Belk’s founder to be honored on history trail
In 1888 a 26-year-old William Henry Belk opened a small shop in Monroe, which he called the New York Racket to make it sound bigger than its 1,500 square feet.
Belk’s bargain store became what is now the nation’s largest privately owned department store chain, with more than 300 stores in 16 states.
On Tuesday, Belk is being honored with a statue on Charlotte’s Trail of History for his role in helping to shape the city into a commercial hub in the Southeast. The statue – 7 feet tall and 700 pounds – has been strategically placed outside the mixed-use Metropolitan development off Charlottetowne Avenue to underscore his impact on the city’s economy, organizers said.
The honor comes at a time when Charlotte-based Belk Inc. is in the midst of re-evaluating its future and weighing options that could include a sale. The chain has hired an investment bank, Goldman Sachs, to assist it.
Historians such as Tom Hanchett of the Levine Museum of the New South say Belk belongs on the Trail of History even if his namesake stores were no longer to be based in Charlotte. Belk’s money and descendants have played a major role in shaping the city, including Belks who served as mayor, on the school board and as chair of the Charlotte Chamber.
“Charlotte is a business town, and he created one of the most visible, longest-lasting businesses to come out of the region,” Hanchett said.
“The choice to put him on the Trail of History makes perfect sense, because all people on the trail are game changers. They helped transform a crossroads in the woods into one of the biggest cities in the South. The trail is putting a human face on that history.”
Belk’s statue is the fifth of 21 planned statues for the Trail of History. Already on the trail are statues of early settler Thomas “Kanawha” Spratt, Catawba tribal chief King Hagler, Revolutionary War figure Capt. James Jack and 19th-century hospital founder Jane Renwick Smedberg Wilkes.
The Trail of History is backed by a consortium of community leaders and donors and will stretch a little more than a mile along Little Sugar Creek Greenway from Seventh Street at Central Piedmont Community College south to Morehead Street.
A price tag for the entire Trail of History has not been released, but the series could cost in excess of $4.7 million (about $225,000 per statue), officials have said. The money will be all private, donated by history-minded individuals or entities with a connection to the figures being depicted. Organizers said the donor for the Belk statue wanted to remain anonymous.
Of the statues installed so far on the trail, the Belk name is likely the most recognizable to current Charlotteans.
Belk, a native of Lancaster, S.C., is credited with introducing some radically new retailing ideas for those times: All merchandise was clearly marked with a price, which meant no haggling at the counter, and customers could return merchandise if they were not satisfied.
In 1891, Belk persuaded his brother, Dr. John M. Belk, to leave the medical profession and become a partner in the Monroe store. They formed the Belk Brothers Co. and began a 37-year business association that resulted in the opening of stores throughout the Carolinas under the Belk name and the names of their affiliated managing partners.
William Henry Belk headed the organization until his death at age 89 in 1952. The company today is in the third generation of Belk family leadership.
Mary Claudia Belk Pilon, one of William Henry Belk’s grandchildren, said the family expects up to 100 of his descendants to attend Tuesday’s unveiling, which is not open to the public.
“My hope is that my grandfather will be viewed as a pillar of change and inspiration,” said Pilon, who worked in Belk stores for years, including stints as a cashier and shoe seller. “He didn’t have a formal education. He didn’t come from a family of privilege. … But he did have an idea, and he surrounded himself with the people and the capital needed to make it a success. I’d like to believe that could inspire others to do the same thing.”
Gary Ritter, a history instructor at Central Piedmont Community College who serves on the Trail of History board, says Belk represents the project’s goal to elevate the stories of Mecklenburg County’s historical figures.
The next statue on the trail, to be erected later this year, will be of Thaddeus Lincoln Tate, whose investments made way for a growth spurt in black-owned Charlotte businesses in the 1920s. He also co-founded Grace AME Zion Church. His statue will be the first in Charlotte acknowledging contributions of an African-American to city history.
“A lot of times, we think of the colonial and Revolutionary periods as being more significant periods of our history,” Ritter said, “but we wanted diversity, people from different walks of life and people from different periods of history. We wanted to tell the story of Charlotte through these people.”
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About William Henry Belk
Belk stores founder William Henry Belk opened his first bargain store in Monroe on May 29, 1888. He started with $750 in savings, a $500 loan from a local widow and about $3,000 worth of goods taken on consignment from a bankrupt store. Belk referred to it as “The Cheapest Store on Earth.” In less than seven months, he had paid off his debts and made a $3,300 profit. Stores in Chester and Union, S.C., were opened before he eventually established one in Charlotte in 1895.
This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 2:00 AM with the headline "Belk’s founder to be honored on history trail."