he Town of Spencer, which sits northeast of Charlotte in Rowan County, had its start as a railroad town and still honors that identity today. Centrally located between Atlanta, Ga., and Washington, D.C., the town was established with the building of a maintenance facility by the Southern Railway. The project began in 1895, leading to the town’s incorporation in 1905. “You have this booming industrial presence in the Spencer Railways maintenance facility that employed thousands of people, a lot of them lived in town and walked to the shops. And you have a very urban feel in our little town of 3,000 that you do not really see elsewhere because of that,” said Peter Franzese, Spencer’s town manager of the last three-and-a-half years. After several decades of the town thriving, steam power was replaced with other industries, and the railway determined to build new facilities elsewhere. Over the following decades, jobs and industry dwindled, leaving Spencer in a period of stagnation. However, after Southern Railway moved out of the town in the 1970s, the land was donated to the state and the Historic Spencer Shops began to take shape. This site would ultimately be renamed as the North Carolina Transportation Museum which now attracts 150,000 visitors a year with events such as the “Thomas the Tank Engine Experience” and the “Polar Express.” In more recent years, Spencer’s local government officials have gone through a transition, and the new leaders have placed a priority on developing a new vision for the town and moving forward into the future, rather than solely relying on its connection to the past. One of those leaders is Spencer Mayor Jonathan Williams, who took office in 2019. Along with Franzese, Mayor Williams shares an excitement for the future of the town. “I describe Spencer as a charming southern town that maybe for many years was kind of stagnant, but just in the last five years or so, it has gotten a lot of life and vitality to it. It is a place where folks can come and settle down, set down roots, start their families,” Williams said. “Our hope is that people now see that Spencer is a great place to live because we have a unique quality of life due to our size and some of the recreation amenities that we are starting to develop,” Franzese explained. “We want visitors to not come to the Transportation Museum and then look across the road to what was the core of town looking like a sleepy, vacant storefront-filled place. We want them to see that the town is lively, and it offers a lot of fun things to do.” This new vision was just getting underway when the town learned they would receive approximately $1 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The town determined to use the funds to replace lost revenue from the pandemic, which allowed them additional flexibility in investing in the projects they desired. The town chose multiple areas to invest in that will impact residents and visitors in many ways. Additionally, the town has taken the initiative to find creative ways to make these funds extend beyond the initial amount received. One such project was a stormwater update in which the town planned to invest over $100,000 simply in design work. Instead, they spent approximately $12,000 in ARPA-enabled funds to bring in a design consultant that prepared them to apply for and ultimately be awarded with a planning grant through the Department of Environmental Quality totaling over $400,000. Then the town later received another $1.9 million in grant funding for the construction project. As a part of the new vision for the town, leaders have focused on building up the town’s recreation amenities and pursuing opportunities to promote economic development through recreation. The town hopes these projects will not only create an important space for current residents but will encourage nonresidents to visit and invite them to stay in Spencer. “We have these recreation projects that are transforming our town and creating a better quality of life for the folks that are here, but also for visitors who may be coming to town anyway and give them something else to do,” Franzese shared. “We now have a strategic plan all around how we create economic development through recreation that we are going to be working off of and that has opened up additional grant opportunities.” T ARP Corner continues on page 18 I describe Spencer as a charming southern town that maybe for many years was kind of stagnant, but just in the last five years or so, it has gotten a lot of life and vitality to it. It is a place where folks can come and settle down, set down roots, start their families. » Jonathan Williams, Mayor, Spencer NCLM.ORG 17
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