Mecklenburg County
The History of Davidson, North Carolina
Davidson is the rare North Carolina town where the institution came first and the municipality followed, forty-two years later, under a name it would then change.
The college, 1837
Davidson College opened in 1837 under the Concord Presbytery of western North Carolina and the Bethel Presbytery of upcountry South Carolina, at first as a manual labor school. Classes began on March 11 of that year with sixty-five students and three faculty. Robert Hall Morrison of Charlotte was its first president; Stephen Frontis and P. J. Sparrow of Salisbury were among the founders, and Sparrow secured $30,000 for the establishment.
The manual labor model lasted four years and was replaced in 1841 by a classical curriculum. In 1856 a bequest of $250,000 from Maxwell Chambers made Davidson, in NCpedia’s phrase, the most heavily endowed institution south of Princeton. The Chambers Building was finished in 1857. The college stayed open through the Civil War, one of only two men’s colleges in the state to do so.
The general it is named for
The college is named for General William Lee Davidson, a Pennsylvania native killed at the Battle of Cowan’s Ford on February 1, 1781, a few miles west of here. His son, also William, provided the 469 acres the college was built on, along with money. The general is buried at Hopewell Presbyterian Church on Beatties Ford Road, and Davidson County carries his name as well.
The town that followed
A post office was established at the college on July 19, 1837. The municipality itself was not incorporated until 1879, and then under the name “Davidson College.” William P. Williams was elected the first mayor on a town budget of $196.62. In 1891, after some debate about alternatives, the name was shortened to Davidson.
Railroad and cotton
Davidson became a stop on the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad in 1861. The tracks were pulled up in 1864 and service returned in 1874 — dates that differ by a year or two from the railroad’s own corporate history, which puts the dismantling in 1863 and the reopening in 1871. Either way, the effect was the same: Davidson became a shipping point for cotton, and by the early 1900s some two thousand bales a year were sold here.
The Linden Manufacturing Company cotton mill was founded in 1890 and the Delburg Cotton Mill organized and built in 1907 and 1908. Both buildings survive as contributing structures in the historic district.
Ada Jenkins
The Davidson Colored School was built about 1937, a brick six-classroom building for the town’s Black community. It received no Rosenwald funding — the Rosenwald schools at Huntersville and Cornelius were not accessible to families here — and came instead out of a decades-long community effort, with fundraising led by teachers and the P.T.A.
Ada Jenkins was one of three teachers from Davidson’s earlier Black schools who joined the staff. She led the glee club and played piano and organ. She died in 1944, and the school was renamed for her in 1955. High school enrollment reached sixty-two in 1939; the school converted to elementary grades in 1946 and 1947, expanded in 1958, and closed in 1966 on desegregation. The building reopened in the 1970s as a community center and is the Ada Jenkins Center today.
Other dates from the town’s own record are worth setting down plainly: in 1867 a Sabbath school taught Davidson’s Black residents to read; in 1894 Black and white men both voted here, with at least twelve Black voters recorded; in 1900 a town ordinance disenfranchised Black voters; in 1959 Charlie White became the town’s first Black police officer; in 1969 Joe McClain was elected its first Black town commissioner.
The historic district
The Davidson Historic District was listed on the National Register on June 1, 2009, with 394 contributing buildings. Among them are the Helper Hotel of 1848, the Southern Railway Depot of 1897, the Linden Cotton Factory of 1890, Delburg Cotton Mills of 1908, the Carnegie Library of 1909, Johnston Grocery Store of 1912, Jackson Row of 1928 and the 1951 Presbyterian church. Eumenean Hall and Philanthropic Hall at the college were listed separately in April 1972.
The town was 391 people in 1880 and 15,106 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate of 16,662. It grew steadily rather than explosively, which is part of why it still reads as a college town rather than a suburb. Its neighbors Cornelius and Huntersville went a different way.
Davidson, year by year
Davidson is the rare case where the college genuinely did come first and the town assembled around it — including its name, twice over.
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1837 | Davidson College opens as a manual-labor school under the Concord and Bethel Presbyteries; classes begin on March 11 with 65 students and three faculty, and a post office opens at the college in July |
| 1841 | The manual-labor model is dropped for a classical curriculum |
| 1856 | A $250,000 bequest from Maxwell Chambers, said at the time to make it the most heavily endowed institution south of Princeton |
| 1861 | Davidson becomes a stop on the Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio Railroad |
| 1860s–1870s | The line is torn up during the Civil War and service is restored in the 1870s; the local and corporate accounts differ on the exact years |
| 1879 | The town is incorporated — under the name “Davidson College”; William P. Williams is elected mayor on a budget of $196.62 |
| 1890 | The Linden Manufacturing Company cotton mill is founded |
| 1891 | The town’s name is shortened to Davidson |
| 1907–08 | Delburg Cotton Mill is organized and built |
| c. 1937 | The Davidson Colored School opens; it received no Rosenwald funding and came instead out of a long community effort |
| 1955 | The school is renamed for Ada Jenkins, a teacher who had died in 1944; it closes in 1966 after desegregation and reopens in the 1970s as a community center |
| 2009 | The Davidson Historic District is listed on the National Register, with 394 contributing buildings |
Frequently asked questions
When was Davidson College founded?
It opened in 1837, with classes beginning on March 11. It was established by the Concord and Bethel Presbyteries as a manual labor school.
Who was Davidson named after?
General William Lee Davidson, killed at the Battle of Cowan’s Ford in 1781. His son gave the 469 acres the college was built on.
Why was the town called Davidson College?
Because that is the name it was incorporated under in 1879. It was shortened to Davidson in 1891.
What is the Ada Jenkins Center?
The former Davidson Colored School, built about 1937 and renamed in 1955 for the teacher Ada Jenkins. It closed on desegregation in 1966 and reopened in the 1970s as a community center.
Is there a historic district in Davidson?
Yes. The Davidson Historic District was listed on the National Register on June 1, 2009 and contains 394 contributing buildings.
Sources for this article
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This article is local history, offered for general interest. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Historical accounts are drawn from the sources listed above; where sources disagree, that is noted in the text. For advice about your own situation, speak with a licensed North Carolina attorney.