Willard G. Rogers Architectural Drawings

Willard G. Rogers (1863?-1947), a native of Cincinnati, practiced architecture in Charlotte, N. C. for many years. According to a biographical dictionary of Cincinnati architects, he was the son of architect Solomon Willard and Susan Rogers and grandson of the famed Massachusetts and Ohio architect, Isaiah Rogers. Relatively little is known of Willard G. Rogers's early life. The 1910 census, which recorded Willard G. Rogers as an architect in Charlotte, put his birth year at about 1866 and his father's birthplace as Massachusetts. Solomon Willard Rogers and his family moved about during Willard's youth. The United States Census of 1880 showed Willard G. Rogers, aged 18, in Tate, Ohio where his father, Solomon, was identified as a native of Connecticut and a farmer. The family moved to Atlanta, where city directories show them in the early 1890s. In 1900 Solomon Rogers was living in Mississippi, identified as an architect from Connecticut, and living at a boarding house. The rest of the family may have stayed in Georgia; in 1900, Solomon W. Rogers, architect from Massachusetts, aged 71 and his wife Susan Rogers, aged 66, were living in Edgewood, DeKalb County, Georgia. Around 1900, Willard Rogers and his wife, Eva, moved to Charlotte from Cincinnati, Ohio, as an architect for the engineering firm of Stuart W. Cramer. For a time, he was a partner in Hook and Sawyer with Charles Christian Hook and then in Hook and Rogers (established in 1905), finally on his own. Rogers was active in professional organizations. In 1912 he served as president of the North Carolina Architectural Association. He was also a Scottish Rite Mason as early as 1913. After Rogers's partnership with Hook ended, he went on to practice on his own. Beginning in 1916, he frequently advertised his services as a "registered architect" with his office at 502 Trust Building in Charlotte newspapers. In 1921, he advertised that he had an office in Charlotte and another in Kinston, North Carolina. Rogers's work on his own encompassed a variety of building types, especially in the western Piedmont. Several were among the most prominent in their communities at the time, including courthouses and leading banks. Rogers appeared regularly in Charlotte city directories as an architect, and in 1940, the United States Census recorded Rogers, an architect aged 71, and his wife Eva, aged 62, still residing in Charlotte. Shortly after this, he moved to Atlanta, where he died on November 28, 1947, aged 83.

Herbert Claude Alexander was the son of M.A. and Frances Alexander, descendants of the founding fathers of Mecklenburg County and signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He was born March 23, 1889 in Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, NC. According to the donor of this collection, H. C. Alexander was an investment banker and president of the Bank of Commerce which stood on Church Street just below West Trade Street. He invested in real estate, and had the Dilworth Theatre built.