Mooresville calls itself Race City USA, but there’s a lot more to downtown than racing. Brick storefronts, a historic train depot, local museums and a busy calendar of street festivals make it an easy, walkable place to spend a day. Here’s how a local would spend a day on Main Street and Center Avenue.
Start at the old fire station
Our Coffee Republic Mooresville shop is at 239 W Center Ave, in a historic fire station that’s about 100 years old. It’s also our coffee roastery, where we roast the beans we serve. We open every day at 7am, so it’s a good place to fuel up before you set out on foot.
If you want to take a taste of downtown home, our beans are sold under our Disco Roasters brand. You can browse the roasts online.
Explore the historic depot and Mooresville Arts
Walk down Center Avenue to the corner of Main Street and you’ll reach the Mooresville depot. The original wooden depot burned in 1925 and was replaced by the brick building that stands today, near the center of the town’s original limits. It’s now home to Mooresville Arts, at 103 W Center Ave, which hosts juried exhibitions of work by Lake Norman-area artists throughout the year, a gallery shop, and art classes for adults and kids.
Walk with the legends on Main Street
Mooresville earned its nickname because more than 60 NASCAR teams and racing businesses are based in the area. Downtown, you can see that heritage up close:
- NC Auto Racing Walk of Fame: a free outdoor tribute at 215 N Main St, with sidewalk markers honoring racing greats such as Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson.
If you want more racing after downtown, several race teams around town open their shops or showrooms to visitors. Check each team’s website for current visiting hours.
Dig into local history
Downtown Mooresville rewards people who slow down and read the buildings. A few highlights from the town’s walking tour:
- Mooresville Museum, at 132 E Center Ave, is a nonprofit that preserves the history of the Mooresville area and often features racing exhibits.
- D.E. Turner Hardware has been in business since the early 1900s and is one of the oldest businesses in town. It once sold buggies and became Mooresville’s first gas station.
- Mooresville Flour Mill began as a roller mill in the late 1890s, burned in 1924 and was rebuilt in brick in 1926.
- Charles Mack Citizen Center, at 202 N Main St, stands on the site of the town’s first post office, which opened in 1871.
The Town of Mooresville offers a printable walking tour if you’d like to see more stops.
Find a quiet corner at the library
Need a little downtime? The Mooresville Public Library is at 304 S Main St. It started around 1890 as a small lending library built from donated books and has grown a lot since then. Today it offers library cards, eBooks, a Library of Things and a local history and archives collection.
Plan around downtown events
Downtown Mooresville has something going on almost every season. Annual events include:
- Mooresville Day Festival and Shamrocks & Shenanigans in March.
- Festival of Food Trucks, held monthly from April through October on Main and Broad streets.
- Throttle Thursday on Main Street, April through October.
- Uncorked & Artsy in May and October.
- Mooresville Motorsports Celebration on Main Street in the fall.
- A Classic Christmas in December.
Dates change from year to year, so check Visit Mooresville or the Downtown Mooresville calendar before you go.
A simple downtown day
- Morning: coffee at the old fire station on Center Avenue.
- Late morning: gallery browsing at the depot and a stroll along the Walk of Fame.
- Afternoon: the Mooresville Museum and a self-guided history walk.
- Evening: catch a festival or event on Main Street when one’s on.
Visit Coffee Republic Mooresville
Coffee Republic Mooresville is at 239 W Center Ave, Mooresville, NC 28115, inside our historic fire station roastery, and is open daily from 7am to 6pm. Order ahead in the Coffee Republic app to pick up your drink on the way downtown, and visit our Mooresville location page for directions.
