1. The Man Who Smuggled Whiskey as Sweet Potatoes
2. The First Coca-Cola in Shelby Came in a Five-Gallon Can
3. The Doctor Who Saved a Dying Man with Ice Cream
4. Shelby Once Celebrated a Murder Verdict with Bonfires and Explosions
5. The Stagecoach Driver Who Was Shot for the Mail
6. The First Artificial Ice in Shelby Was Shipped by Train
7. Shelby Once Rejected Free Public Schools
8. The First Land Ever Donated for Shelby Was a Gift, Not a Sale
9. The First Ice Cream Cones in Shelby Were Made by Hand at a Carnival
10. The First Coca-Cola in Shelby Was Served Before Ice Cream
11. Shelby’s First Ice Was Cut from a Pond Behind a Theater
12. Revenue Agents Were Nicknamed “Red-Legged Grasshoppers”
13. Early Inns Had Government-Set Prices for Food, Beds, and Whiskey
14. Shelby Once Had Four Public Wells on the Court Square
15. Shelby Once Had an Opera House That Seated 1,500 People
16. Shelby Once Had Wagons of Cotton So Close You Could Walk Across Them
17. The First Doctor in Shelby to Use an Automobile Was Considered Radical
18. Shelby Once Had a Tobacco Boom That Almost Rivaled Cotton
19. The First Court in Tryon County Was Held in a Man’s House
20. Shelby Once Turned Down Becoming Half Lincoln County and Half Rutherford County
21. The First Stagecoach Dinner Was Signaled by a Horn
22. A Woman Walked from Shelby to Virginia Every Year
23. The Legislator Who Rode to Raleigh to Buy His First Saddle
24. The Only Way to Tell Whigs from Tories Was by What They Wore on Their Hats
25. The Battle That Lasted Only 50 Minutes Changed the War
26. The Man with 22 Children Who Fought at Kings Mountain
27. The Over-the-Mountain Soldier Who Stayed in Cleveland County
28. The County Was Once Completely Emptied by an Indian Uprising
29. The First Cleveland County Court Was Held in a Man’s Living Room
30. Indians Knew About Cleveland Springs Long Before Settlers Did
31. The Indians Left “Pots” Carved into Flat Rock
32. Black Velvet Coffins and Five-Dollar Funerals
33. Shooing Flies with Turkey Wings and Homemade Fly Brushes
34. Food Was Kept Cool by Lowering It into Wells
35. Ice Was Cut from a Pond Behind What Later Became the Rogers Theatre
36. An Indian Mound May Have Existed on Buffalo Creek
37. “I Ain’t Never Seen One of Them Germs Yet”
38. Typhoid Fever Was Thought to Be God’s Will
39. A Calf Was Once Tied to the Courthouse Bell Cord
40. Cleveland County Was Known by Eight Different Names Before It Existed
41. A Shelby Home Built with Louisiana Lottery Winnings
42. Justices Licensed Liquor Sales During the First Cleveland County Court
43. A Storekeeper Cut a Coin in Half to Make Change
44. Life Expectancy Was Less Than Thirty Years When Dr. Williams Practiced
45. A Country Doctor Delivered Five Babies in Four Days
46. Shelby Had About 900 People in 1880