From The Archives

Rich in History

The Sidney and Ethel Grier House was built in 1916 by Sidney Fitzgerald Grier, the youngest son of Julius Solomon Grier (1851-1910) and the grandson of Eli Clinton Grier (1820-1885). The Sidney and Ethel Grier House is intimately bound up with the history of the Grier family, a prominent farming clan in the Providence community and, even more significantly, the founders of the first building in Mecklenburg County devoted exclusively to the spinning of cotton. Founded by Eli Clinton Grier, the mill was located about half way between Matthews, N.C., and Providence Presbyterian Church in southern Mecklenburg County. It contained 350 spindles and produced bale yarn. It was established in 1874 and operated for approximately eighteen months. The building was demolished in 1899.1 The Sidney and Ethel Grier House is one of the few remaining residences associated with this locally successful agrarian and early industrial family. It therefore stands as a symbol of a rural way of life that once was predominant in what is now a rapidly developing suburban district of southern Mecklenburg County.

After J.S. Grier’s death in 1910, some of his land passed to his youngest son Sidney, who built the Bungalow style farmhouse with a pyramidal hipped roof, a full width wrap around porch, and decorative style elements from both the Queen Anne and Craftsman periods. Sidney continued the Grier tradition of farming on the family land, and was assisted in his later years by his son Michael. After Michael’s untimely death from an automobile accident on August 25, 1940, Sidney’s son Gerald and his wife Florence moved into a smaller house on the property to help with the farm. After Sidney’s death in 1944, Gerald and his family moved into the main house and continued to farm on the property. Gerald Grier continued to use tenant labor to grow corn wheat, oats, barley, and some cotton, but in later years shifted his emphasis to truck farming, growing vegetables, strawberries, cantaloupes, and watermelons. He also raised calves for a nearby dairy farm.

One can fully appreciate the historic significance of the Sidney and Ethel Grier House, only by taking into account its place within the present built environment of the Providence community of southern Mecklenburg County. The house is the only extant farm structure once owned by the locally prominent Grier family. Even more importantly, it is the sole reminder of the immediate neighborhood's agricultural heritage. The closest farm to the east is the Fincher Farm, over one mile away. No farms exist to the immediate west. The closest significant farmhouse to the west is the James Blakeney House, also over a mile distant.

The Structure

Built in 1916 by a Mr. Fincher, the Sidney and Ethel Grier House is a well preserved rural farmhouse. The hipped roof, one story, bungalow form, frame house resembles a large pyramidal cottage. The house was part of a farm complex, typical for Mecklenburg County's more successful farmers, consisting of numerous small outbuildings as well as a substantial barn. Those buildings are now gone but the home still shines at the top of the knoll.

The house sits at the end of a long drive that was bordered on both sides by open fields. Now you reach the house coming through a new townhouse development. It faces north and is situated among hardwood trees that form a small grove around the house. The house has been renovated by the Landmarks Commission. Updates include new wiring, upgraded power box, new plumbing, restored exterior, new roof, new heat and air, new kitchen and new bath. All the original materials that existed in the home have been maintained. Including, heart of pine floors, fireplace mantels, doors and door hardware and built in kitchen cabinet.