency, and then in 1976, we opened our own agency, so that’s where we are.

What changes have you seen in Mooresville’s business?

A tremendous amount. Probably the biggest one that I can remember that you could really relate to…when we moved to Mooresville, there was one real estate agent, and he was part-time. His name was Houston Westmoreland. We were living in Charlotte, and I was commuting every day and wanted to find a house [in Mooresville]. So I went to see Mr. Westmoreland, and he didn’t have any houses listed for sale. He was the only realtor. But he said the best thing that we could do would be [to] look at the Mooresville Tribune [Mooresville’s local newspaper] when it came out. It came out about noontime on Wednesday. So as soon as the Tribune came out, I was waiting so I could open up and go through the Classifieds and see if there were any houses for sale. And indeed, that’s how we found our house, which we still live in the same house. But it’s hard to believe there was one real estate agent, and he was part-time. [Laughs]

Textiles was the big industry, of course, here. I can remember down at the Lower Mill, which was the Mooresville Mill…I think when I came here, but if not, shortly thereafter, they converted to all denim. And they were making one million linear…not a, no, no…well, yes. They were making one million linear yards of denim per week. Now, not square yards, but linear yards; that’s 54-inch wide material. They were making a million [linear] yards a week. And it employed about 2500 people, 2400 or 2500 people at that plant. And then there were a couple of other textile mills, too. And of course, all of that [the textile industry in Mooresville] is now gone.

What changes did you see after it was gone?
There was a big void in town, because there was just no place for the young people to go. Even when the Mills were here, it was pretty limited. If you graduated from high school here, what were you going to do? Probably, if you had at least a high school degree, you wouldn’t go to work in the Mill, anyway. So we were losing all of our young people. Or, many of them – not all, but many. So there was this big void. So several of us went to work, [and] were very active in the Chamber of Commerce, and we formed a thing called the South Iredell Community Development Corporation. And what it became was we formed a partnership between the Chamber of Commerce people – and that later became the Town of Mooresville folks, we kind of incorporated them – and a couple of landowners.  And we were able to get some options on land at an agreed price if we could find an industry. And then we started looking for industry to bring in and diversify, and indeed, that’s what happened. Today, we’re a pretty diversified economy here. It was a lot of fun, but there was a lot of bluffing going on because we really didn’t have much to offer, other than some promises of land, and the Town was very good and they were very anxious to help us. But people had no idea how edgy it was, because it could have fallen off either edge of the knife, either way. But I guess the first…probably good-sized plant we got was…Armitied Shanks was one of them. They made pottery, bathroom pottery. Then we started getting a few Japanese plants. The people liked it, and it was a good community. It was a good work-ethic, but we just didn’t have a lot of opportunities. So all of a sudden, we started to get some jobs and it kind of went on from there.

There’s been a lot of growth, obviously, from all the changes in business; especially NASCAR has become popular. Did you ever picture it becoming this big, or Mooresville becoming as big as it is?

I wish I could tell you that I did, but I didn’t, no. I knew it would grow, but I had no idea…the thing that I probably missed the most was the lake [Lake Norman]. I had no idea the lake property would have gotten as popular [as it has]. Most of the people that had lake property…it was a leased lot, or they had a mobile home, or…I can remember my mother-in-law and father-in-law bought two 100-foot lots. No, they were bigger than that, two…I guess maybe they were 100 foot…no, maybe they were 300 foot…they were huge lots out on the Isle of Pines and they paid $6,000 per lot. And I can remember telling my wife, “I cannot imagine paying $12,000 for several hundred feet on this mud hole.” I never realized the lake would be worth what it was. I also never realized we’d have the traffic here that we have now. A lot of things have kind of remained the same, but I never thought it would be quite as big as it is now, no.

What are some of your favorite traditions in Mooresville?

Well, I’ll have to start…one that was, it wasn’t really a tradition…in 1973, we celebrated the 100^th anniversary, the Centennial of Mooresville. And that was a lot of fun. It went on for about eight months, really, the whole celebration. [It was a] tremendous amount of fun and [I] met a lot of people that I have remained friends with for 40 years-plus. One tradition that I always enjoy is the Christmas Parade. Everybody back then, all the guys joined the Jaycees. As soon as anybody came to town, you immediately went to see them, and you asked what church they went to because you were trying to recruit them for your church, and secondly, what city club they were in. And there were women city clubs, too. There were the Junior Women’s Club that my wife was in, and the Jaycettes, and you had the Lions [Club], the Rotary [Club], and the Kawanas [Club] and everybody tried to recruit everybody. So I was in the Jaycees and, of course, we had the Christmas Parade. And that has always been a favorite of mine, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I love that.

You announce it for MI-Connection, correct?

Yes, yes, yes. I’ve been fortunate enough to do that for the last few years. It’s a lot of fun. And it’s the same parade probably if you had taped it in 1980 and played it back today, and left out a couple of names that are obviously, they’re [the people] are much older, the parade would look the same. But it’s still fun. [Laughs] It’s kind of “hometown” at its finest. Everybody loves to see little Johnny marching down the street. [Laughs]

The final question actually looks forward. What do you see in Mooresville’s future?
I see us continuing to diversify. Mooresville has something that people love to try to obtain, and what I mean by that is the small-town feel. For instance, Currier and Ives – everybody loves, when you think of Christmas, you think of the Currier and Ives prints. And those events [in the prints] probably never really happened, but in your mind, that’s what Christmas should be like. And that’s the way Mooresville is still part of that image that it’s the small-town America that everybody remembers, the way it used to be when they grew up. So I think we’ll [Mooresville] retain some of that small-town image, but I think you’ll eventually see mass transit here. You’ll see us all [as] sort of a “megapolis” with…I’m afraid Mooresville down through Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville, will just, all of a sudden, be almost like Atlanta. Which I hate to see that happen, but I think it will. But I think we’ll still retain a little bit of our “homeliness.” I hope so.

Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Thank you. I hope that was quite okay.
It was. It was fantastic.
Very good.
Thank you.
Thank you.

Ben Goins

Ben Goins has been a financial advisor in Mooresville for the past 22 years. Through various roles in the community, he has first-handedly seen many important changes in Mooresville.

Mr. Goins, how long have you lived in Mooresville?
Uhh…[since] 1990.

Great.

So that would be…22 years.

Great! And would you mind sharing some of your experiences or background in business in Mooresville?

In Mooresville…yes, I’ve been a financial advisor…golly, I was a financial advisor for…let me count it up…10 years, I guess about 10 years…12 years, about 12 years. And this past year, I went with Randy Marion Automotive. I was their Director of Operations. So that’s pretty much been the business activity in Mooresville. Now, before that, I traveled for a long, long time in my life, but just in Mooresville, mostly as a financial advisor.

Okay, that’s great. What are some changes you’ve seen in Mooresville’s business?

Oh my goodness…well, I can give you some good “for instances.” When we moved here…when we got married in 1992…were you born in 1992?

No, sir.

I didn’t think so. Well, let me tell you, there was only 8,000 people that lived in Mooresville city limits in 1992, at the end of 1992. And as of about a month ago [March 2012], there’s 34,000 people in Mooresville city limits. So that’s how much the city has grown, and what’s really interesting is that there are two zip codes in this city, and the population of the two zip codes is over 75,000 people. So a lot has happened since the end of 1992. So this community has gone from a community to a, well, it’s called a micropolitan city, but it’s really past that now with its population. A lot of it’s racing, a lot of it’s Lowes Corporate. It’s not really a “bedroom community.” People used to call it a “bedroom community,” meaning that people who lived here worked in Charlotte. Not the case, you know…a lot of businesses have moved into this community, so yeah, it’s really grown. Not as much racing now as it used to be because of the economy, but still, it’s crazy how the population has grown.

Did you ever imagine it growing as it has?

No, it’s just like right here where you’re sitting: when we picked this place, we picked the “country.” We thought, well, we’re going to move over here because there’s not many people over here. Look at it now. I mean, we’ve got a development one mile from here that has over 1200 homes in it. So I never imagined it. I don’t think any of us did, so yeah…change. This place has just been crazy, you know, and I don’t see it changing. I see it getting bigger and bigger. If you don’t like it, you better move further North. You better get North of Statesville! But yeah. Really, really a lot of…I think education has gotten a lot better here, and I just see it getting bigger and better.

How do you see education has gotten better here? What are some examples?

The biggest example I would use as far as Mooresville City, Mooresville Graded School District is every kid from third grade up has a laptop now. And it is amazing, the kids who were not able to have laptops – financially able – now have them. We pay the insurance to protect those laptops if they’re not able to pay the insurance, we have a fund. I’m on a board that…we have a financial fund that we have to help pay those things so that every kid is able to do their work on a laptop and you go into the classroom and they’ve got SmartBoards and all of this is over my head. But it’s just amazing what’s going on in the classrooms. So our scores, our test scores are going way, way up, and I think we’re…the last test results showed us third, almost second, in the state, and we’re really close to Chapel Hill, which has always been “the” school system in the state, as far as public education. So yeah, our school system is going great. And Iredell County is doing as well. Their system is doing great as well. They do not have a laptop initiative. We owe that to our Superintendent. He’s a salesman. He convinced some people – Apple – he convinced them to let us be a test school, and man, we’re talked about now with the Department of Education in Washington. They use Mooresville now as a landmark school system for laptops. So yeah, education is getting great around here. Mitchell Community College and Rowan – good stuff.

What are some things you see in Mooresville’s future?

I see more headquarters, company headquarters. I see more company headquarters coming here. We’ve got a great Mooresville-South Iredell economic development structure set up and I see a lot of company headquarters moving to Mooresville. It’s going to continue to grow and I can visualize one day all of the city limits from Charlotte coming here and you won’t be able to tell a difference. I don’t really like that part, but I can’t stop that, and you know, we can’t stop growth. And where we are situated, being on I-77 sitting between I-85 and I-40, it’s a perfect spot for company headquarters to come. So I see more company headquarters coming. It’s going to get, some people call it worse, some call it better, but I see more opportunity coming. We’ll probably retire and move somewhere by then, but it is coming. It’s going to get bigger and bigger! Mooresville, one day, is going to be, I’d say one of the five, ten max, largest cities in the state. And most people would never think that, but it’s going to happen. It really is.

For the final question, kind of going back in time, what is your fondest memory of Mooresville?

The beginning [laughs]. When I first moved here, there wasn’t a lot going on. It was just a quaint little community and…yeah, that would be my fondest memories, when it was real quiet, and everybody sort of knew everybody. You know, now when we go to church, we don’t know hardly anyone. But that would be my fondest memories that I would have, when it was “small town.” When it was just a small town, because we always liked it when it is real personable. It’s not that way anymore, you know…but business-wise, my fondest memory was when I quit traveling and came to work, started working locally in the town. But I think it’s just the way this town used to be, to me, was the best of all. It’s not that way anymore, but it’s still a great place, you know. We just have to adapt to change.

John Morrow

John Morrow grew up in Mooresville. He has remained here for most of his life and has a “bird’s eye” view of the changes Mooresville has undergone in the last few decades.

Mr. Morrow, how long have you lived in Mooresville?
[Laughs] Except for college and the Army, 77 years.

That’s great. [All laugh] Did you go to high school in Mooresville?

I did. I went to Mooresville High, class of 1953. The school, at that time, was uptown. You know where Mitchell [Community College] is now? Yeah, it was in that block.

Do you have any fond memories from life in Mooresville during that time?

Oh, yeah, lots. You know, it was a much smaller place, and it was a place where, I think, kids were freer than they are now to just kind of wander around town and wander up Main Street and go in and out of businesses, which it seems nowadays, most businesses don’t want little kids wandering in and doing that [laughs], but we did that. We walked to school and I remember visiting the hospital, for some reason, since I only lived a block from the hospital. I thought that was kind of a cool place to go and wander up and down the halls. It sounds kind of ghoulish now. [Laughs] I lived in a neighborhood where…when I was real young, most people in the neighborhood had chickens, which is unheard of now, except we recently acquired a neighbor out the back who has a rooster. You hear that rooster crow every morning, that’s kind of neat. And two people on our block have cows…yeah, that’s right. [Laughs] It’s kind of fun.

I lived on East Center Avenue, across from the front of the high school and, at the time, I lived there up until I was about 12 years old. But that’s where the pavement ended. The street continued, but it was two dirt ruts past that corner. It went on out into the country, but that was the end of the street, really.

Most of the things I remember later than that are that I was in the band for eight years. I started in the band when I was in the fifth grade. I took band for eight years, and that was a lot of fun because we had really good bands then and we did a lot of travelling as a result of being in the band. That was kind of fun. It was neat.

What changes have you seen in Mooresville?

Ooh…well, it’s become…obviously, it’s become more of a fair-sized city than a small town, because I think Mooresville, now, is…when I was a senior in high school, I think Mooresville had about 6,000 people. Maybe inside the city limits, there weren’t quite that many, but probably the town in general had about 6,000 people, and now it has about 70,000, so there is a lot of difference. We had one high school, two grammar schools…and now there are how many schools? Gosh, a bunch. Of course, the town has spread out. The original city of Mooresville was a one-mile circle, with the depot [today’s Art Depot downtown] as the center point of that circle. And anything outside of that was…there were some parts of Mooresville that were outside that circle, but the original boundaries were just a circle. And now, of course, it goes all the way across the interstate, out north. Mooresville is probably eight miles across, from one end to the other. Even more than that, if you took out some of that stuff down on the lake [Lake Norman]. It’s a big place. A lot of different industry. No more textiles; all kinds of other stuff, including NASCAR, bottled water…until recently, a brewery [laughs]…a wind tunnel. Well, we’ve got some interesting stuff here now, you know? We’ve still got the ice cream company [Deluxe Ice Cream Company, founded in Mooresville]. What else? You know, all those NASCAR guys are very interesting. People are trying to make hydrogen-powered cars here, [and] electric cars. All kinds of interesting, high-tech stuff going on. I think the biggest difference [is] there really is the different kinds of people that we’ve had here, because when I was growing up, most of the people who lived here were like me – they’d been here a long time. And now, you know, people from all over the world [are] living here. And I think that makes a much more interesting community than what we had. Although, what we had was fine, too.  

Did you ever imagine Mooresville being as big as it is now?

No, I really didn’t. You know, I…when I first was working in the car business, I thought, you know, Mooresville might get to 12,000 or 15,000 people someday [laughs], because that seemed like that was pretty big, and that you would never have imagined that it would be bigger than Statesville.  Because Statesville was where everything sort of was for a while. And Statesville was, at that time, maybe 20,000 [people] and you just didn’t think about Mooresville or anything in South Iredell being bigger than Statesville – whoa! [Laughs] But I heard recently –within the last couple of weeks – that the two zip codes that are Mooresville is just a little over 70,000 people now.  And there are more in the new zip code than there are in the old zip code – 28117 has got more people than 28115. But no, I never thought it would get that big. I really didn’t. Of course, I never thought North Carolina would have ten million people, either, in my lifetime. Wow. It’s not just Mooresville – it’s the whole area.

What have been some of Mooresville’s “greatest moments” in your opinion?

Oh, heavens. I remember a big impromptu celebration that occurred the day that we got the news that Japan had surrendered in World War II. Within a couple of hours, people just immediately showed up uptown, running uptown in the street, waving flags, throwing toilet paper [laughs], which probably was a very scarce commodity. I think it was pretty wasteful to do that, but people were in a pretty celebratory mood at that point. But that, you know, that’s the first thing I remember that was really, really exciting to me because World War II started just as I began first grade, so it was…it was something we all lived with for about four or four and a half years there. That was kind of interesting.

Well, I think some of the best moments were also when we started to attract some businesses that could add a lot of jobs to the local area because it was obvious that the textile industry wasn’t going to continue in the same scope that it had been and I think it was kind of exciting to see that happen and be a little bit involved in that because that started something. There again, that’s been more successful, I think, and a lot of it’s that we really didn’t expect it to be. And it was kind of exciting to also finish high school and graduate. [Laughs] That was an exciting moment. And it was exciting, too, when the band won some awards, because as I said, I was in the band for a long time and we competed in local and state contests. The band did pretty good, we did pretty well. And I got a lot of enjoyment out of that. In fact, when we were…when I was probably about 12 or 13, the band got to go on a trip to New York to play at the International Convention of Lions [Club] International, and that was kind of fun, you know. That was the high spot of my travel up to that time. [Laughs] That was a big deal. We had a lot of fun doing that.

I had a lot of fun in high school. We had a good crowd of people who enjoyed having fun. Somewhat like your father did, and my boys. [Laughs] You know, that’s the most I remember. I mean, I think that it’s been exciting and interesting to see Mooresville grow and see the kinds of people that have ended up here, and the fact that even though it’s gotten to be as large a city as it has, that it still has some of the small community atmosphere. We don’t notice that so much as people who come here from other places notice it. They appreciate that about our community more than, I think, than a lot of us older folks who have been here a long time do, really.


Do you think that small-town feeling is in any danger with the recent growth?
Yeah, I think it probably is. I don’t think that that sort of atmosphere can continue in the kind of society and the kind of world that we have now. I think that there are places where it might hang on for a while, but we’re all so interconnected with Facebook, internet. I heard a guy talk last week about the “TGIF Society”: Twitter, Google, Internet, and Facebook. [Laughs] The TGIF Society, and that’s, you know, nothing’s a secret and we know everything so quickly after it happens, all around the world. You know, the small community atmosphere, I think, is probably not going to last too long in places like Mooresville. It’s growing too big.      

What kinds of things do you see in Mooresville’s future?

I see the town continuing to grow. You know, as I said earlier, I never would have thought that it would get this big. But I think there’s still some growth to happen because people are still attracted to this area to locate businesses and locate industries. Of course, as you know, Mooresville and Iredell County in general have been #1 relocation sites for industry for several years, or they’ve been near the top or #1 for several years. It’s going to continue to grow, and I think it will bring a lot of interesting people here, and make a lot of interesting jobs for people who are already here, and make a lot of interesting contacts for them. It’s going to be a different world. It’s going to be a lot more diverse than it’s been for most of our lives, but a lot more interesting. I wouldn’t mind hanging around to see a little more of it, but I’m not sure how that’s going to work out. [Laughs]
Hmm. I think about some of these guys – every time I go to a Rotary meeting, I always am near Bill Young. Bill Young is exactly within a day of ten years older than me. His birthday is one day before mine, each October. And you know, when that guy was nineteen years old, he was on the beach at Iwo Jima. And Mitchell Mack was in the Navy, running around the world doing things that same time, you know? What those guys have been through and what they’ve done is just so impressive. When I think of all the things that have happened during their lifetimes, and then when I look at myself – I’m getting a little older – I guess I’ve seen a lot, too. It’s been interesting. It’s a neat place to be. You know, I…I guess I never would have really thought that I would spend my whole life in Mooresville. I would have expected to go somewhere else at some point in my life. At one point, I even considered staying in the Army more than my required two years. [Laughs] But that didn’t work out. It’s been a fun place to be. If we could just get rid of these really hot summers. [Laughs]

Russ West

Russ West grew up in Mooresville and is now an attorney in the ever-changing town.

How long have you been in Mooresville?

I’ve been in Mooresville since about 1965. I started school here in first grade, and I went through all twelve grades here.


What were some of your first jobs?
I worked in textile mills in the summertime. There was Burlington Industries, and a lot of other textile mills in the area, and they would hire high school kids on the weekends and in the summers to come in and clean the machines, and basically just do whatever cleanup work they needed done.

Is it true that you worked at Deluxe Ice Cream?

That’s right. I worked one summer at Deluxe Ice Cream, making ice cream and fudge bars and just filling up quarts of ice cream. All flavors, all kinds. It was cold.

Are there any stories from the mill?
I don’t remember any really unique things happening, but I do recall working there with a bunch of buddies of mine in high school. We would take air blowers into the machines and you would come out at noon just covered in lint and oil, and just dirty. But it was fun because your friends were out there with you.

What was the popular hang-out spot?

There were really two. When I was in high school, there was a Hardee’s on Main Street, and that was on the north end of Main Street towards Charlotte, and on the other end of Main Street, there was a Tasty Freeze on the Salisbury side. What the kids would do is cruise up and down Main Street going real slow. They’d borrow the parents’ car, go pick up their friends, and then cruise down Main Street going extremely slow, yelling at all their friends. They would go to the Hardee’s and turn around at the Hardee’s and go back to the Tasty Freeze, and back and forth and back and forth. It doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun now, but it was pretty fun with your friends.

Do you have any memorable moments from high school?

I do. We had a terrible high school football team. I remember going to South Rowan one year, and they beat us 70 to nothing. But back then, you didn’t have the influence of Charlotte as much. Mooresville seemed much more isolated, like just a real small town, and there wasn’t nearly the number of people living on the lake. Most of the people who lived on the lake at that time actually lived around Mooresville and then had a little trailer, or a very, very small shack-type house that they would go out to in the summer time and just hang out. You didn’t have the mansions on Lake Norman that you have now. And we would go out there in the summertime and ski and sail. You pretty much had the lake to yourself because, again, at that time, there weren’t that many people living out there. And that was a lot of fun.

What other cultural differences do you see, and what impact do you think they’ve had?

I think the biggest cultural difference is the influx of people here from other parts of the country. It has good elements, and it has challenging elements. The good elements are that when you have an influx of people like that, you also have an influx of businesses that they bring with them or come after them, and you get a lot more restaurants, and places like that to eat at. But also, when you go out now, you used to be able to go out to a restaurant and see a lot of people you knew, whereas now, a lot of times you go out to a restaurant, even in downtown Mooresville, and not know anybody eating there. And that is a loss of some of the small-town flavor, because it’s really not a small town anymore.

How have you seen business change?

I’ve seen dramatic changes in business. With the new influx of people from other parts of the country, there are a lot more large subdivisions around town. Of course, that brings traffic with it, and it brings a lot of people who have no family here. And you do have a fairly small group of people around now who grew up here, and they remember which families lived on which corner and which street, and they remember parents and brothers and sisters, and it’s just a…it’s fun to meet up with them and catch up on all of their family. But it does remind you, too, that most folks living here now don’t have family from here, and so they don’t have that old-time connection. And you do miss that.


Is there anything else from Mooresville’s past that you miss?
Yeah…I miss the closeness of the community. I don’t know if that is something that is really…what’s the word…it’s not unique to Mooresville, but not knowing people through family connections, knowing people for only a year or two. And really, you don’t know that much about them. You don’t know anything about their family, their brothers and sisters, you know, where they’re from, and you had…there is a tendency to want to seek out people that you know and say “hey” and that kind of thing. And again, there is a loss of some of the small-town feel to it when you go downtown and you don’t know anybody down there.

The influence of NASCAR has obviously grown over the years.

Yes.

And what comments do you have about that, if any? How it’s changed…?

Well, first, NASCAR came into Mooresville at a crucial time. The textile mills were dying out. As work was going overseas, jobs were going overseas. And a lot of textile towns were having a really hard time diversifying their business base. And Mooresville has been extremely fortunate to have the NASCAR community come in. They’re good and hard-working people, they bring high-paying jobs to the area, and they’re just…they’re very good corporate citizens. And we’ve been really fortunate to have good-paying NASCAR jobs come to the area and bring good people in. it’s an exciting business, and they’re exciting people to be around. So that’s been a real blessing for the Mooresville area in many ways.

Great. And you actually left to go to Quantico, right?

That’s right. After Law School, when I graduated from Law School in 1988, I decided to join the Marine Corps and serve in the JAG Department, Judge Advocate General, and that’s where we had our basic training boot camp, as it’s commonly known, and from there I was actually assigned to Quantico. And Quantico is a large Marine base right outside of Washington, D.C. The FBI academy is located on the Quantico base also. So there was a lot of do and a lot of training going on. It was an exciting place to be.

How long were you away from Mooresville during that period?

I was away from Mooresville from 1980 until 1992.

Wow. What changes do you remember noticing coming back, or did you notice many during that time?

I remember…the biggest change I remember was really when large chains of restaurants came in because when I left, we didn’t have any restaurant chains. Of course, we had a Hardee’s and McDonald’s, but as far as actual sit-down restaurants, you really didn’t have any. You had a lot of “Mom-and-Pop” restaurants. And when I came back…not long after I came back, Cracker Barrel built a restaurant out at I-77. That was a big summer for me. (Laughs.) And after Cracker Barrel, a lot of restaurant chains came in fairly quickly, and we enjoyed that.

Speaking of changes, do you think there was one significant change that kind of started the snowball rolling, or do you think there was just a chain of events?

I think the biggest thing that started the growth was the arrival of NASCAR. And what people don’t really understand, if they just drive through the town, is that it’s not just drivers and crew chiefs, it’s all of the crews of each team, but also, for every team, there’s at least ten businesses that produce things that support NASCAR. Every single engine component has to have a business somewhere that produces that thing. Every nut and bolt on a race car, every tire, the seats – everything has to be manufactured somewhere, and a lot of those businesses are located in the race parks in the Mooresville area. And that brought in thousands of people to the area.

One final question that I have for you is, what would you like to tell other people about Mooresville?
I would like to tell them that it has a good combination of big city – places to eat and things to do – but it still retains some of the small-town flavor that was in place when I grew up here. You really do get to know your neighbors – find out where they’re from, what they do – and that makes the neighborhood living here, suburban living, a lot of fun, and it’s neat. We have really good neighbors, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Great. Well, thank you so much for your time, Mr. West.

Thank you.   

Carl Nichols

Carl Nichols has been working with Duke Power, or Duke Energy as it is known today, for many years.

Mr. Nichols, how long have you been in Mooresville?
Almost 28 years.

Would you mind sharing some of your background, as far as Mooresville goes, in business?

Well, I started out in 1982? [Mrs. Nichols says “1984.”] 1984. In 1984, we moved to Mooresville as the Office Supervisor for the Duke Power office back when it was on Oak Street. And [I] worked in Mooresville for about nine years, working with Duke Energy, or Duke Power at the time; working the office where they had the credit collections, sold appliances, and all that, and I basically managed the office function.

What changes have you seen in Mooresville, as far as energy-wise, or with Duke Power [Duke Energy today]?

Well, it used to be that Duke [Power] was one of the major employers here in Iredell County. But as the county’s population has grown, you’ve got more people commuting now to Charlotte. You’ve got huge industries [in Iredell County] like Lowes [Corporation], and I’ve seen the plants out at the Industrial Park come and go. But Duke [Power/Energy] really does not have as big a footprint in the Mooresville area as it did 25 years ago. As a percentage of the population, the employee base is not as great. It’s still an important part of the community, but it’s not as important as it was 25 years ago.

What changes have you seen in Mooresville, culturally?

I think with the growth of Mitchell Community College and its attempt to do more cultural things. I think with the John Mack Center [Mrs. Nichols notes that it is also called the John Mack Citizens’ Center], they’ve…see, that didn’t exist. That was where the old Belk’s [Department] Store was. [Laughs] Yeah, and so we had no center point in the community for anything cultural – for music, for dance, for anything. You had the Moose Lodge that had dances, if you would call that a cultural event. And other than that, you pretty much had to go to at least Davidson. So now, with a community center doing art shows, doing music, doing some small plays, so it’s gone from non-existent to there’s a...the art walks that they used to have. There’s much more of a cultural atmosphere and more opportunity for cultural activities in Mooresville than there used to be.

What is your fondest memory of Mooresville?

That’s interesting. My fondest memory of Mooresville…probably Melissa’s wedding, my oldest daughter’s wedding, because that was an old-fashioned, Southern wedding. And the church was packed, and we went to Carrigan Farms for the reception. And it was just – a good time was had by all. [Laughs] But that would be one of them. That and the wine shop [now named 202 North Main Fine Wines, in downtown Mooresville]. We used to have a large time at the wine shop when it was on Main Street, so those are probably two of the most fun things.

And what are some of the things you miss about Mooresville?

The traffic – I miss not having traffic. I do miss when everything was a lot closer. I remember when they first built the WalMart and it was at the [what is now the] Bottom Dollar store, right across from Burger King – that was the first WalMart [in Mooresville]. And people used to fuss about having to go out of town to WalMart. [Laughs] You know, I miss when the Harris Teeter was right there across from the Presbyterian Church. Not the one out at Port City, but the little Harris Teeter was at the, across from the Presbyterian Church. Everything was much more compact. You could get whatever you needed, as long as you didn’t need too much, and it was very convenient. And I missed when I worked in town, I knew people. Now, I can go out to eat and never see a soul I know. You know, when I worked in town, you’d go out to eat, and people would speak [to you]. Go to the grocery store, and people would speak [to you]. Now, I don’t know anybody because we both work in Charlotte, and have for years. I realized the other day [that] I have not worked in Mooresville proper for 20 years. I’ve been working in Salisbury, Charlotte – you know, around [Mooresville], but it’s been a long time [since I’ve worked in Mooresville].

Do you see Mooresville growing more, industry-wise?

Probably…there’s a rule: either you’re growing or you’re dying. So from that standpoint, I hope Mooresville does keep growing. I think it needs to be a little more progressive in some areas, but I think – I hope it keeps growing to provide services to the people. But I’m really not sure…you’ve got the conflict between the lake [Lake Norman] and the town [of Mooresville], and that’s as true now as it has ever been. So it will be interesting. The Lake Norman people want their own identity, and they don’t identify with the town of Mooresville. They even named the shopping center “The Mooresville Town Center,” and it’s not even in town [in Mooresville proper]. So I think that conflict, and to see what happens in county government, will be interesting to see.

And one final question. What other things, if any, do you see in Mooresville’s future?

Well, let’s hope that the ball field up towards Troutman increases the tourism and helps that end of town. I really am not optimistic about the race industry [in Mooresville]. I don’t think it’s going to be the anchor that it was. It’s already…the shops are moving out where there’s more land, more remote where they don’t bother people. So I think you’re probably going to see less of a focus on the race industry and hopefully, then we’re able to diversify [the economy]. You’ve got the one place in the [Racing] Park that does electric cars, and that’s the kind of diversity we need to pull into the area of the small, mid-sized firms that employ, you know, 100 people rather than employing 1,000 people because you don’t want all of your eggs in one giant employer. That’s the scariest thing about Lowes [Corporation]. Lowes is a wonderful corporate citizen, but they employ a ton of people. If Lowes decides to pick up and move, then that [will be] really ugly. But if a small business goes under or decides to move, then you can recover from it better. So I really don’t want any more huge industries [in the Mooresville area]. I’d rather…I think we’d be better off with the diversity of a lot of mid-sized companies.

Well, thank you so much for your time, Mr. Nichols. I really appreciate it.

Well, you’re welcome.

Cotton Ketchie

Cotton Ketchie is a renowned artist, author, and photographer. He was born and raised in Mooresville.

Mr. Ketchie, how long have you been in Mooresville?
Huh. You gotta tell people this? 67 years.

Wow, that’s awesome.

Yeah. I was born here, right up there at this [old] hospital where the government’s south center is [now]. Yeah, I was born there in 1944.

You went to Mooresville High School?

Yeah. I graduated in 1962. In fact, we’re having our 50^th class reunion this weekend. It’s hard to believe. I don’t feel much like I’m 50 years old. I really don’t.

Do you have any stories from when you were in high school, around Mooresville?

In high school…I barely got through high school. I just went to high school, and I went to work as soon as the bell rang, up at City Grocery and Market up on Main Street. And I started there when I was in junior high school, 1959. So I’ve been working downtown since 1959. I took a little hiatus to work at Draymore. But most of the time, though, I’ve been [in] downtown Mooresville. I opened up my gallery. I left Belk’s [Department Store] – I worked at Belk’s for 13 years, from 1968 to 1980. I opened up my gallery in 1981, and I would have quit Belk’s earlier, but unemployment would have put me in a higher income bracket. [Laughs] But I quit Belk’s and opened up my gallery in a one-stairs room over John Franklin’s, Limited. It was Kelly’s Clothing Store then, and I was there six years. In 1987, Vickie [Mr. Ketchie’s wife] and I got married and we opened up the gallery where it is now [downtown Mooresville]. We’ve been there for 25 years, or whatever, since 1987. But when I was in junior high school, as a kid, I would help a guy deliver groceries for City Grocery and Market. Which, at that time, was where…I can’t ever think of the name of the restaurant. It’s the new one right there in town, across from Alexander Zachary [Jewelery Store].  

The Daily Grind?

Yeah, that’s it. Well, that’s where City Grocery and Market was. And then we moved it down to 148 North Main, which was in front of Wachovia [Bank]…well, Wells Fargo [Bank] today. We moved it down then there because the A&P store moved out to their new location, which was up beside where Enterprise Printing Company was on Main Street, they built a building. So they vacated that, and we moved City Grocery and Market down there, and I worked there until I went to work for Belk’s. And I’m writing a book called “Mooresville, the Way I Remember It, and Before” and I interviewed lots of people and got lots of history on that stuff, plus I’m taking pictures of businesses in downtown Mooresville, the way they look today, and I’ve dug up pictures of the way they used to look, and tell what was in them in the past, and what is in them now. And that’s what I’m working on now. I’ve been working on that for about four years. I’m working on my third novel, too.

It sounds like you’ve been very busy.

Yeah, I’m doing a lot of photography, too. A little painting. I’m trying to stay busy. [Laughs]

What are some of the most surprising changes in Mooresville that you’ve seen?

Belk’s moving out of downtown. That changed everything. You know, Duke Power bought that property in 1992 I think it was, and in 1993, they had sold it to the town and all this was torn down – People’s Furniture Store, Belk’s Department Store, the movie theatre – all that was torn down and bulldozed down. And I went across the street, in that vacant lot, and photographed our Main Street on that block there, then. And that’s changed dramatically, and for George’s Taxi Stand then, I painted that. Well, it’s not there now, it’s BB&T now, and there was another building beside of that, that he had a taxi stand in at one time. So did Flip’s Taxi. And we had three movie theatres when I was young.  We had the State Theatre, we had the Carolina Theatre where Alexander Zachary Jewelry is, and where Pie in the Sky is, that was Moore Theatre. And if you go through the Marcade to go back to Pie and the Sky from Main Street, you notice that tile floor. That was the barber shop. And the room where Mitchell Mack has his office and their Side Mack and Sons, that was the public bath because on the Mill Hill – this was a textile town – a lot of those houses on the Mill Hill did not have bathrooms. You know, the women would take sponge baths and stuff, but the men would go up there and take showers and get a shave sometimes, and stuff like that. But that was before my time. But my mother worked in the Mills, and my dad did, too. I wrote about that. The first two books I wrote were about growing up here in the 1950s. I was raised about three miles north of town. You ought to read them, they’re hilarious. Called “Memories of a Country Boy” and “A Country Boy’s Education.” And what I learned growing up, and what I shouldn’t have, and what I wished I’d have forgotten. They’re funny, but they’re true. Yeah, they’re a fun read.

What have been Mooresville’s “greatest moments” in your opinion?

Gosh, I don’t know about that. I know one of the worst moments I thought we had. That was when Burlington Mills closed because that cost a thousand jobs, you know, right off the bat. You know, that was horrific. We lost all the textile jobs. And probably some of the greatest moments was collective of the racing industry coming to town and kind of saving us. But I think one of the biggest changes in Mooresville, and I was on the Chamber Board [The Board of Commerce] at that time, was when we ran water and sewer to the interstate highway. And that’s when everything exploded out there. Up until that time, they had to have a septic tank. You had the Days Inn septic tank system out there. And I tell you, without water and sewer, everything would have stayed the same. And now, I call that “West Mooresville.” And that’s a big change. I very rarely go across “the bridge,” as I call it. It takes too long.

What are some of your fondest memories of Mooresville?

Probably working at City Grocery and Market. I loved that time, I really did. I was in high school and I worked at Draymore after I got out of high school and George B. Stevens’ company, and then I went to work for Draymore. I left Draymore and went back to City Grocery and Market and worked there full time for a couple of years. Those are some of my fondest memories, the people…I delivered groceries all over town to people who didn’t have automobiles and stuff like that, and didn’t have time…that was wonderful. We’d go in people’s homes and they wouldn’t even be home, and I had to put stuff in their refrigerator for them and do all that stuff. They’d leave the houses unlocked and there were just some fond memories and some wonderful, wonderful people, like me, who came from humble beginnings, you know? and they were just good, down-to-earth people.

The final question I have for you is what do you see in Mooresville’s future?

Hmm…probably, they’re going to develop the Gateway, coming in from Exit 33. And I think that will be four-lanes in the future - this is just what I think out – and it’s going to be lined with stores, just like Plaza Drive. And then I think they’re going to develop some on the West-East side of Mooresville, over here where we live. I think this will be developed more. Maybe not in my lifetime, but I can see it coming. Perhaps out North Main Street, that will be developed, and…see, when I was a kid, where Plaza Drive is did not exist. Do you know where the golf ball water tank is?

Yes, sir.

On Plaza Drive? That was my grandmother’s farm. And to go see her – there wasn’t a water tank there then – but to go see her, her driveway came out on Statesville highway, all the way up there. Do you know where the old bowling alley was? Do you remember that?

Yes, sir.

That’s where her driveway came out. And we couldn’t even go see her if it rained because she didn’t have gravel on her driveway, just red mud, you know, and it just…it was awful. But that’s where the driveway came out. I remember when they started developing the Plaza Drive. And when they finally finished it, they just put a stop sign on Plaza Drive and [Highway] 150 and [Highway] 115. Of course, that was Highway 21. And I remember when they built Highway 21, up at Shepherd’s Fire Department, that used to be the Brantley Road. It was a dirt road, and it came out over here on [Highway] 150, which we called the “River Road.” And when you went down by where the Burger King is…you go down McClellan Avenue, the road just curved right there. There wasn’t any Plaza Drive, that was the “River Road.” And I would ride my bicycle, I was raised up in the Shepherds community, and I’d ride my bicycle up to where the Brantley Road was. There was a dirt road, and I’d ride down to [Highway] 150, or sometimes I’d take Oaks Road over and hit Talbot Road and I would come out over there and come over to Williamson Road, and then go down Brawley School Road. This was 16 miles down to where the river was, and I’d ride my bicycle just after the white line on Brawley School Road, and there wasn’t any traffic. It was just wonderful. It was wonderful, it was just…I look at it as the halcyon days of my youth. But I was already married when I still rode my bicycle down there, and it was just a wonderful time.

And what I do see in the future, I do see all the streets paved in Mooresville in the future. They just finished (I think) paving Gant Street and Ash Alley and Sherrill Street. Paving Sherrill Street was a big to-do. They finally got that done down there where Center Avenue ends. And I remember when Iredell Avenue ended right there at Central United Methodist Church where Academy Street was, Iredell [Avenue] went about two houses past that, because I delivered groceries there and that was it. And then when they put Iredell Avenue over where the Police Station is and McDonald’s over there, that was a big, exciting thing for Mooresville, to be able to do that without going way out of the way to go over there. So that was a big to-do. Just little things like that just keep adding up. You don’t think about them. I always said that nobody would ever pay to watch television, but we are, [laughs] you know. We didn’t have a TV when I was real young. My aunt won one. Over here beside the [old] hospital, they opened up the Medical Arts Clinic and Medical Arts Drug Store, where Black Eyed Peas (Restaurant) is now, that was a drug store. And they gave away a seventeen-inch Emerson television. And my aunt won it. And she lived with my grandma, who lived behind us. We would go down there on Saturdays and just take over their front room. We would watch “Big Talk,” “Super Circus,” and those cowboy westerns and we just loved them to death. And that was something, being able to watch TV. And I remember when we got our first TV; the screen was this big [signifies a small box shape] and the cabinet that held the TV was as big as that fireplace opening there.  And in 1957, WSOC came on there. Up to that time, it was just Channel 3 [News] in Charlotte, WBTV. But Mooresville is not the same. I tell everybody, “It’s not Kansas anymore, Toto.”

No, it’s definitely not the same thing it used to be. Grandmother’s farm was right behind our house and I was raised the way my daddy was raised. If it was good enough for him, it was good enough for us. You know, I remember killing hogs and chickens and cows and everything else. We raised what we ate. And going squirrel hunting after school to put food on the table. This is what we did. It was a wonderful life, though. The only thing I regretted about that – or didn’t regret it, but I hated doing it at the time – was picking cotton.  I hated it.

Thank you so much.

Well, that was perfectly painless, wasn’t it?

Harold Hahn

Harold Hahn grew up in Hickory, but moved to Mooresville to raise a family with his wife, Lisa. They have two grown children. Mr. Hahn works at CommScope.

Mr. Hahn, how long have you lived in Mooresville?

32 years.

And would you mind sharing some of your background?

I’m from Hickory [NC] originally. And we moved to Mooresville when I was 35, 36, I guess. And the reason we moved to Mooresville was so that we could get some land on the lake [Lake Norman] because it was a lot less expensive to move onto Lake Norman than it was [to move] on Lake Hickory. And so, we moved down and bought a place on the lake [Lake Norman] and we were out there for about five years, I guess. And about the same time, Lisa and I were married in 1980, and I went to work for CommScope, which is a company up in Catawba [County]. And the first five years that we were married, I lived in Hickory and drove to Catawba, so living in Mooresville and driving back to Catawba was really about the same [time and distance]. So it was…there wasn’t any difference in distance, and like I said, we got land for a lot more reasonable [price] on Lake Norman. Anyway – I’ve been with CommScope now for 32 years as a mechanical designer. And [then] the kids came along – Lauren and Eric – and there were no schools out at the lake at that time. We were out in almost…we were down Brawley School Road, close to “Meck Neck” [around Mecklenburg County]. And the schools were...what they had were overcrowded and were not very good. So we decided to move into Mooresville because, at that time, they had a really good school system – not that they still don’t have a really good school system – but they had a lot of federal funding and they were trying some experiments like year-round schools and that sort of thing. And that worked out really well for us, and the kids liked it. So we moved into Mooresville – moved over here into Mooresville [outside of the Lake Norman area] – we just moved from the lake over here in 1990, and we’ve been here ever since.

What are some of the changes you’ve seen in Mooresville?

Well, Mooresville has developed population-wise, along with all the services that go with the population, in almost every respect except for infrastructure. Infrastructure is way behind. When Lisa and I moved to Mooresville, we thought, “Oh my goodness, what have we done?” because in all of Mooresville, there were two grocery stores – a Food Lion and a Harris Teeter; there was one liquor store; there was a McDonald’s; and that was it. There was nothing else here. But it was all we needed, so, you know, it was good. And then a lot of…a tremendous amount of development started about 15 years ago, I guess. And I think it’s become more [of] a “bedroom community” for Charlotte commuters, which is good. That’s good, and the lake [Lake Norman] certainly has made this particular community very desirable. I mean, everything sort of seems to be centered around the lake. There have been some tremendous changes. I will tell you this: 45 years ago, when I used to drive through Mooresville on my way to Fort Bragg with the National Guard, I never would have dreamed that Donald Trump would want to buy the golf course.

What are some of Mooresville’s “greatest moments” in your opinion?

Since Lisa and I moved here – primarily to raise a family – I would have to say that the greatest moments that Lisa and I have appreciated the most were, of course, involving our kids; and things like the annual Christmas Parade because the kids were almost always in it, either as boy scouts or girls scouts or soccer players or Tae Kwon Do students or, you know, one thing or another. Those were always enjoyable. And the soccer games – the South Iredell Soccer Association recreation team games are about the most entertaining sport – to include NASCAR – that I’ve ever seen. They’re very, very, very entertaining. They’re a lot of fun, as are the Mooresville [High School] football games. I’d have to say [that] those are some of the greatest, at least the greatest, memories that I have of Mooresville.

What do you see in Mooresville’s future?

Mooresville’s future depends on a lot of factors, and nearly every one of them is centered around transportation. There are people who want to bring lightrails into Mooresville. I personally don’t think lightrail is nearly capable of carrying the volume of traffic and the number of people who would want to go to Charlotte. Plus, it limits where you’re going to go when you get there. I think Mooresville’s development will largely depend on how Interstate 77 is developed. I think they’re probably going to…eventually, they’ll end up doing what needs to be done, and that’s putting two more lanes of traffic in both directions. But it’s [Mooresville] going to continue to grow as a “bedroom community” for Charlotte. There’s a tremendous amount of growth potential here yet, and I say that because if you look at some of the people who are still investing money in Mooresville, these people wouldn’t be investing money unless they saw a way to make a lot of money in the future. I just wish that when we had first moved to Mooresville – and actually, I tried to buy some land and couldn’t – that I had been able to buy more land because the value of the land now is just incredible. When we moved out on the lake, we bought a house for…gosh…$90,000. When we moved off the lake, we more than doubled our money and thought we did really well. That same lot today is probably worth close to a half a million dollars. So I should have stayed longer. [Laughs] But I see Mooresville continuing to grow, without a doubt. I see companies moving here because of the wonderful atmosphere for commerce, and the climate. We’ve already got 30, 40 race teams, so there’s a whole industry there that’s in place. I think that will continue to develop. I don’t see [negative] things for Mooresville if the growth is controlled properly. 

Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Hahn.

You’re welcome, you’re welcome. No problem.