Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History

Millie-Christine, the “Carolina Nightingale”

Mille-Christine in the 1890s.

Ill-Fated Windmill Just Outside Boone

On July 11, 1979, Boone celebrated “Windmill Day” with a street festival to dedicate NASA’s Mod-1, the world’s largest megawatt industrial windmill on Howard’s Knob.

Gaston Means, Con Man, Swindler and Hoax Artist

On July 11, 1879, private detective, bootlegger and all-around con man Gaston Means was born in Concord.

Wry Television Journalist David Brinkley a Wilmingtonian

On July 10, 1920, broadcaster David Brinkley was born in Wilmington.

Serial Prison Escapee Meets His Demise

July 10, 1930, Otto Wood made his final escape from Central Prison.

Root Boy Slim and Blues Based Mayhem

On July 9, 1945, Foster McKenzie III, known to punk music fans as Root Boy Slim, was born to a fishmonger in Asheville.

Lutheran Leader J. G. Arends

J.G.

Film Screening Prelude to Klan/Nazi Shooting, 1979

On July 8, 1979, members of the communist Greensboro Workers Viewpoint Organization (WVO) protested a screening of the white supremacist film Birth of a Nation held by the Ku Klux Klan at the town hall of small Rowan County town of China Grove.

“Goat Gland Doctor:” A Legendary Con Man

John Romulus Brinkley rose to fame in 1922 with his development of an operation whereby the sex glands of goats were transplanted into the bodies of impotent men.

The Home Guard, Peace Keepers During the Civil War

On July 7, 1863, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation to create the Home Guard.