History

Settlers came to the part of Catawba County known now as Claremont in the early 1880’s. It has been reported that the land sold for fifty cents an acre. The area became a settlement in 1881. The town began to take shape in 1814 when Jonas, Marcus and Calvin Sigmon built the first building, a merchandise store.

The Settlement was called "Charlotte Crossing". The Federal Post Office Department did not approve of the similarity with the Town of Charlotte. The village’s name was shortened to just "Crossing". Some people called the village "Setzer’s Depot". The Southern Railroad urged the people of the village to give their village a name. Early leaders of the village were J. D. Kelly, a railroad maintenance foreman and owner of Kelly’s Boarding House; William A. Hoke, a grocery man and early postmaster; Jonas Sigmon, prominent farmer; and Frank Cannon, the Southern Railroad depot man. These men discussed the problem. To these leaders Frank Cannon suggested naming the town after a girl he was sparking, Clara Sigmon. The men agreed with the suggestion and took the name of "Clare"and added, "mount" to it. The "mount" was added because the village from the old Catawba Road side looked high, as on a mountain. This was later shortened to "mont". On August 8, 1892 the town was officially called Claremont and listed in this way by the United States Post Office Department and also by the Southern Railroad.

The town fathers decided to incorporate now that they had a name for the town. Following all the procedures they took the papers of incorporation to the North Carolina Legislature. Claremont became officially incorporated in January 1893. The official boundary of the town was one mile from the railroad depot, north, south, east and west. The States Attorney General had to rule if the boundary was one-mile round or one-mile square. In his opinion the town of Claremont was a mile square.

Most people farmed but in these early years, one of the earliest sources of employment was the coal shute of the Southern Railroad. This was in the early 1900’s and remained until 1918 when the coal shute was moved to Connelly Springs. Men worked around the clock, and there were probably two men on twelve-hour shifts. Steam engines would pick up the water needed in Newton and the coal in Claremont. The engineer would blow the whistle to alert the men at the coal shute.

After the coal shute left Claremont, the boys would go to the area and dig down into the dirt to get the coal that was left there. Many of the boys took the coal they dug and sold it; others would take it home to use to heat their rooms. People continued to dig for coal for ten years after the coal shute had left town. The depot stayed active until the mid-seventies when it was closed.

In the City Park there once stood a rock building approximately 75 feet long and 25 feet wide. This was the Claremont Pepsi Cola Bottling Company. The spring is still active that furnished the water for the cola Ingredients used in the production of the cola were ale, water, flavoring, extracts, white sugar, and syrup.

The cola was sold in Taylorsville, NC with approximately forty cases being delivered to the stores on a two-horse wagon. Pepsi Cola drinks at that time sold for 80 cents a case of 24. The mixed drinks sold for 70 cents a case. The business expanded to Sherrills Ford, Long Island, Terrell and Catawba. Mr. Gid Moser, the founder, later purchased a truck and used copper in the truck bed to hold the crates.

Business was going very well when World War I started and the Mosers could no longer get the white sugar. Brown sugar would not mix with the syrup. Therefore, the plant closed.

Alfred Hollar was a blacksmith. Many of the blacksmiths made other things rather than just making shoes for the horses. Mr. Hollar made a pair of pliers with his tools. When a person had a toothache and wanted a tooth removed, they would come up to his shop. He would wipe the dust from his hands, blow the dirt off the pliers and pull the tooth.