With the exception of Fairview and Caldwell Lanes, the primary streets and roads throughout the neighborhood are named after Southern authors and writers. The narrow “byways” are all named for local people who were in the chain of title for property purchased for the New Neighborhood.
The name McConnell appears repeatedly in the history of the Town of Davidson and Davidson College. Mary Jane McConnell tells me that years before the town and college were founded, four McConnell brothers came to America from Scotland. One suspects this to be the beginning of the family tree, but all of its branches are not clearly defined! McConnells have been teachers and benefactors for Davidson College and owned the property where McConnell neighborhood now stands before selling or giving it to Davidson College.
Drs. Claude H. and Mary Jane McConnell are close residents to our neighborhood as they currently live in the white house that can be seen from Conroy Avenue. Their driveway actually connects to Grey Road. Doug Boone purchased fifteen acres of land from the McConnells for part of our development. In fact, this very land likely includes the two byways named for them.
Claude and Mary Jane moved to this area in 1953 and were both optometrists in Mooresville. Claude was originally from Tennessee and Mary Jane was from Illinois. Their current home was not their first. They lived early in a home at the corner of Dogwood Road and Grey Road. They also built and lived in the large brick home at 201 Conroy Avenue, just across from where Caldwell Lane tees into Conroy. The McConnells have three children, two daughters and a son. One of the daughters, who now lives in upstate New York, competitively rode horses while living here in Davidson. The property that was sold to Doug Boone originally had riding trails and a riding ring along with a barn for the horses. The second daughter owns a portion of the remaining 8.5 acres of land. She and the McConnells’ son both now live in the Charlotte area.
In my conversation with Mary Jane McConnell, she was unsure of any direct connection to Dr. John W. (Wilson) McConnell, the man behind the name of the byway at the rear of townhomes on Harper Lee Street and O. Henry Avenue. John McConnell was in the chain of title for the 52 acres of land purchased by Doug Boone from the Susan Goodrum heirs. In her book Davidson: A History of the Town from 1835 until 1937, Mary D. Beaty repeatedly mentions Dr. John W. McConnell. He taught biology at Davidson College from 1904 until 1945 and was the medical doctor for the college and town. Apparently, John McConnell, nick-named “Brass,” was one of the great Davidson characters of that period. Dr. McConnell was also a Davidson Commissioner from 1913 until 1918.
[I want to express my thanks and appreciation to Mary Jane McConnell for agreeing to speak to me and for her kindness in sharing some of her story. Thanks are also due Louis Deaton, Caldwell Avenue neighbor and long-time friend of the McConnells, for his added information.]