Why We Can't Widen West Sugar Creek Rd

Q. I'm Puzzled. I have heard it mentioned several times that West Sugar Creek Rd. near the Derita Post Office is built on the Railroad right-of-way and that's why it can not be widened and why the Community organization hasn't been able to get the Railroad to clean it up properly. How did all that come about?

No big secret. Back in the early days, Railroads acquired (and were often given) the right-of-ways needed to bring them into a community. Local roads were little more than wide dirt paths. Rail service provided the best and most efficient way to move people, harvested crops and merchandise from one place to another.

The line from Charlotte through Derita ran all the way to the engine repair yard at Spencer (NC) with platform stops (when needed) all along the way (places like Croft, Huntersville, Caldwell Station, Cornelius, Davidson, Mt. Mourne) to load on cotton bales, vegetables, tobacco & grains and to off-load goods and supplies.

To expedite things, the roads needed to be right next to the tracks so that the farmers could pull their wagons right up to the platform (and sometimes right up to the train car for loading. Area merchants, too, tried to build their stores near the tracks to facilitate both sending and receiving their merchandise. So like the Derita location, it was a "pretty snug fit."

Until the County finally took over the dirt roads in the late 1800's, our roads were maintained by individual farmers --- each in turn, supplying a hired man and a team of mules for a month at a time. They filled potholes, removed limbs and fallen trees, etc. . Years later, the State just paved the roadway/loading area that was still in use.


Note: In years prior to the War Between the States (when we got our rail line), the U.S. Government actually gave the railroads out West up to 50 miles right-of-way on either side of tracks to get them lay track through unpopulated areas. I think the Derita right-of-way is around 100 ft.

Note: An Assemble-It-Yourself House, ordered directly from the Sears & Roebuck catalog (after World War II) is probably the most memorable delivery by train in the Derita area. The rail car was parked on a siding (probably what is now Derita Ave) and materials were hauled to the building site by wagon. A second story and siding were added and the interior was remodeled when the Devongate subdivision was built next to the original structure on Gibbon Rd. (It's the gray one with white trim, next to the yellow house with white trim). Look for it next time you drive by.

--- Our Thanks once again for information contained in
the History of Derita, as compiled and written by
the late Ona Welch Puckett.

--- submitted by Bernie Samonds
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