49 Fun Facts About Charlotte

The Queen City is named after the wife of which British king?

Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz married George III in 1761; the city carries her name and Mecklenburg County the name of her German homeland.

Charlotte's nickname the Hornet's Nest comes from a remark attributed to which British commander?

General Cornwallis occupied Charlotte in 1780 and met such hostile treatment from residents that he is said to have dubbed it 'a hornet's nest of rebellion' before withdrawing.

Settlers of which background founded Charlotte, incorporated in 1768?

Scots-Irish Presbyterians came down the Great Wagon Road in the mid-1700s and built the town where two Native American trading paths crossed; it was chartered in 1768.

Uptown's central intersection, known as The Square, is where Trade meets which other thoroughfare?

Tryon Street, laid along an old trading path, honours colonial governor William Tryon, yet the crossing it forms with Trade Street is formally named Independence Square.

A jeweller paid roughly how much for the 17-pound gold nugget a family near Charlotte had used as a doorstop?

$3.50 was the price John Reed named in 1802, about a week's wages and a tiny fraction of the nugget's worth; he soon knew better and opened the mine that set off America's first gold rush.

The gold-coin facility that opened in Charlotte in 1837 holds what distinction?

The first US branch mint opened in Charlotte in 1837 to coin the region's gold; the Confederacy seized it in 1861, coining soon stopped for good, and the building was later moved and reopened as the Mint Museum.

Measured by assets, Charlotte grew into the second-largest banking headquarters in the United States behind which city?

New York alone outranked Charlotte in bank assets: Bank of America has been based in Charlotte since NationsBank bought BankAmerica in 1998, and Truist set up its headquarters there in 2019.

Which financier built North Carolina National Bank into what became Bank of America?

Hugh McColl ran NCNB from 1983, renamed it NationsBank, and in 1998 bought California's BankAmerica, taking the better-known Bank of America name while keeping the headquarters in Charlotte.

Charlotte-based First Union, later renamed Wachovia, was bought in 2008 by which bank?

Wells Fargo agreed to buy Wachovia in October 2008 for about $15 billion, outbidding a Citigroup rescue deal, and kept a major East Coast hub in Charlotte.

Which company announced in November 2018 that it was moving its headquarters to Charlotte?

Honeywell left New Jersey after Charlotte and Mecklenburg County offered about $46 million in tax breaks, the largest incentive package the two had ever given one company, against a pledge of 750 jobs.

Which university's stadium hosted the Carolina Panthers' 1995 debut season?

Clemson's Memorial Stadium hosted the Panthers' home games in 1995, so Charlotte's NFL team began life in South Carolina before moving into its own stadium in 1996.

What happened in the Panthers' Super Bowl appearances after the 2003 and 2015 seasons?

They lost both: New England beat Carolina 32-29 in Super Bowl XXXVIII, and Denver beat the 15-1 Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50 despite Cam Newton's MVP season.

When the Panthers' Uptown home opened in 1996, what was it called?

Ericsson Stadium was named for the Swedish phone maker; the Panthers paid for much of it by selling permanent seat licences, then a new idea in stadium finance that other teams went on to use.

The original Charlotte Hornets NBA team, founded in 1988, relocated in 2002 to which city?

Charlotte got the Bobcats in 2004, and they took back the Hornets name and the 1988-2002 history in 2014 once the New Orleans team had become the Pelicans.

The 1988 Hornets set off a sports fashion craze by choosing which primary colour?

Teal made a losing expansion team the NBA's best seller: the Hornets went 20-62 in their first season, yet by the end of it their merchandise topped the league's sales charts.

Which basketball legend led the group that bought a majority share of Charlotte's NBA team in 2010?

Michael Jordan became majority owner in 2010, yet two years later his Bobcats went 7-59, the lowest winning percentage in NBA history; he sold his majority stake in 2023.

Which billionaire bought the Carolina Panthers in 2018 and then brought Major League Soccer to Charlotte?

David Tepper bought the Panthers from founder Jerry Richardson and won an MLS franchise the next year; a league-record 74,479 fans turned out for Charlotte FC's 2022 home debut, only to watch a 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy.

Since 1999 the Charlotte Knights have been the Triple-A affiliate of which MLB team?

The Chicago White Sox have supplied the Knights' players since 1999; the club spent 1989 to 2013 in Fort Mill, South Carolina, before moving into its Uptown ballpark in 2014.

Since 2010 the Charlotte Checkers have played in which hockey league?

The AHL has been the Checkers' league since 2010; pro hockey reached Charlotte in 1956, when a Baltimore team whose rink had burned down finished its season in the city and stayed.

Which town north of Charlotte calls itself Race City USA?

Mooresville earned the Race City USA nickname because so many NASCAR teams, drivers and racing suppliers set up shop there.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is actually located in which neighbouring city?

Concord, in neighbouring Cabarrus County, is home to the speedway, which opened in 1960, slid into bankruptcy within two years and was later won back by co-founder Bruton Smith.

Which Kannapolis-born driver joined the NASCAR Hall of Fame's first class?

Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time champion from Kannapolis, was inducted with Richard Petty and Junior Johnson after Charlotte beat Atlanta and Daytona Beach to land the hall.

As of 2025, Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a major hub for which airline?

American Airlines runs one of its largest hubs at Charlotte Douglas, a role inherited from US Airways in their 2013 merger; the terminal is known for its white rocking chairs.

What kind of transit line is Charlotte's Lynx Blue Line, which opened in 2007?

Light rail put trains back on Charlotte's streets nearly 70 years after its streetcars were scrapped; weeks before the Blue Line opened, voters rejected a repeal of its transit tax by 70 to 30 percent.

The Carowinds amusement park is unusual because what runs straight through its main entrance area?

The state line between North and South Carolina runs through Carowinds, opened in 1973; when owner Cedar Fair merged with Six Flags in 2024, the combined company put its headquarters in Charlotte.

The US National Whitewater Center in Mecklenburg County claims what record?

Largest recirculating artificial rapids river is the center's own billing: pumps send the same water round its channels in a loop, and a conveyor belt carries rafts from the bottom pool back up to the start.

Lake Norman, north of Charlotte, is named for Norman Cocke, a president of which company?

Duke Power dammed the river at Cowans Ford in the early 1960s and named the lake, North Carolina's largest man-made one with 520 miles of shoreline, for its former president Norman Cocke.

Which world-famous evangelist was born on a dairy farm in Charlotte in 1918?

Billy Graham was buried in 2018 at the Charlotte library that bears his name, a building styled as a dairy barn beside his restored boyhood home.

Which US president, the 11th, was born in a log cabin near Pineville, just south of Charlotte?

James K. Polk was born there in 1795, but his family left for Tennessee when he was 10 and he made his career in that state; the log buildings at the birthplace site today are reconstructions.

Which fried chicken and biscuit chain was founded in Charlotte in 1977?

Bojangles was opened by Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas; Fulk, then a Hardee's franchisee, had spent the mid-1970s working out the made-from-scratch biscuits that became the chain's signature.

As of 2025, which soft drink's largest independent US bottler is headquartered in Charlotte?

Coca-Cola Consolidated, the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the United States, is run from Charlotte; in November 2025 it bought back every share The Coca-Cola Company held in it, and the drinks giant gave up its board seat.

The Charlotte Coliseum, home of the Hornets from 1988 and nicknamed The Hive, met what fate in 2007?

The Charlotte Coliseum was demolished by implosion on 3 June 2007, only 19 years after it opened; the Hornets had led the NBA in attendance there for years, but it had far fewer luxury suites than newer arenas.

Which party's presidential nominating convention did Charlotte host at the Spectrum Center in 2012?

Charlotte hosted the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which renominated Barack Obama at what was then Time Warner Cable Arena; it was later picked for the 2020 Republican convention, scaled back by the pandemic.

The Charlotte arts district NoDa takes its name from which street?

NoDa is short for North Davidson Street, the former textile-mill district's main street, which turned into an arts and music neighbourhood in the 1990s.

Which river runs along Mecklenburg County's western edge, dammed to form Lake Norman?

The Catawba River, named for the Catawba people, forms the county's western edge; a chain of 11 hydroelectric dams has turned long stretches of it into lakes, including Norman, Mountain Island and Wylie.

Which Charlotte-raised Western star, name-checked in a famous Blazing Saddles gag, made more than 60 Westerns?

Randolph Scott grew up in Charlotte and is buried there at Elmwood Cemetery; in Blazing Saddles the townspeople refuse to help their sheriff until he says, 'You'd do it for Randolph Scott.'

Which 16-time world champion made Charlotte his home base and won the WCW title there at Starrcade 1993?

Ric Flair, the 'Nature Boy', had to retire if he lost to Vader at Starrcade 1993 in Charlotte, and won the title instead; his daughter wrestles as Charlotte Flair.

Which future NBA star, raised in Charlotte, led a small college just north of the city to the 2008 Elite Eight?

Stephen Curry grew up in Charlotte, where his father Dell spent most of his NBA career with the Hornets; he stayed close to home for college and carried his team within one win of the Final Four.

Which Charlotte-area university's athletic teams are called the 49ers?

UNC's Charlotte campus took the name from 1949, the year Bonnie Cone saved the fledgling school from closure; its gold-miner mascot, Norm the Niner, also nods to the Carolina gold rush.

Which 5-foot-3 point guard, the shortest player in NBA history, starred for the original Charlotte Hornets?

Muggsy Bogues ran the Hornets' offence for most of a decade and still managed 39 blocked shots in his career, one of them against 7-foot centre Patrick Ewing.

North Carolina, mining gold around Charlotte, led US output until which event?

The California Gold Rush ended North Carolina's reign at the close of the 1840s; the Reed mine, where a boy's 17-pound find had started it all in 1799, kept working underground until 1912.

In 1910 Charlotte passed which port city to become North Carolina's largest city?

The 1910 census put Charlotte ahead of the port of Wilmington, long the state's largest city; Winston-Salem edged past in 1920 before Charlotte retook the lead in 1930.

Which hurricane tore through Charlotte in September 1989, felling trees and cutting power to most of the city?

Hugo had weakened to a tropical storm by the time it passed just west of Charlotte at dawn on 22 September 1989, yet its gusts were still fierce and some residents went weeks without power.

What demonym is used for residents of the Queen City?

Charlotteans call their city centre Uptown rather than downtown, a habit the city council made official in 1974; the crossroads at its heart does sit on higher ground.

The Little Sugar Creek Greenway was inspired in part by which city's River Walk?

San Antonio's River Walk inspired a Charlotte councilman to propose a creekside waterfront in 1968; decades later the greenway reopened stretches of a creek long hidden by culverts and parking lots.

Charlotte's 2020 census count of 874,579 edged which West Coast city by a few hundred?

San Francisco counted 873,965 residents in 2020, just 614 fewer than Charlotte, which had trailed it a decade earlier before adding more than 140,000 people in the 2010s.

Which pastor founded Charlotte's Elevation Church in 2006?

Steven Furtick and seven other families moved from Shelby to Charlotte to start Elevation Church, which first met in a high school in February 2006 and grew into a multi-site megachurch.

Camp Greene, whose 40,000 soldiers nearly matched Charlotte's population, was built for which war?

World War I brought Camp Greene to Charlotte in 1917; the Army formed its 3rd Division there that November and, after four months of training, sent it to France, where it earned the nickname Rock of the Marne.

Under a sponsorship that began in 2020, the winning coach at Charlotte's college football bowl gets doused with what?

Mayonnaise replaced the usual Gatorade shower when Duke's became the bowl's sponsor: the winning coach has a giant jar of it dumped over his head.