Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Concord City Council: Jim Ramseur- Unaffiliated
Councilman Jim Ramseur sees more in a simple postcard than most people.
Ramseur, 61, sees a connection with history in his many postcards of Concord’s historic landmarks.
It’s a cheap hobby too, joked Ramseur, who for some time sold his many postcards at a downtown store. “Although they can be expensive. It’s just something about looking at postcard and comparing it the way it looks now.
Ramseur is challenged by resident Alex Porter for the Concord City Council District 2 seat.
Ramseur, who also collects Concord memorabilia, said he thinks his strong interest in historical Concord began for him many years ago, as part of project in the 5th Grade.
Our teacher had us write a history of Cabarrus County that involved fieldtrips,” said Ramseur, a councilman since 1995 and unaffiliated with any party.
The principal of his school would take his class to various historically important sites around the community, which put history into a very real context for Ramseur.
I guess that’s what really sparked my interest in local history,” he said. “Of course, that was dormant for a few years. There’s better things to do between the ages of 12 and 18.”
From time to time, Ramseur writes historical articles for the city’s monthly newsletter. The first one began when he was invited on a tour of an older fire station in the city.
I just enjoyed doing the research and talking to the old firemen,” Ramseur said.
For inspiration in other articles, Ramseur, will begin with one of his postcards.
Ramseur lives near downtown Concord with his wife Terry and dog, Prissy. He and Terry have two grown children. Ramseur studied engineering and business at Charlotte College — now called University of North Carolina — Charlotte.
He has been involved in the community for many years, serving on the city’s planning and zoning board and working to organizing the Concord Downtown Development Corp., which is charged to bring business into downtown Concord.
Ramseur took over his family’s paint company and used to own the Union Street building that is now Olde Concord Antiques.
Vickie Weant has known Ramseur through her former job as city clerk and her current position as executive director of the Concord Downtown Development Corp.
He always did his homework before the council meeting,” Weant said. “And he is a strong proponent of downtown. He’s always supportive of everything we do in trying to improve our downtown.- Eric C. Deines