History of Lakeview 

The area which is currently known as Lakewood was developed as an Amusement Park back in the early 1910’s – 1930’s. During that time, a dam was constructed adjacent to the Hoskins Textile Mill district. A lake filled up behind the dam and the shores of the lake were developed with a park which had pavilions, a theater, hangout shelters, a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, a trolley, and a small petting zoo. Lakewood became known as the City’s favorite playground (it was the Carowinds of it’s time). But, the downfall of the City’s favorite playground is that families of color were not allowed to go inside the neighborhood to enjoy the attractions. They were only there if they were working or part of the entertainment for the White park goers.

In the late 1930’s, the dam broke, the park closed and Lakewood was developed as a mill village for white workers of the Hoskins Textile Mill. In the late 1960’s, Black families who were victims of “urban renewal” were relocated in Lakewood and at that same time, many white residents began relocating out of the neighborhood due to the systematically racist process called “redlining” and “white flight”.  During that time the area that was previously known as “Lakewood Park” became referred to as the “Lakeview Neighborhood” by the Black Families that were forced to live there because of the Lakeview Elementary School that was located in the Neighborhood. The neighborhood continued to be known as Lakeview until 1992 when a group of White neighbors, members of the Lakewood Community Development Corporation, and Faith Memorial Baptist Church decided to change the name of the neighborhood back to “Lakewood”. With Lakewood being at serious risk of gentrification/force displacement, at a time when residents need to be working together and thinking critically about the changes they want to see happen in their community. A lack of trust and living everyday from a place of survival, keeps community members from engaging in a meaningful way. In working to engage with our residents in order to build those meaningful relationships, we have been providing services that are focused on Family Stability and Civic Awareness. In effort to help current residents prepare for the major changes we are about to face as a community. In doing so,  we have found that a lot of that lack of trust and a major source of resentment comes as a result of the neighborhood name being changed without the input of the residents.

Therefore, Lakewood Neighborhood Alliance and the Lakeview Reunion Committee collaborated to host the “Lakeview/Lakewood Reunion” ( on Saturday, August 3rd, 2019 in the Lakewood Neighborhood Park) in honor of CLT250, to bring awareness to the history of the neighborhood,  to help bridge the gap between the “tale of two cities”, and to find out (once and for all) which name does the current residents want to represent our neighborhood! (These were the options that the residents will be voting on: a) Lakeview b) Lakewood or c) Lakewood Formerly known Lakeview. The name that received the most votes was Lakeview, which is now the name that is on our new community sign (Which was paid for by the funds we received from the Neighborhood Matching Grant), and Lakewood Neighborhood Alliance is now known as Lakeview Neighborhood Alliance.