Queens, meet Elon: History saw it coming
Plus: The news of the week — Inside the Queens-Elon merger; New arts center headed to south Charlotte?; Whooping cough outbreak hits Charlotte Latin; Fatal uptown shooting
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From seminary roots to suburban anchor to university hub, Charlotte’s resilient campus has survived by transforming with the times
By John Short
Queens University of Charlotte announced this week that it will merge with Elon University, a surprising move that immediately stirred questions about the future of the school and its community. However, for anyone familiar with Queens’ history, the news felt more like the latest chapter in a long-running story.
Reinvention has been Queens’ survival strategy for decades. Queens has adapted its names, missions, locations and even theological underpinnings, depending on what Charlotte needed and what its leaders thought was best for the school.
Queens began as an all-female institution until shortly after World War II, when men could attend Queens College, but not live on campus. In 1987, Queens became fully co-ed. (Undated photo courtesy of Queens University of Charlotte)
A seminary in the cotton South
Queens was founded in 1857 when a group of Presbyterian leaders in Charlotte established the Charlotte Female Institute. Charlotte was a city of just over 2,000 people at the time, a small town hoping to educate a handful of students with a newly established educational institution for women.
Rev. Robert Burwell, a Virginia minister and educator, served as the first president of the Charlotte Female Institute, which was initially housed near College and Ninth streets in today’s uptown. Burwell’s wife, Margaret Anna, had taught neighborhood children at a school in her own home in Hillsborough since 1837. The small day school had grown into a legitimate boarding school for girls over the years, and the Burwells sought to bring the same educational model to Charlotte.
From Burwell to Queens College
The Burwells’ school survived in Charlotte for the decades of Reconstruction. Mrs. Burwell herself made it through the tumult of the Civil War and passed away in 1871. She is interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte.
By the 1890s, as leadership progressed to the next generation, the Presbyterian leaders with influence over the school sought a more modern and explicitly denominational educational experience.
In 1891, the Charlotte Female Institute became the Seminary for Girls, and changed names again five years later to the Presbyterian Female College. This school remained at the original site at 600 N. College St. and the corner of 9th Street, serving young women from around the Carolinas with a liberal arts education. In 1912, Presbyterian Female College changed its name once again to Queens College and moved to its current location on Selwyn Avenue.
During this era, leaders like President John Preston Dillard pushed the institution to be more professionalized, securing accreditation and strengthening the ties between Queens and the Presbyterian Church.
Despite this ascension as an institution, the school faced an identity crisis: Should it remain a finishing school for young women of the Piedmont elite, or try to become something broader?
Anchor of Myers Park
The move to the Myers Park campus was the work of two forces: the college’s trustees and a real estate developer named John Nolen. Nolen, who drew up the original design of Independence Park in Elizabeth, was designing Myers Park as Charlotte’s first true garden suburb, backed by local industrialist and civic booster George Stephens.
As part of Myers Park, Charlotte’s first true garden suburb, Queens featured Georgian buildings as an anchor of the tree-lined planned neighborhood. (Photo courtesy Queens University of Charlotte)
Queens became the anchor institution in Nolan’s vision of a tree-lined planned neighborhood. The new campus fit with Charlotte’s aspirational upper class that was abandoning crowded uptown neighborhoods for suburban estates.
By the 1940s and ’50s, women’s colleges across America were facing pressure as more schools went coeducational. This pressure applied to Queens as well, as it faced falling enrollments and the financial fragility that comes with being a small, private liberal arts college.
Faced with declining economics and enrollment, Queens made the choice in 1948 to become coeducational, starting first with co-ed evening classes. This pivot stabilized the school, but it didn’t solve every problem.
By the late 20th century, Charlotte had become a different city — fueled by Wachovia and Bank of America, skyscrapers and an influx of white-collar professionals. Queens adapted once again with President Billy O. Wireman at the helm from 1978-2002, steadily growing from a sleepy coed college to realize its ambitions as a campus at the heart of a growing Southern city.
In 2002, Queens College became Queens University of Charlotte. The change was more than cosmetic, as Queens launched new programs in business, communications, health sciences and international studies — fields aligned with Charlotte’s corporate and healthcare growth.
This week, Queens announced a merger with Elon University, another step in a long history of pragmatic moves aimed at survival and optimizing the academic experience from the heart of Myers Park.
Elon, with its rising national profile and strong enrollment numbers, offers Queens stability. Queens, with its location in the heart of Charlotte, offers Elon access to a booming metropolitan footprint. The match makes strategic sense.
The decision echoes those earlier moments: Burwell convincing Charlotte families to send their daughters to school; trustees moving Queens to Myers Park to align with growth; leaders like Wireman shifting to adult education in a banking city. At every stage, Queens’ leaders chose adaptation over purity, and survival over clinging to tradition all the way down.
In that sense, the merger is less shocking than it is predictable. Small private universities across the country face demographic cliffs, rising costs and skeptical families. Many will close. Queens has avoided that fate for 168 years by doing what others couldn’t: changing.
John Short is a freelance writer and co-host of The Charlotte Podcast who loves digging up Charlotte’s past and pondering its future. Say hey when you see him on the streetcar.
Related Ledger articles:
“Why Queens and Elon are merging” (🔒, Sept. 17)
“BREAKING: Queens U. and Elon U. to merge” (Sept. 16)
Today’s supporting sponsor is Arts+. Join us on Sept. 26 for Medieval Magic, Oct. 24 for Spooky Scary, and Nov. 21 for Giving Thanks!
This week in Charlotte: Atrium buys neurosurgery group; Molina city council defeat holds after recount; Wells Fargo settles hiring lawsuit; How a 43-story tower got the green light
On Saturdays, The Ledger sifts through the local news of the week and links to the top articles — even if they appeared somewhere else. We’ll help you get caught up. That’s what Saturdays are for.
Education
Queens, Elon to merge: (Ledger 🔒) Queens University of Charlotte will merge with Elon University, giving Queens financial stability and Elon a foothold in Charlotte. Elon will control most board seats, while Queens gains resources and business partnerships.
Whooping cough outbreak at private school: (Ledger 🔒) The Mecklenburg County Health Department is investigating three cases of whooping cough at Charlotte Latin School.
Politics
Molina defeat holds after recount: (Observer) A recount confirmed J.D. Mazuera Arias’s narrow victory over incumbent Marjorie Molina in Charlotte’s District 5 City Council Democratic primary. Molina conceded.
Local news
Arts center envisioned: (Ledger 🔒) A new nonprofit is making a push to build an arts center in south Charlotte that would give arts groups and emerging performers a place to create and showcase their talents. Leaders say Charlotte has a shortage of performance venues, especially for smaller and mid-sized groups.
4-year-old fatally shot: (WBTV) Four men have been charged with first-degree murder after 4-year-old Jayce Edwards was shot and killed when suspects stole a Dodge Charger in southwest Charlotte.
Fatal uptown shooting at lunchtime: (WSOC) A person was shot and killed around 1:45 p.m. Thursday during the busy lunch rush at Brevard Court outside Latta Arcade in uptown Charlotte. Witnesses described chaos and people running for safety.
Business
Wells Fargo settles suit over hiring practices: (Banking Dive) Wells Fargo executives have reached a settlement with shareholders in a lawsuit accusing the bank of “sham” diversity hiring practices.
Atrium Health is growing: (Ledger 🔒) Carolina NeuroSurgery & Spine Associates, one of the nation’s largest independent neurosurgery groups, will join Atrium Health on Oct. 1.
Sports
Soccer playoffs ahead: (The Ledger’s Carroll Walton on X/Twitter) Charlotte FC clinched a playoff berth with a 3-0 victory over Inter Miami last Saturday at Bank of America Stadium.
From the Ledger family of newsletters
When Iryna Zarutska was laid to rest. Plus: How to get Covid booster; Answering reader question on digital driver's licenses; Charlotte FC clinches playoff berth; Braxton Winston to head big N.C. labor union
Wednesday (🔒)
Why Queens and Elon are merging. Plus: Charlotte Latin whooping cough outbreak; UNC expulsion could cost former student $8M; Animal rescue recovers after alleged embezzlement; Atrium acquisition; DaBaby light rail music video
Friday (🔒)
The push for an arts center in south Charlotte. Plus: Ledger hires experienced Charlotte journalist as managing editor; UNC Charlotte gets clearance for AI degrees; West Charlotte nonprofit works to improve health; Uptown lunchtime shooting
Ways of Life (🔒)
In memoriam: Karin Brace, on a mission to share her love of Christ with others. Also remembered: First director of architecture at CMS; owner of Sharon Barber & Style; an executive at Bank of America
Bus upgrades tied to transit tax vote: Plans include improving frequency so every route runs at least every 30 minutes, upgrading 2,000 stops with benches and shelters, and adding 18 new microtransit zones.
How a 43-story tower got the green light to build. Plus: Elon U. president on real estate, South End hotel renderings; Plans for Dilworth hotel; Beacon deals
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