50 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 other historic nickname, the Hornet's Nest, comes from a remark by which British commander?

He occupied the town during the Revolutionary War, was driven out, and wrote that it was 'a hornet's nest of rebellion'.

In what year was the Town of Charlotte incorporated?

Charlotte was incorporated in 1768 by North Carolina's colonial assembly as a small courthouse town at the crossing of two Native American trading paths.

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

Tryon follows the old Great Wagon Road and is named for a colonial royal governor; the crossing is formally Independence Square.

On which date was the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence supposedly signed?

The text was not published until 1819 and historians still dispute whether it existed; May 20 is celebrated as Meck Dec Day.

What was the 17-pound rock a Cabarrus County boy found in 1799 that his family used as a doorstop?

A jeweller paid the Reed family $3.50 for it, and the find set off the first gold rush in the United States.

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

The Charlotte Mint, which struck its first gold coins in 1838, was the first US branch mint; seized by the Confederacy in 1861, it never coined again, and the relocated building became the Mint Museum in 1936.

Measured by assets, Charlotte is the second-largest banking headquarters in the US after where?

Only New York outranks Charlotte in bank assets headquartered there: Bank of America has been based in the city since its 1998 merger with NationsBank, and Truist since its formation in 2019.

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

Hugh McColl ran NCNB from 1983, turned it into NationsBank, and bought BankAmerica for about $62 billion in 1998, keeping the Bank of America name.

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 announced in November 2018 that it would move its headquarters from New Jersey to Charlotte, joining Fortune 500 names such as Bank of America, Duke Energy and Nucor.

The Carolina Panthers began play in which year?

The Panthers played their first season in 1995 at Clemson's Memorial Stadium in South Carolina while their Charlotte stadium was being built.

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?

Swedish telecom Ericsson held the first naming rights from 1996 to 2004; the roughly 75,000-seat venue later became Bank of America Stadium and also hosts Charlotte FC.

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

The city got the Bobcats in 2004, and they took back the Hornets name and history in 2014 once the New Orleans team became the Pelicans.

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

Designer Alexander Julian gave the 1988 Hornets teal uniforms with the NBA's first pinstripes, and teal swept sports merchandise in the early 1990s.

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

Michael Jordan, raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, bought a minority stake in the Bobcats in 2006, became majority owner in 2010 and sold his majority share in 2023.

Why was Charlotte FC's 74,479 home-debut crowd in March 2022 notable?

The 74,479 who watched a 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy were the biggest MLS single-match attendance to that date; Charlotte averaged 35,260 in 2022, second only to Atlanta.

The Charlotte Knights, who play at Truist Field in Uptown, are the Triple-A affiliate of which MLB team?

The Knights have been the Chicago White Sox's Triple-A affiliate since 1999; their Uptown ballpark opened in 2014 as BB&T Ballpark and was renamed Truist Field in 2020.

The Charlotte Checkers hockey team plays in which league?

The Checkers joined the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2010 and won the league's Calder Cup in 2019.

Roughly what share of NASCAR's race teams, employees and drivers are based in the Charlotte area?

About 75 percent of NASCAR teams and their employees are based around Charlotte; nearby Mooresville is nicknamed Race City USA, and Uptown hosts the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is actually located in which neighbouring city?

The speedway sits in Concord, in Cabarrus County; the 1.5-mile quad-oval opened in 1960 and was called Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame in Uptown Charlotte opened in which year?

The NASCAR Hall of Fame opened in Uptown in May 2010; its exhibits include the Plymouth Belvedere Richard Petty drove to 27 wins in 1967.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a fortress 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.

The Lynx Blue Line, which opened in 2007, was which milestone for North Carolina?

The first phase ran from I-485 up South Boulevard to 7th Street and was later extended to UNC Charlotte.

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

The North Carolina-South Carolina state line runs through Carowinds, which opened in 1973 with part of the park in Fort Mill, South Carolina; the merged Six Flags picked Charlotte as its headquarters in 2024.

The U.S. National Whitewater Center in Mecklenburg County claims what record?

The center, opened in 2006, bills its channels as the world's largest recirculating artificial rapids river, including an Olympic-standard slalom course.

Lake Norman, northwest of Charlotte, was created by Duke Energy building which dam?

Cowans Ford Dam, completed by Duke Power in 1963, impounds Lake Norman, North Carolina's largest man-made lake, named for former Duke Power president Norman Cocke.

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

The city is home to his library and to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

The 11th US president, born in a log cabin in Pineville just south of Charlotte, was who?

James K. Polk, the 11th president, was born in 1795 near Pineville in Mecklenburg County; his great-uncle Thomas Polk was among Charlotte's founding settlers.

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

Bojangles was founded in Charlotte in 1977 by Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas around Cajun-seasoned fried chicken and made-from-scratch biscuits.

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 headquartered in Charlotte, as is the grocery chain Harris Teeter.

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, two years after the Bobcats moved Uptown; it had hosted the 1991 NBA All-Star Game and the 1994 Final Four.

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 forms Mecklenburg County's western boundary and is impounded there as Lake Norman, Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wylie.

Which Western star, raised in Charlotte, appeared in more than 60 Westerns between 1928 and 1962?

Randolph Scott was born in Virginia in 1898 but grew up in Charlotte, where he is buried at Elmwood Cemetery; his last film was Ride the High Country (1962).

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

Ric Flair beat Vader for the WCW World title at Starrcade 1993 in Charlotte; his daughter Charlotte Flair took her ring name from the city.

The college north of Charlotte where Stephen Curry played was founded in 1837 by which religious body?

Davidson College was founded in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church and named for General William Lee Davidson, killed at nearby Cowan's Ford in 1781.

The 49ers are the athletic teams of which local university?

The name recalls the gold rush; Queens moved up to Division I in 2022 and Johnson C. Smith plays in Division II.

Charlotte's first sister city, twinned in 1962, is in which country?

Arequipa, Peru, became Charlotte's first sister city in 1962; later partners include Krefeld in Germany, Baoding in China, Limoges in France and Wroclaw in Poland.

The Reed Gold Mine, site of America's first documented gold find, kept operating until which year?

Mining at the Reed Gold Mine continued intermittently until 1912; North Carolina had been the nation's leading gold producer until the California strike of 1848.

In 1910 this Queen City passed which port city to become North Carolina's largest?

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 destroyed some 80,000 trees and cut power to most of the city on September 22, 1989?

Hurricane Hugo reached Charlotte, about 200 miles inland, on 22 September 1989 with sustained winds of 69 mph and gusts to 87 mph, leaving some residents without power for weeks.

What demonym is used for residents of the Queen City?

There are a lot more of them every year: from 2005 to 2015 the city topped the U.S. in millennial population growth.

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

Planners modelled parts of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway on San Antonio's River Walk; its uptown section, which uncovered a creek once buried under parking lots, opened in 2012.

Where did Charlotte, with 874,579 residents, rank among US cities in the 2020 census?

The 2020 census counted 874,579 Charlotteans, 16th among US cities, just behind Indianapolis and a few hundred ahead of San Francisco.

Which pastor founded Charlotte's Elevation Church in 2006?

Steven Furtick founded Elevation Church in 2006 with a handful of families; it grew into a multi-site megachurch known for its band Elevation Worship.

Which World War I army base, supporting 40,000 soldiers, kick-started Charlotte's urban growth?

Camp Greene, opened in 1917 on Charlotte's west side and named for General Nathanael Greene, trained some 40,000 troops, and many soldiers and suppliers stayed on after the war.

Which Spanish conquistador first encountered the Catawba people in the Charlotte area in 1567?

Juan Pardo's expedition, sent inland from Spanish Florida in 1566-68, reached Catawba villages in the Piedmont in 1567; a 1759 smallpox epidemic later killed about half the tribe.