With more than 1,500,000 residents, Charlotte Metropolitan Statistical Area is the largest city in North Carolina. After more than two centuries of civic history, Charlotte is a thriving urban zone with a vibrant downtown, tree-filled residential suburbs, vast numbers of international firms, and more national headquarters than all but five other U.S. cities. It is the second largest banking center in the country after New York City. In the past 10 years alone nearly 8,500 new firms have re-located or opened in Charlotte, creating 77,190 new jobs and investing $9.6 billion in new facilities.


Why Charlotte? What makes it one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States? What about the "Queen City" of the Carolina Piedmont makes this historic town, incorporated as Charlotte Town in 1768, so relevant to the 21st century?


Settled by Scots-Irish and German colonists expanding southward from Pennsylvania, Charlotte Town was named for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the German wife of the English King George III, America's Revolutionary Era nemesis. Charlotte Town's founder was Thomas Polk, who perched this village at the crossroads of two Indian trading paths. Polk, incidentally, was the uncle of future U.S. President James K. Polk. Thus, Charlotte is the Queen City, and its county, Mecklenberg, also takes its name from this same historic royal. The town's citizens were of such notorious pro-independence sentiment that Lord Cornwallis referred to the village as a "Hornet's Nest," a moniker that resurfaced in the form of the Charlotte Hornets, the city's former NBA team.


Charlotte's future as a financial center began early, in 1837, when a branch of the U.S. Mint was opened in the town as a direct result of the discovery of gold in the early 19th century. While the Civil War ended that role, the building continues in service to Charlotte as the Mint Museum of Art, just one of the city's many museums and cultural institutions..


Charlotte's modern development as a financial center dates from the 1970s, when hometown banks began to emerge and aggressively acquire other institutions. These acquisitions formed, ultimately, the nation's second largest bank, Bank of America, and its fourth largest, Wachovia, both headquartered here.


Education is the wellspring that yields exceptional employees for these enterprises and the Fortune 500 companies that call Charlotte home. Public and private institutions of post-secondary learning are numerous. Charlotte recently added a major coup to its post-secondary line-up by enticing Johnson & Wales University, known for its culinary curriculum, to move to Charlotte from Charleston, SC.


With its chin against the state's South Carolina border, Charlotte is known for skyscraper-lined Uptown, but it's also about its suburbs. Replacing the intersecting Indian trading paths at its hub is the nexus of Interstates 85 and 77, two thoroughfares that also link Charlotte to the surrounding cities that form part of its MSA, among them Gastonia, Monroe, Kannapolis, Concord, and Mooresville.


Located in Iredell County just 30 minutes north of Charlotte on I-77, Mooresville has a population of about 20,000. It has its own headquarters claim to fame as home improvement giant Lowe's is headquartered in Mooresville. Named for John Franklin Moore, who founded the town in 1855, Mooresvile was incorporated in 1873.


But Mooresville's biggest achievement has been to become a hub for NASCAR, and thus home to many NASCAR drivers. The NASCAR Technical Institute is located in Mooresville. For that reason, it's known as Race City USA.


The Charlotte MPA had faced some challenges with its traffic issues among the most intractable. Rapid Rail service is now available in the Greater Charlotte area. Many Charlotteans and visitors use the Charlotte Trolley service in Uptown and now have the option of using the Rapid Rail - which also serves Charlotte Douglas Airport. Charlotteans have seen a major reduction not only in traffic snarls, but also a positive impact on air quality. This has propelled Charlotte well into the 22nd century.