History - Queens Road

How Did Queens Road Get It’s Name?

Newcomers to Charlotte find that there are a number of Queens Roads. It is not uncommon to see people stopped in cars studying maps at the intersection of Queens Road and Queens Road West. This is where Queens Road West changes to Ardsley directly across the street.

Below is an article reprinted from The Legacy by Mary Kratt and Tom Hanchett.

In 1912 things were happening in the new development of Myers Park.  Presbyterian College for Women was moved to the area from its uptown site on North College Street where it had been for for twelve years. There were four groups of people around town who wanted the college and various offers were made to the trustees of Presbyterian College for Women.

George Stephens of the Stephens Company made an offer to deed 50 acres to the college and build a boulevard “connecting the site with the city, and provide streets and sidewalks, curbing, water, sewer, and gas mains.” ….

“That ‘broad boulevard’ still had no name. But in July, the Stephens Company announced a contest to name the ‘highway.’ It was a ‘matter of great civic importance.’ The $25 prize was won by a public school art teacher, Mary Armand Nash. Nash suggested Queens Road, since Charlotte was named after Charlotte Sophia Strelitz of Mecklenburg, Germany. As bride of George III, she became Queen of England in the early days of the Piedmont Carolina village. Winner Nash’s sister proposed Kings Road and lost.”

The quote above continues on page 54 of The Legacy.