The first colonial settlers—German, Scotch-Irish, English, and French Huguenot—in the region that is now Charlotte encountered a friendly, peaceful native tribe, the Catawba. The area's fertile soil brought more settlers, and by 1761 the Catawba were restricted to assigned territory in South Carolina. The colonists were aggressive in seeking political advantages. In the mid-1750s, for example, to curry favor with England's King George III, the first settlers to the area named their town Charlotte, after the king's wife, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Germany). The town was incorporated in 1768. Their next step was to convince the royal government that they deserved to be a separate county. They diplomatically named their new county Mecklenburg, in honor of the queen.
But their ambitions did not stop there. Thomas Polk, one of the town's first settlers, and his neighbors wanted Charlotte as the county seat. Although there really was not much in Charlotte to justify such a designation, that did not stop these enterprising individuals. They built a log cabin where two Indian trails converged and called it a courthouse, and the existence of that courthouse led to the royal government's appointing Charlotte as the county seat in 1774.
Charlotteans' "can-do" attitude also included a strong streak of stubbornness and independence. It was in Charlotte that the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed on May 20, 1775, predating the colonies' joint declaration by more than a year. During the Revolutionary War, British General Lord Cornwallis referred to Charlotte as "a damned hornet's nest of rebellion."
From 1781 to 1800 Charlotte added a flour mill and a saw mill to its growing settlement. In 1799, a young boy came upon a 17-pound gold nugget at the Reed Gold Mine, 30 miles east of the city. Soon, mines dotted the area and business in Charlotte boomed. Gold fever lasted until starry-eyed prospectors were lured west by the California Gold Rush of 1849.
As the importance of the mines diminished, cotton took hold as the town's money producer. The invention of the cotton gin helped to establish Charlotte as a ginning and exchange center, and the town evolved into a textile power. The beginning of the city's development as a major distribution center began in the mid-1880s with the convergence of several railroad lines in Charlotte. After the Civil War, hydroelectric power was developed on the Catawba River near Charlotte. The city began to serve as a textile center in the late nineteenth century, and by 1903, more than half of the nation's textile production was located within a 100-mile radius of Charlotte. The evolution of North Carolina's interstate highway system in the 1900s further paved the way for Charlotte to become the major distribution center that it is today. Charlotte enjoyed great expansion after World War I. The location of a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank in the 1920s also had a major impact, and Charlotte subsequently evolved into a top banking center. In the 1940s Charlotte contributed to military efforts and in the 1950s underwent another period of growth. Charlotte became a banking and distribution center that grew more than 30 percent in the 1970s, profiting from a historic desegregation ruling and a dedication to metropolitan renewal and development.
In the 1990s, large-scale business expansions and relocations created many new jobs and an economy that continued to thrive despite the recession in the early 2000s. In 2005 the Charlotte Business Journal reported on a study that indicated Charlotte was the second-most popular destination for relocating families. Several factors contribute to the success of the area, including a cost of living below the national average and a graceful blend of historical homes alongside new development. The city's population is projected to grow nearly four percent annually, resulting in an expanding job market accompanied by a diverse business community that allows for prosperity even during difficult economic times.
Historical Information: Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, 310 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC 28202-2176; telephone (704)336-2725. Hezekiah Alexander Foundation, 3500 Shamrock Dr., Charlotte, NC 28215; telephone (704)568-1774