323 Old Route 74 E, Polkton, NC 28135     $39,000 Sold on 7/21/2021 for $39,000

OHU50K NOTES

This is a historic fixer upper in Polkton, NC, about 35 miles southeast of Charlotte.

 

History

The c.1830 farmhouse is the birthplace of Leonidas Lafayette Polk (1837-1892).  Leonidas lived here with his father Andrew, a farmer, and mother, Serina. Andrew was Serina’s senior by 35 years. Their homestead was worth $10,000 in 1850. According to Wikipedia:

L.L. Polk fought in the American Civil War for the Confederate States of America, and was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Returning to North Carolina after the war, he founded the town of Polkton, incorporated in 1875, where he started a weekly newspaper called The Ansonian. Through it he advocated for farmers and for the Grange movement. Polk, a distant relative of President James K. Polk, became active in state politics, serving in the North Carolina House of Representatives and as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1865–66. In 1877, he was appointed the first North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture and served until 1880. An agricultural collection he established as Commissioner was the basis for what became the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

 

 

He returned to journalism by founding the Progressive Farmer in 1886 in Winston. The magazine is still published to this day. At first, the paper’s primary aim was to teach new agricultural methods, but soon it also focused on politics.

Meanwhile, he was also active in the Baptist church, once serving as president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Polk was instrumental in establishing the North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College and Baptist Female University.

In the late 1880s, he rose to nationwide prominence through his leadership of the state and national Farmers’ Alliance, which had begun in Texas. He became its national vice president in 1887 and its president in 1889. These words, spoken in 1887, were typical of Polk’s rhetoric: “Our farmers buy everything to raise cotton, and raise cotton to buy everything, and, after going through this treadmill business for years, they lie down and die and leave their families penniless.”

 

The Alliance’s mixed record using traditional two-party politics paved the way for the Populist Party, or People’s Party. Polk presided over the meeting in February 1892 that formally created the party. The Populists likely would have nominated Polk for president in 1892 (see 1892 U.S. presidential election), but he died unexpectedly from a hemorrhaging bladder in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 1892.

He was one of the first inductees into the North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame.

• 3beds
• 2baths
• 1,863sq ft
• 5.28 acres lot
• Build date 1830
• Google Map
• Property Listing
• Realtor: Dru Anderson 843-548-8447

 

 

REALTOR COMMENTS

1830s HISTORIC LEONIDAS L. POLK HOUSE FOR SALE IN POLKTON, NC. This 1896 SQFT house will be sold on +/- 5.8 Acres. The property is currently zoned commercial allowing many different uses. Great location just under 50 minutes to downtown Charlotte. Leonidas L. Polk is known for many accomplishments. He was the founder of the town of Polkton, founder of Progressive Farmer, the first NC Commissioner of Agriculture, president of National Farmers Alliance, and a founder of North Carolina State University & Meredith College. Up to 62 adjoining Acres available & an auto garage / commercial building.