MOUNT PLEASANT, N.C. — About 45 minutes east of Charlotte in Cabarrus County, the town of Mount Pleasant has been undergoing a sort of rebirth. Over the last 10 years, the town and its residents have been investing in the historic area and making use of existing buildings.
“I grew up a mile up the road, now I live a half a mile up the road,” said Joe Moose, a pharmacist in Mount Pleasant.
For well over a century, Moose Pharmacy has watched over the town. Joe and his brother are fourth-generation pharmacists, with a fifth generation in training.
“It started in 1882 by our great-grandfather ... we’re kind of the hub of health care in this little community,” Joe told Channel 9’s Elsa Gillis. “It’s not just can I fill your prescription and get you out the door, it’s how can I take care of the people in this community?
The pharmacy has been nestled in the same downtown spot since the beginning. They’ve had a front-row seat to the ups and downs of this quintessential small town.
By 2016, many of the buildings around Moose Pharmacy sat empty, falling apart. According to town officials, all four of the town’s textile mills and the state prison had closed by 2016, taking about 1,000 jobs with it. At that time, the town population had only grown by 1% in the previous 10 years.
A handful of residents decided to do something about that downward trend. One of them leading the charge was Dr. Allen Dobson, who moved to the town in the 1980s to be the town’s doctor.
“A lot of people call me Doc here in town,” Dobson told Gillis.
Upon retirement, he and his partners decided to reinvest in the town.
“We thought, well, we’d like to give back, and you know, we’d like to restore a building,” Dobson said.
First up was the old Mercantile and Hosiery Mill. In 2017, they opened the restaurant 73 and Main. More restoration followed, breathing new life into Mount Pleasant while trying to preserve history.
“This building, the Lentz building, was built in 1911,” Dobson said.
That’s now home to a cafe, bakery, and a funky nostalgia store owned by Tripp McNeill and Steve Wensill called Kingdom Corner.
“It started just neighborhood people, but now, they’re driving from Virginia, they’re driving from South Carolina,” McNeill said.
“We’re on the cusp of something big in Mount Pleasant,” Wensill said.
Evidence of the rebirth is throughout the town; even the old state prison is now a whiskey distillery.
But the population here is far from booming. In 1940, it was 1,017 people -- in 2024, it was 1,756.
Still, rapid growth isn’t the goal.
“We’re trying to make a very conscious effort of bringing high-quality businesses, high-quality experiences to town that would attract people from all over,” Moose said.
“I think the long-term for Mount Pleasant is to have some modest growth,” Dobson said.
Many of the projects that are going into old buildings are paid for by historic preservation tax credits, private resident investment, and federal ARPA funds.
One of the next big projects is the restoration of the old Paula Theatre downtown, which will be renamed the Avett Theatre.
WATCH: Historic Mount Pleasant theater set to be restored, renamed for Avett family
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