“Back when Hamlet was formed, because of the railroad, people migrated there from different parts of the country because there were jobs there,” said Broady. “The majority of the black people lived in the North Yard. That’s really what part of it was about. We were on the outside looking in.”
Until they decided to stand on their own. To map out the road that leads to this Saturday’s 25th Anniversary Celebration in Dobbins Heights, one must begin with the Dobbins Heights Community Association, which received its charter in 1971.
“We wanted to solve some of the problems we had here in the community,” said former Association Secretary Channie McManus. “It was just a group of hard-working people, and we found out that we could get funds from the state and federal government if we were an organization.
“There was no time we needed prayer like we needed it then.”
Street and water improvement projects were a priority.
“This road used to be a dirt road, and it was like a washboard,” said Gracie Jackson, former association vice chair and current Mayor Pro Tem, pointing to the stretch of Horseshoe Road that passes by her home.
“I was pregnant at the time, and I said ‘If I lose this baby, I’m going to sue the county.’ My neighbor, T.J. Higgins, got out and did a petition to get some of the streets paved, and this was one of first.”
Another milestone came in the form of a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.
“We did the grant for the water lines ourselves, before we became a town,” said Jackson. “The water pressure was so low before.”
Artifacts from the time period - like bumper stickers emblazoned with the slogan “Vote for Incorporation, Town of Dobbins Heights” - document the struggle for legitimacy.
“It was exciting getting started,” said McManus, former Association Secretary. “We had problems, the county had problems, even Hamlet had problems — but we were pushers.”
They raised money through events like Dobbins Heights Awareness Day, which was first celebrated in 1976. The Miss Dobbins Heights Pageant began that same year, with Janie Lee Gibson taking home the crown.
“The winner (of Miss Dobbins Heights) would raise money for the community,” said Jackson. “We had 15 streetlights in the beginning, and we would pay for those lights from that money.”
One of Jackson’s students at Hamlet Junior High School designed the town’s logo: A pair of hands, joined in a handshake, accompanied by the words “strength” and “unity.”
The Song
The group wrote a song about its endeavors: “Dobbins Heights Is Moving On!”:
Oh North Yard has become Dobbins Heights Community
Our old dirt roads are filled with the paving of some street
We’ve improved our mailboxes and have a fire department
As Dobbins Height goes moving on!
Oh, we are helping ourselves to have a better community
With outstretched hands for youth, adults and the elderly
By unifying ourselves for Dobbins Heights prosperity
As Dobbins Heights goes moving on!
We are dreaming of the future, of what Dobbins Heights can be
Annexation, a shopping center and a local industry
And with the help of God, our dreams become reality
As Dobbins Heights goes moving on!
CHORUS:
Dobbins Heights is moving on!
Dobbins Heights is moving on!
Dobbins Heights is moving on!
With the help of the whole community!
Dobbins Heights became a town in 1984.
For Broady, it was proof that his “crazy idea” wasn’t so crazy after all.
“I retired out of the Navy and came back in October of ‘73,” said Broady. “I guess you could call it naive, but when I returned home I just took things as they were.”
Fire Department
His piece of Dobbins Heights history began with the Fire Department.
“There was a young child who had lost his life in a mobile home fire, and there was so much uproar at the time about not providing fire protection,” said Broady. “Halbert Jackson, Reverend Sawyer and myself got a group of young men together who were willing to be volunteer firefighters. It happened that way, that there were young fellows who had never had a chance to participate, and we brought them into the community.
“After we formed the Fire Department, we just continued to grow.”
Broady joined the DHCA at the suggestion of Reverend Earl Franklin.
“His goal was to try, through government grants, to update Dobbins Heights to the point that Hamlet would annex us.”
Broady clarified Jackson’s account of the annexation request with a quote:
“The Mayor of Hamlet said he ‘didn’t see us being annexed in the foreseeable future,’ said Broady. “To me, that meant never. I said ‘Why not think about incorporation?’ - and everyone looked at me like I had said a bad word. And every time I mentioned incorporation, someone would give me a reason why we couldn’t do it.”
But they began the process of procuring the right for citizens to elect a town government - and vote for incorporation by referendum. At that time, getting a town charter meant getting a bill through the North Carolina General Assembly.
The charter that eventually made its way to the House floor had a caveat: Dobbins Heights had 800 citizens. According to Broady, a majority of 800 votes had to be received befor an incorporation referendum could be passed — regardless of how many of those 800 people cast a ballot.
Community leaders accepted the bill as is, but grew frustrated when it stalled in Committee. Then Broady learned that a Representative from the western part of the state had killed it.
“So we began a letter writing and telephone campaign,” said Broady. “I told people ‘We need someone calling his office every 15 minutes.’”
It worked.
“The Representative called me and said ‘We can’t get through anything with all these letters and calls you all are putting in to our office,’” said Broady. “I said ‘Well, you need to get my bill out. And he told me that our own Representative had asked him to kill that bill.”
According to Broady, the bill passed when community leaders formed an alliance with Lieutenant Governor Jimmy Green, and agreed to support him when he ran for Governor. But that was only the first hurdle.
“I felt like everything was OK,” said Broady. “But I didn’t realize how much animosity there was.”
He was operating a Laundromat in Dobbins Heights at the time - and organizing citizens to vote for incorporation.
“Four months before the election, my Laundromat caught fire,” said Broady. “Then a couple of months later, I had begun operating a community grocery store, and the grocery store caught on fire.”
According to Broady, another fire burned the grocery store to the ground one month later.
“I was the glue,” he said. “I was holding things together. “They knew that if they intimidated or frightened me enough, then no one was going to step up.”
It was the Friday before the election when Broady said he was called to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department for questioning.
“I knew I was walking into a lion’s den,” said Broady. “They showed me a check that I had written to some men to fix the sewage line at the Fire Department a few months prior. And they were saying that I had paid those men to burn down my store. They wanted me to waive my rights; and I knew that they could hold me for 72 hours without charges.
“It was intimidation, really.”
As Broady tells it, he had someone waiting back in Dobbins Heights to make a call to allies in Raleigh if things got thick.
“I asked them if I could have my phone call, and I dialed the number and all I said was ‘Make that call,’ and hung up,” said Broady. “As soon as I did that, those two deputies got up and left — and I haven’t heard anything about it since.
“That Tuesday we went to the polls, where we won overwhelmingly.”
The win was disputed, according to Broady, with officials arguing that the referendum had been lost by one vote. But after a hearing, the initial ballot tallies were reinstated.
“I tell everyone it was God with us, because there is no other way we could have come out of that,” said Broady. “It was like David and Goliath. It was God’s will.”
Young Leaders
Now he sees young leaders like current Mayor Antonio Blue as future catalysts for continued change.
“He retired from the military and came back here with a different perspective,” said Broady. “When you stay in one place all your life, you see things, but you don’t see them. Like the Old Capital High School - when I came home it looked like they had dropped a bomb on it. But the people who had been driving by it every day, they were used to it.”
The land where that abandoned school once stood was transformed by the DHCA into Dobbins Heights Community Park, where the town will host its quarter-century celebration.
“You always think about how powerful big government is, but people have more power when they come together - and we’ve shown that it can be done,” said Broady.
Those words continue to buzz around Town Hall today.
“I have seen such a great improvement,” said Town Clerk Mary Magee. “The lights, the paved streets, how the housing has changed - I appreciate all these things very much.
“If we come together and work together, we can get a lot more done. Even now.”
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