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Charlotte, North Carolina
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BEFORE THE LURE OF GOLD subtropical climate, central location, independent inhabitants. Not long
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drew dreamers and treasure seekers to historical significance and wide variety after, with the American Revolution at
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.
California, it attracted them to South of culture, education, sports and en- hand, British Gen. Cornwallis wrote
R
etir
Central North Carolina in search of tertainment have combined to make it that Charlotte was “a hornet’s nest of
untold riches. one of America’s fastest-growing cities. rebellion.”
ing t
The Charlotte area spawned the With an estimated population of Following North Carolina’s gold
nation’s first gold rush early in the 19th more than 610,000, Charlotte climbed rush and the Civil War, Charlotte
century, shortly after a local jeweler dramatically from the 26th to the boomed as a cotton processing center
realized that a 17-pound rock a fam- 20th largest city in the United States and a railroad hub. The population of
N
o
ily had been using as a doorstop was from 2000 to 2005, increasing its the city surged upward again during
nearly solid gold. Although the total numbers at a greater rate than all but World War 1 when Camp Greene was
ORTH
amount of the precious metal mined three of the top 50 municipalities in established. The city’s banking industry
in North Carolina was dwarfed by the country–Las Vegas, Austin, Texas, soared in the 1970s and 1980s and
that found later on the West Coast, and Mesa, Ariz. The U.S. Conference remains rock solid today.
Charlotte has remained a vibrant and of Mayors has dubbed Charlotte the In addition to major league football
growing city and today is among the nation’s “Most Livable City,” and simi- and basketball teams, Charlotte’s top
C
nation’s busiest financial centers. lar honors were bestowed on the city entertainment attractions include
More than $970 billion in finan- by Partners for Livable Communities. Paramount’s Carowinds theme and wa-
cial assets is managed in the Charlotte Charlotte, nicknamed The Queen ter park, Discovery Place science center
AROLINA
region, home to the first and fourth City, was founded in the mid-18th and the North Carolina Blumenthal
largest bank holding companies in the century at the intersection of two Performing Arts Center.
United States, Bank of America and Native American trading paths. It was People no longer pan for gold in
Wachovia, respectively. But Charlotte’s named in honor of Queen Char- Charlotte, but they find gold in a
gold extends well beyond the halls and lotte, the wife of King George III of thriving community near the North
walls of its monetary institutions. Its England, but that meant little to its Carolina/South Carolina border.
At A Glance
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Charlotte, NC
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Population: 610,949
Average Temp: 72 F
Average Age: 33
Nearest Hospital:
73 hospitals and medical centers
in the Charlotte area
Nearest Major Airport:
Charlotte/Douglas
International Airport
Charlotte Info:
Charlotte Chamber of Commerce

www.charlottechamber.org
(704) 378-1300
SHRIMP BOATS AT HOLDEN BEACH
www.RetiringToNorthCarolina.com I www.HotRetirementTowns.com I www.CoastalRetirementTowns.com
83_CharlotteNC.indd 83 1/14/08 4:47:11 PM
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