Page 20 - Lincolnton NCG 2024

At the Center of History

by John Gregory

Take a virtual historical

walking tour of downtown at
LincolnCountyHistory.com.

L incolnton and Lincoln County represent the central hub of
early settlement in this region of North Carolina. In the early
1700s, the region was set apart from Mecklenburg County
and called Tryon County in honor of Royal Governor William Tryon. It
was 1,800 square miles and one of the largest counties in the state.
Pioneers traversed the rugged terrain of the Blue Ridge Mountains
along the “Great Philadelphia Wagon Road” to take advantage of the
inexpensive and rich farmland prevalent in the Carolina backcountry.
Within a few decades, settlers began to chaff at British rule and
taxes. In 1779, Tryon County was abolished, and Lincoln and
Rutherford counties were formed from its territory. Lincoln County
is named for General Benjamin Lincoln, a much-admired hero of
the American Revolution. In June 1780, blood was shed in a clash
between Loyalists and Patriots in the woods and fields surrounding
Ramsour’s Mill, just a short distance from today’s downtown
Lincolnton, a public area now known as Battleground Park.

The township of Lincolnton was established as the county seat in
1785. It was laid out with a central courthouse surrounded by a grid
plan of streets, blocks, and lots with four primary streets – East
Main, West Main, North Aspen, and South Aspen – leading from the
courthouse and dividing the town into quadrants.

The first churches west of the Catawba River were Lutheran, German
Reformed, and Presbyterian. Not long after the town of Lincolnton
was chartered, leaders met to establish a meeting place for public
worship that became known in the community as the “Old White
Church.” It is from that church that many of the downtown churches
got their start.
Ramsour’s Mill
16 LincolnChamberNC.org