A dairy farm on Park Road

Evangelist Billy Graham was born on November 7, 1918, in a white clapboard farmhouse on his family's dairy farm, just south of today's Park Road and Woodlawn Road. The house is long gone.

The Grahams prospered. In the 1920s they built a spacious brick home at 4523 Park Road, a few hundred feet away and complete with indoor plumbing. Billy lived there in 1934, when he felt "the call" to preach. The house was later moved and is now the centerpiece of the Billy Graham Library near the airport.

Suburbia in overdrive

Charlotte's first "streetcar suburbs" grew from the 1890s to the 1920s. After World War II, growth accelerated: the city's population rose from 100,000 in 1940 to 201,000 in 1960.

Around 1950, builders laid out the Madison Park neighborhood on the west side of Park Road, with Montford Drive, Mockingbird Lane and Abbey Place. Ads promised "ultramodern" brick homes and 100% GI loans. The 1953 Parade of Homes showcased new houses on Wentworth Place.

Park Road Shopping Center

Announced in 1954 as a $5 million development, the center opened on November 15, 1956, with 32 stores and free parking for 2,400 cars. Its ads called it "a shopper's dream" for 500,000 Carolina neighbors. Anchors included J.C. Penney and Woolworth.

In 2011, 93-year-old philanthropist Porter Bynum donated the center to Wake Forest, Queens and Wingate. The schools sold it to Edens, a national retail firm, for $82 million.

Park Terrace and Kimberlee

The Park Terrace "rocking chair" theater opened May 28, 1964, with stereophonic sound and Captain Newman, M.D. Adult tickets cost 90 cents. Its star-topped sign still stands, now above an AMC.

The Kimberlee Apartments followed in 1965. Louis Asbury & Sons' "daringly modern design" is now an official Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmark.

Charlotte's first office park

Esso opened a regional office in 1958. In 1960 the Observer reported that the 59-acre Graham farm would become an office park, with W. Frank Graham leasing the land. Southern Bell and the Park Seneca building arrived in the late 1960s, and IBM opened a regional headquarters at 4601 Park Road in 1971.

"A whole new business city is growing off Park Road."

- The Charlotte News, December 24, 1969

A bronze marker at 4601 Park Road, dedicated in 1971 with a message from President Nixon, marks Billy Graham's birthplace.

Montford Drive goes commercial

All those office workers needed lunch and an after-work spot. The Park Road Drive-In opened at 1513 Montford Drive in December 1959. The Dobbs House Luau, a Polynesian restaurant, was an instant hit in fall 1960. Park Lanes, a 32-lane bowling center, opened in May 1960.

A neighborhood gets its name

When Park Selwyn Terrace replaced the old Giant Genie supermarket in 2002, a new era began. Developers now upfit or replace 1950s to 1970s buildings, favoring mixed use: homes, offices, shops and entertainment.

The area had no settled name, so developer Clay Grubb convened meetings and a survey in 2016. The result, "Montford Park," blends Montford Drive and Park Road Shopping Center, and Montford Park Partners now promotes it!