Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) is Mecklenburg County’s community college. It was created in response to a post-World War II demand for greater educational opportunities, especially from soldiers returning home. Today, CPCC is the culmination of mergers between local academic institutions.
Central Piedmont Community College’s story begins in the early 20th century. It was founded in 1909 as Charlotte High School and was initially located in Uptown Charlotte. By 1920, when enrollment increased, the school administrators began planning a new facility to serve more students. In 1923, Central High School opened at 1141 Elizabeth Avenue. The school was for white students, while Second Ward High School served Black students.
Central High School functioned as a traditional high school but also served as the first home for Charlotte College (the precursor to UNC-Charlotte) from 1946 to 1961. Charlotte College was created in response to a desire for greater educational opportunities for veterans returning from World War II. North Carolina opened 14 evening centers for veterans, like Charlotte College, to respond to this need across the state. Charlotte College also offered evening classes for freshmen and sophomore students. In 1959, the building stopped functioning as a high school when the school moved from its Elizabeth Avenue location into the newly constructed Garinger High School.
In 1949, the state closed the evening college, believing there were enough facilities to educate returning veterans and recent high school graduates. However, local leaders saw that there were still unmet needs for higher education. The local school district took control of the evening college and operated it as Charlotte College, which functioned as a two-year college.
1949 was a pivotal year in the founding of CPCC. Carver College was established as the Black counterpart to Charlotte College. It operated out of Second Ward High School and was an evening center that offered classes for Black veterans returning from World War II. Carver initially educated veterans but saw an increase in the enrollment of non-veterans. In 1958, the management of Carver College was transferred to the Charlotte Community College System, which eventually became CPCC. In 1961, Carver College was renamed Mecklenburg College, marking a significant transition in the institution’s history.
Charlotte College was very popular, attracting students from surrounding cities and counties. In 1961, it moved out of the old Central High School building and purchased land 10 miles north of Uptown. The College had a new campus and, in 1965, became the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
Even though Charlotte College moved out of the Central High School building in 1961, the Central Industrial Education Center (CEIC) replaced it. In 1963, Mecklenburg College and CEIC merged to form Central Piedmont Community College. That marked the transformation of a single-campus institution on Elizabeth Avenue and Central High School into a multi-campus community college with six campuses and two centers. So many Charlotte educational intuitions came together to form CPCC, and many of those institutions got their start in the Central High School building. Today, CPCC offers roughly 300 diploma and certificate programs, with nearly 56,000 students enrolled. The old Central High School building is still in use by Central Piedmont Community College.
