50 Fun Facts About Charlotte

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

The German-born princess married George III in 1761, seven years before the town was incorporated, and the county is named for her 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?

Thomas Polk, great-uncle of a future president, had built his house where two Native American trading paths crossed.

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?

It specialised in gold coins, was seized by Confederate forces in 1861 and never reopened; the building now houses the Mint Museum of Art.

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

Bank of America and Truist are headquartered there, and Wells Fargo runs its East Coast operations from the city.

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

His NationsBank bought San Francisco's BankAmerica for $62 billion in 1998 and kept the acquired name.

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

The buyer keeps its East Coast headquarters in Charlotte, one of the city's largest employers.

Which company moved its corporate headquarters to Charlotte in November 2018?

The city's Fortune 500 roster also includes Nucor, Lowe's, Duke Energy, Sonic Automotive and Brighthouse Financial.

The Carolina Panthers began play in which year?

While their Charlotte stadium was being built they played the first season at Clemson's Memorial Stadium in South Carolina.

The Panthers have reached two Super Bowls, after the 2003 and 2015 seasons. Which of these is true?

The 2015 team went 15-1 and Cam Newton was named league MVP, but Denver won Super Bowl 50.

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

The Swedish telecom company held the first naming rights; the stadium seats about 75,000 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?

The uniforms, by North Carolina designer Alexander Julian, were also the first in the NBA with pinstripes.

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

The North Carolina native had first bought a minority stake in 2006 and sold his majority share in 2023.

Charlotte FC's home debut in March 2022 was played before 74,479 people. Why was that notable?

The team lost 1-0 to the LA Galaxy and finished its first season averaging 35,260, second only to Atlanta.

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

The affiliation dates from 1999, and the Uptown ballpark opened in 2014.

The Charlotte Checkers hockey team plays in which league?

They play at Bojangles Coliseum and are the top affiliate of the Florida Panthers.

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

The city also hosts the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the only US-based Formula One team, Haas.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is actually located in which neighbouring city?

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 first artefact unveiled was the Plymouth Belvedere Richard Petty drove to 27 wins in 1967.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport is a fortress hub for which airline?

The airport is named for Ben Douglas, the mayor when it opened in 1935, and is famous for the white rocking chairs in its terminal.

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 park opened in 1973 with part of it in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and Six Flags moved its headquarters nearby in 2024.

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

It opened in 2006 with an Olympic-standard slalom channel and a longer wilderness channel.

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

It is the largest man-made body of fresh water lying entirely within North Carolina and is named for a former Duke Power president.

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?

His great-uncle Thomas Polk was one of Charlotte's founding settlers.

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

Founders Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas built it around Cajun-seasoned chicken, and North Carolina still has the most locations.

Charlotte is the nation's second-largest bottler of which drink?

Coca-Cola Consolidated is one of many food companies in the region alongside Harris Teeter, Krispy Kreme and Bojangles.

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

The building had hosted 371 consecutive NBA sell-outs from 1988 to 1997 and was dedicated by Billy Graham.

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

The city was later chosen to host the 2020 Republican convention, which was scaled back by the pandemic.

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

The city has 199 neighbourhoods radiating from Uptown, including Dilworth, Plaza Midwood and South End.

Uptown Charlotte is divided into four wards by which two intersecting streets?

The district sits on a rise between Sugar Creek and Irwin Creek and was built over old gold mine workings.

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

He was born in Virginia but grew up in Charlotte, the second of six children.

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

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?

It is named for a Revolutionary War general killed at nearby Cowan's Ford, and Stephen Curry played there before the NBA.

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 was followed by Krefeld, Baoding, Limoges, Wrocław, Kumasi and Huế.

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

North Carolina was the country'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?

Winston-Salem briefly overtook it in 1920 before Charlotte regained the top spot for good in 1930.

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

Despite being about 200 miles inland, the city took sustained winds of 69 mph with gusts to 87 mph, and some residents were 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?

Completed in 2012, the greenway is a centrepiece of the county park system, though planners stress it has no formal link to the Texas original.

With 874,579 residents at the 2020 census, Charlotte ranked where among U.S. cities by population?

That also made it the second-most populous city in the Southeast, behind only Jacksonville, Florida.

Which pastor founded Elevation Church, the city's largest Protestant congregation by attendance?

The Southern Baptist church counts more than 15,000 congregants across nine Charlotte locations.

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

Many of the troops and suppliers who came to the camp north of today's Wilkinson Boulevard simply stayed on after the war.

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

The Catawba are the area's earliest known inhabitants; by 1759 half the tribe had died of smallpox brought by European colonists.