Hugh Torrance House & Store, Inc. records of incorporation

The Hugh Torance House & Store, Inc., a non-profit corporation, was established in 1977 in order to carry out the intent of an easement granted that same year to the Mecklenburg Historical Association by the property's owners, Richard T. and Belle P. Banks. The corporation's primary roles include oversight of the restoration of the property, maintenance and operation as an historical site, and the promotion and encouragement of historical research of the house and store. Through the acquisition of grants and other monies, the restoration of the property was completed in 1989. The Hugh Torance House and Store, as well as the adjacent Cedar Grove plantation home, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and have been designated local historic landmarks through the recommendation of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission. [Files related to the corporation are also available in the Mecklenburg Historical Association Records, which are also a part of the UNC Charlotte Manuscript Collections.] A grist and saw mill was built by James Torrance in 1844-1846; located on Gilead Road, west of Huntersville, N.C.; previously the site of a mill built 1824-1825; only the stone foundation of the later mill survives.

The Hugh Torance House and Store, located at 8231 Gilead Road in Huntersville, is the oldest existing mercantile building in Mecklenburg County, dating from the late 18th century. The house and log store were built in phases. The original log structure, which later became the store, is believed to have been built around 1780, with a storage addition made around 1787. Hugh Torance bought the property in 1779 and moved his family into the log building in 1787. He built the federal-style, two-story addition, of the building in 1796. Hugh's son, James Galbraith Torrance (he changed the spelling of the family name), opened a dry goods store in the log structure portion in 1805. He operated the store until 1825, when the contents were purchased by Samuel McCombs of Charlotte. By that time, James had acquired all of the Mecklenburg County holdings of his father, who died in 1816. [For additional information about the family and the property, see folder 2:1 in this collection; the Torrance and Banks Family Papers; and the survey and research report on Cedar Grove and the Hugh Torance House and Store in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission Reports.]