Hampshire Hills history: A look at how this 1960s Charlotte neighborhood came to be
Zoom down The Plaza headed east and you might pass right by Hampshire Hills.
But turn into the East Charlotte neighborhood off Bridgeport Drive and you’ll find about 350 homes. Most are owned by a mix of working professionals and retirees.
John Crosland, one of Charlotte’s most prominent home builders, developed the neighborhood in 1962.
The $8 million development included several hundred homes priced in the range of $15,000 to $19,000, according to a book titled “The Builder: The Croslands and How They Shaped a Region” written in 2004 by Ross Yockey. (The cost of the project in today’s dollars would be about $80 million.)
The community was built with a park with its own tennis courts and swimming pool. Crosland expanded the neighborhood in the 1980s by building two apartment communities, including one for seniors, according to a neighborhood history compiled by a local Realtors group.
In 1974, Bill Pickens moved into the neighborhood with his family.
At the time, they were the second African American family to live there, Pickens said. Now retired, Pickens worked as an associate director of United Family Services, a nonprofit recipient of United Way.
The swim club and tennis courts used to be down the street where his daughter would swim. But the club later closed — Pickens isn’t sure exactly when — because the cost to maintain it became too expensive.
It’s now home to a 5-acre Mecklenburg County park called Unity Park. There are still a couple tennis courts there.
Saving trees, building quality homes
Hampshire Hills has been home to local judges as well as UNC Charlotte professors over the years, Pickens said.
Crosland did a good job of saving a lot of trees instead of clear-cutting and planting new ones, Pickens said. He was unsure of why exactly it was called Hampshire Hills, though the neighborhood does, in fact, have some hills.
The typical home is either one or two stories, has between two and three bedrooms and one or two bathrooms.
The quality also stood out.
Crosland built the homes with solid flooring, including about an inch and a half of hardwood floors That is usually too expensive to be done today, Pickens said.
The quality construction has meant the homes remain in good quality. “He did an excellent job of building this neighborhood,” Pickens said.
This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
