CHARLOTTE,
EATON COUNTY, MICHIGAN
About Charlotte
Charlotte is located in the heart of Mid-Michigan, just 18 miles from Lansing, 26 miles from Battle Creek and 55 miles from Grand Rapids. At the center of Eaton County, it serves as the county seat. Charlotte was incorporated as a village on October 10, 1863 and as a city on March 29, 1871.

Early History

Earliest records indicated that Charlotte was once an overgrown prairie made beautiful by an abundance of colorful wild flowers. Its present name was suggested by E. B. Bostwick in 1885. Bostwick held the contract on the land which became Charlotte, and rather than give the city his own name, he decided on the name of his new wife, Charlotte (pronounced shar-LOT).

With the completion of the Grand River Valley Railroad in 1868 and the Peninsular Railroad in 1870, Charlotte began to experience rapid growth with new industry, schools and churches. This ended the pioneer era and provided the foundation for a solid future for this hub city.


Visible History

The 1885 Eaton County Courthouse, now home to Courthouse Square Association, is nationally recognized as an important historical building, and is highly valued as a Charlotte landmark.
Other buildings with historical significance are the former Charlotte Public Library, the First Congregational Church and many stately old homes. An even older historic courthouse is a smaller, wood frame building now located in Bennett Park


Demographic Information

Location: 
South-Central Michigan, approximately 15 miles southwest of Lansing, in the center of Eaton County. This location ensures that more than half the U.S. and Canada are within overnight delivery distance. Charlotte’s close proximity to I-69 and I-96 give it a strategically important position when it comes to over-the-road freight delivery.
Charlotte is located in south-central lower Michigan. Its elevation is 902 ft. It’s coldest month is January, with an average daily temperature between 13.3EF and 30EF; and its warmest month is July, with an average daily temperature between 56.9EF and 83.9EF. Charlotte averages 32.95 inches of precipitation annually, including 47.6 average annual inches of snowfall. As a result of the prevailing westerly winds, Charlotte does experience some lake effect weather. However, this is minimal and essentially limited to increased cloudiness during the late fall and early winter. The continental type of climate is characterized by larger temperature ranges than in areas at the same latitude near the Great Lakes which have moderated temperatures. Diminished wind speeds or winds which do not traverse large unfrozen lakes often produce clearing skies and the colder temperatures expected at continental locations. Because the day-to-day weather is controlled by the movement of pressure systems across the nation, this area seldom experiences prolonged periods of hot, humid weather in the summer or extreme cold during the winter.


Population:
8,389 (2000 Census), nearly evenly split between male and female. The highest percentage of our residents are between the ages of 25 and 55, with a median age of 34. About 65 percent of Charlotte homes are family households (a householder and one or more people living in the same household who are related to the householder).

Growth Rate:
3 percent from 1990 to 2000

Housing:
There are approximately 3,500 housing units in Charlotte, at approximately 95 percent capacity. New units are being added constantly, with more than 1,000 units planned or approved for development currently. More than 70 new homes have been built in Charlotte since January of 2000. The average home houses approximately 2.5 people. 

Media: 
Weekly newspaper, The Charlotte Shopping Guide, a publication of Lansing Community Newspapers. Free delivery to all residents. Charlotte also receives regular news coverage in the Lansing State Journal, a daily Gannett publication. Also, local Lansing television stations occasionally cover Charlotte. All major television networks, as well as PBS and radio’s NPR can all be clearly received in Charlotte.

Library:  
The Charlotte Community Library serves the residents of the City of Charlotte and surrounding townships. It is a Class IV library with 12,500 square feet of space, 2693 hours open annually, a library service population of 19,608; annual operating income of $512,968; and an annual per capita expenditure of $15.38. The Charlotte Community Library is part of the Capital Library Cooperative, which provides residents with nearly unlimited resources at no charge in most cases.

Government: 
1 Elected mayor and 6 City Council members. Appointed City Manager.

Public Safety:
The City of Charlotte Fire Department includes a full-time fire chief, 5.5 full-time firefighters and 25 volunteers, as well as seven pieces of modern, well-kept fire equipment. Both the City of Charlotte Police Department and the Eaton County Sheriff Department are also located in Charlotte. There is also a code enforcement officer employed by the City of Charlotte.

Tax Base:
The total taxable value of all property in the City of Charlotte is $153,362,100 for the 2001 tax year. The city millage rate is 13.6423, which results in a total estimated tax revenue for the city of $2,092,212.

Distances:
Battle Creek – 37 miles 
Chicago – 198 miles 
Cleveland – 248 miles 
Detroit – 107 miles 
Flint – 77 miles 
Fort Wayne – 111 miles 
Grand Rapids – 63 miles 
Kalamazoo – 57 miles 
Indianapolis – 233 
Lansing – 22 miles 
Milwaukee – 296 miles 
South Bend – 136 miles 
Toledo – 123 miles 
Toronto – 300 miles 

Awards:
The City of Charlotte has earned several awards in recent years for progressive practices. This includes honors shared with Can Do! (Charlotte Area Networking for Development and Opportunity). Can Do! was honored this year with a RED Team, Inc award for regional excellence. It also was recognized as a best practice by the Michigan Municipal League this year. The RED Team, Inc. honored the city’s cooperative development agreements with the two neighboring townships as examples of excellence in intergovernmental cooperation. The State of Michigan recognized Charlotte as a leader in groundwater and wellhead protection with an award last year, and the City of Charlotte finance department has been given awards in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 for excellence in financial reporting, from the Government Finance Officers Association. Eaton County Resource Recovery honored the City of Charlotte’s commitment to recycling with a Green Team Award in 2000. And finally, Charlotte has been awarded the status of Tree City USA for 13 consecutive years. This award recognizes the city’s commitment to being a good steward in the area of urban forestry and conservation.
Charlotte

Charlotte circa 1912

Carniegie Library, Charlotte

City Hall, Charlotte

Grand Trunk Depot, Charlotte

Old Charlotte High School

Main Street, Charlotte


 
 


The Underground Railroad 

When people came to America not everyone was free, some people were captured in other countries. Ships brought them to America and they were sold as property, they were forced to work for free. Those people who weren't free were called slaves. Today slavery is illegal but in the 1840's slavery was legal. Here is a story about slavery. 

During the time of slavery, people owned slaves like cattle. Slavery was most common in the south because cotton plantations needed a lot of workers. Sometimes slaves were treated badly. Their master's often whipped or beat them for not working hard enough. 

Most slaves lived in shacks and didn't have very nice clothes. Some didn't even have shoes. People wouldn't let slaves learn to read or write because they thought the slaves would read a map and run away. Also they didn't want them to read the Bible. Because it was a hard life slaves wanted to run away. 

Slaves could be free if they could escape safely to northern states or Canada. Most of the slaves traveled through Michigan, all the way to Canada so they could be free. The slaves would travel the Underground Railroad; it's not really a railroad it's just places where slaves could go to for the day and hide so slave catchers wouldn't find them. 

They got there by following the North Star and people called conductors helped them. A man named Wolcott B. Williams was a conductor in Missouri until he moved to Michigan. 

It was at the church (First Congregational, United Church of Christ, in Charlotte, Michigan) that Wolcott preached at. Some years later, while working on the church, some writing, believed to be written by slaves, was found in a hidden storage room behind the organ. There is also a Bed and Breakfast in Jonesville, Michigan that once was a stop on the Underground Railroad and a site in the River Bends Park in Shelby Township was a farm, Spring Hill, owned by Peter Lerich. He and his family were willing Conductors. 

Slavery was abolished in 1865 by the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution. Even in the 1960s blacks and whites were segregated or separated in restaurants, school and on busses. Today our country is getting fairer and fairer everyday about the freedom we have, but most other countries don't have.
posted by Bert Mathews 10/15/05