Professor Charles Jesse Bynum Reid was born in 1879 in the village of Lowell in Gaston County to Mag and John Reid. Reid was one of eight children born to his formerly enslaved parents, and he graduated in 1904 from Lincoln Academy in Kings Mountain before enrolling in Knoxville College in Tennessee. There, he earned a degree and began his lifelong passion for teaching. He returned to Gaston County and by 1918, he was a teacher in Mount Holly, known by the community as “Professor Reid.”

In 1918, at the age of 38, he married another Gaston County schoolteacher, Maude Herndon, and the couple built their Craftsman bungalow. There, they raised four children (Bernard, Helen, Horace, and Doris) and contributed their lives to improving the community through education and ministry.

He commissioned a school to be built adjacent to their home, initially named the Reid School, which included instruction through the 6th grade. In time, the school was expanded to include grades 1-12 and was renamed Reid High School in 1932. Professor Reid died in 1940 and the school was closed in 1966 with the buildings on its campus quickly destroyed. Today, the site remains open to the public as a community park and features a sculpture entitled “The Message” to honor the role of the school in Belmont’s Black community.

The Reid House remains an important touchstone to the Reid family and their contributions to Belmont. The house is well-located on high land adjacent to the Reid Park. The story-and-a-half bungalow offers a welcoming wrap-around porch supported by battered-post-on-brick pier supports, a key feature in Craftsman architecture.

The interior features cozy fireplaces and a built-in china cabinet in the dining room. The house is arranged asymmetrically, with a parlor and dining room aligned to a rear kitchen space, balanced with a private office and a main level primary suite. Upstairs are three additional bedrooms that could be re-imagined as two bedrooms serviced by a Jack-and-Jill bath installation in the room between the two.

The Reid House will require a comprehensive rehabilitation in a manner that preserves important original architectural features such as windows, molding, mantels, and built-in cabinetry. Other spaces may be renovated to meet modern needs such as the kitchens and bathrooms. The house is being sold subject to protective covenants and a rehabilitation agreement to ensure that it will remain a well-preserved landmark representing an important chapter of our state’s history.

A small Main Street America city in Gaston County, Belmont is located just 12 miles to Charlotte Center City, 7 miles from Charlotte Douglas International Airport and 9 miles east of Gastonia. It was named for New York banker August Belmont, and was once known as Garibaldi Station. Belmont is home to a farmer’s market, Stowe Park, outdoor enthusiast activities along the Catawba River, local shops, restaurants and dining options, all while being commutable to everything Charlotte has to offer. The 2021 census notes Belmont’s population at 15,135, with Gaston County being at 230,856. For more area information, visit www.cityofbelmont.org and www.gogastonnc.org/towns/belmont.