Massey-Clark House
(ca. 1880s)
The home of the Matthews Heritage Museum is itself one of the oldest buildings in Matthews.
232 North Trade St, Matthews, NC 28105
One of the oldest surviving buildings in Matthews, the Massey-Clark House is an excellent example of the vernacular hall-and-parlor style of architecture. It is also an important remnant of a rural small-town community and way of life that once defined Mecklenburg County. Matthews (then called Stumptown, due to the many tree stumps left by local farmers as they cleared land for houses and fields) was a small sleepy farming community until 1872, when the Carolina Central Railroad located a depot along its Charlotte-to Wilmington rail line beside a stagecoach stop in Stumptown. The community’s ensuing growth led to the incorporation of the town of Matthews in 1879 and the subsequent development of Trade Street into a bustling center for commerce frequented by local farmers and the train passengers and crews that stopped there daily.
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Local lore holds that the Massey-Clark House was built in 1845 by W. W. Orr. It is more likely, however, that the structure was erected in or soon after 1880 when Ellison James Funderburk sold the lot on which the house rests to Dr. Henry V. Massey, a medical doctor and Civil War veteran. Once completed, the house remained in the Massey family until 1925 when Dr. Massey’s children sold the house to Clarence Coatsworth Clark, a section foreman with Southern Railroad, and his wife Susie Elmore Clark. The couple had five children, two of whom died in childhood. At that time, the town of Matthews was still quite rural, as evidenced by the cotton field that was cultivated adjacent to the Massey-Clark House at that time. Later, in 1950, the Matthews Town Hall was erected next door to the Massey-Clark House, at 224 North Trade Street.
The Clarks’ eldest child Paul moved into the house with his wife Lucy and children in 1953 to live with the aging Susie, remaining in the house after Susie passed away. Following the death of Paul and Lucy, their children sold the Massey-Clark House to the town of Matthews to prevent the house’s demolition. Since then, the house has served alternatively as an assistance center for local residents, a retail store, and most recently as the home of the Matthews Heritage Museum.