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History
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_-_Compressed_003.jpg "Chamber past-presidents are honored annually at a luncheon.")
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Chamber past-presidents are honored annually at a luncheon.
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Chamber Grew From Merchants Association Formed In 1937
The Chamber's deep roots date to October 22, 1937, and the formation of Belmont Merchants Association, Inc., which was organized "to encourage and develop the commercial interests of the Town of Belmont and surrounding territory." Establishing a credit bureau and collection agency to serve local merchants was one of the principal purposes of the association.
Twenty-three years later times were different. Belmont boasted more than 30 manufacturing companines, mostly textile, and the merchants envisioned a new role for the association. They needed to reach out to and involve the community's industrial business leaders.
Merchants Association President Robert Hilker chaired a committee that worked many months on the issue in late 1959 and early 1960. Others on the committee were Harley B. Gaston, Jr., Neely Dixon, Jr. and Dalton Mann. They drafted bylaws, recruited board members and attended to the complex legal requirements to convert the Merchants Association to the Belmont Chamber of Commerce, Inc.
J. Paul Ford, cashier of the Bank of Belmont, was elected as the first president of the Belmont Chamber of Commerce, and he called the first meeting of the Board of Directors for May 2, 1960. Other officers elected were Clyde Deitz, vice president, and James Dickson, treasurer. Mrs. Yvonnie C. Hill served as executive secretary of the Chamber.
Elected to the first Chamber Board of Directors were: L.A. Brown, W.A. Dixon, Jr., David Bumgardner, the Rev. Harry H. Robinson, Jr., Eli Cohn, Harvey Elmore, Robert Hilker, Edgar Bullard, I.E. Howe, Neely Dixon, Jr., Harley Gaston, Jr., Dalton Mann, W. Price Hand, and J. Bart Hall.
In 70 years of service, the Chamber and its predecessor Merchants Assocation saw Belmont from the infancy of the textile industry through the boom years and then ultimately into the decline. Most of the mills are gone now, replaced by upscale homes. A new day is dawning in Belmont and in the other towns of eastern Gaston County: Cramerton, Lowell, McAdenville, Mount Holly and Stanley. The rapidly growing Charlotte market, no longer held at bay by the Catawba River, is overflowing into eastern Gaston and changing the face of its communities.
To meet the challenges of changing communities and a changing business climate, the Chamber also is changing. With membership growing rapidly from businesses located in neighboring towns, consideration of a name to reflect its changing membership and mission began in 2005.
After more than two years of deliberation, the Chamber Board of Directors in 2008 voted to begin doing business as the Montcross Area Chamber, a name derived from the massive Montcross residential, retail and commercial project along I-85 between the Catawba and South Fork Rivers. Honoring its rich history, the Chamber will continue to operate under the corporate name Belmont Chamber of Commerce, Inc.
To read more about the Chamber's new vision, click on the link below:
Where We're Going
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CHAMBER
PRESIDENTS
1960 J. Paul Ford
1961 Clyde J. Deitz
1962 Bart Hall
1963 David Bumgardner, Jr.
1964 Neely Dixon, Jr.
1965 Harvey Elmore, Sr.
1966 Charles T. Stowe, Jr.
1967 W.A. (Bill) Dixon
1968 Richard S. Cromlish
1969 Jack Neely
1969 W.A. Mason
1970 Harley B. Gaston, Jr.
1971 Bobby Curtis
1972 John Jenkins
1973 Walter Lineberger, Jr.
1974 Dick Cromlish
1975 Robert Hilker
1976 Nelson Hayes
1977 Gray Sanders
1978 Ronald Smith
1979 Richard Thomas
1980 Ebb Gant
1981 Tom Hunter
1982 Dr. Dannie Benjamin
1983 Garry Freeman
1984 Guy Piche
1985 Robert Coleman
1986 Jeff Nichols
1987 Jim Lemons
1988 Sam Stowe, III
1989 Johnnie Lowry
1990 Alex Robinson
1991 David Howe
1992 Debbie Estes
1993 Janna Stamey
1994 Debbie Estes
1995 Todd Stafford
1996 Jane Collins
1997 Trudy Dixon
1998 Ellen Fleming
1999 Helena McClure
2000 Ron Stewart
2001 Kevin Loftin
2002 Greg Schramek
2003 Bryan Dalton
2004 Bryan Dalton
2005 Paul Herre
2006 Rebecca Wintsch
2007 Paul Lowrance
2008 Titus Workman
2009 Bryan Dalton
2010 Edward G. Lunsford
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