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.