name	Charlotte Brontë
birth date	April 21, 1816
birth place	Thornton, Yorkshire, England
death date	March 31, 1855
death place	Haworth, Yorkshire, England
occupation	governess, novelist, poet
nationality	English
genre	Fiction, Poetry
notableworks	Jane EyreVillette
spouse	Arthur Bell Nichols (1854–1855 (her death))
pseudonym	Lord Charles AlbertFlorian WellesleyCurrer Bell
signature	Charlotte Bronte Signature.jpg
influences	The Bible, Shakespeare, John Bunyan, John Milton, Robert Burns, Robert Southey, Walter Scott
influenced	George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Jean Rhys, Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë, Stephenie Meyer }}

Charlotte Brontë (; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters, whose novels are English literature standards. She wrote ''Jane Eyre'' under the pen name Currer Bell.

Biography

Charlotte was born in Thornton, Yorkshire in 1816, the third of six children, to Maria (née Branwell) and her husband Patrick Brontë (formerly surnamed Brunty or Prunty), an Irish Anglican clergyman. In 1820, the family moved a few miles to Haworth, where Patrick had been appointed Perpetual Curate. Mrs. Brontë died of cancer on 15 September 1821, leaving five daughters and a son to be taken care of by her aunt Elizabeth Branwell. In August 1824, Charlotte was sent with three of her sisters, Emily, Maria, and Elizabeth, to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire (which she would describe as Lowood School in ''Jane Eyre''). Its poor conditions, Charlotte maintained, permanently affected her health and physical development and hastened the deaths of her two elder sisters, Maria (born 1814) and Elizabeth (born 1815), who died of tuberculosis in June 1825. Soon after their father removed them from the school.

At home in Haworth Parsonage—a small rectory close to the graveyard of a bleak, windswept village on the Yorkshire moors—Charlotte acted as "the motherly friend and guardian of her younger sisters". She and the other surviving children— Branwell, Emily, and Anne – began chronicling the lives and struggles of the inhabitants of their imaginary kingdoms. Charlotte and Branwell wrote Byronic stories about their country – Angria – and Emily and Anne wrote articles and poems about theirs – Gondal. The sagas were elaborate and convoluted (and still exist in partial manuscripts) and provided them with an obsessive interest during childhood and early adolescence, which prepared them for their literary vocations in adulthood.

Charlotte continued her education at Roe Head, Mirfield, from 1831 to 32, where she met her lifelong friends and correspondents, Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor. During this period, she wrote her novella ''The Green Dwarf'' (1833) under the name of Wellesley. Charlotte returned as a teacher from 1835 to 1838. In 1839, she took up the first of many positions as governess to various families in Yorkshire, a career she pursued until 1841.

Politically a Tory, she preached tolerance rather than revolution. She held high moral principles, and, despite her shyness in company, she was always prepared to argue her beliefs.

In 1842 she and Emily travelled to Brussels to enroll in a boarding school run by Constantin Heger (1809–96) and his wife Claire Zoé Parent Heger (1804–89). In return for board and tuition, Charlotte taught English and Emily taught music. Their time at the boarding school was cut short when Elizabeth Branwell, their aunt who joined the family after the death of their mother to look after the children, died of internal obstruction in October 1842. Charlotte returned alone to Brussels in January 1843 to take up a teaching post at the boarding school. Her second stay at the boarding school was not a happy one; she became lonely, homesick and deeply attached to Constantin Heger. She finally returned to Haworth in January 1844 and later used her time at the boarding school as the inspiration for some of ''The Professor'' and ''Villette''.

In May 1846, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne published a joint collection of poetry under the assumed names of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Although only two copies were sold, the sisters continued writing for publication and began their first novels. Charlotte used "Currer Bell" when she published her first two novels. Of this, Brontë later wrote:

Indeed, her novels were deemed coarse by the critics. There was speculation about the identity of Currer Bell, and whether Bell was a man or a woman.

Charlotte's brother, Branwell, the only son of the family, died of chronic bronchitis and marasmus exacerbated by heavy drinking in September 1848, although Charlotte believed his death was due to tuberculosis. Branwell was also a suspected "opium eater", (i.e. a laudanum addict). Emily and Anne both died of pulmonary tuberculosis in December 1848 and May 1849, respectively.

Charlotte and her father were now left alone together. In view of the enormous success of ''Jane Eyre'', she was persuaded by her publisher to visit London occasionally, where she revealed her true identity and began to move in a more exalted social circle, becoming friends with Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Gaskell, William Makepeace Thackeray and G. H. Lewes. Her book had sparked a movement in regards to feminism in literature. The main character, Jane Eyre, in her novel ''Jane Eyre'', was a parallel to herself, a woman who was strong. However, she never left Haworth for more than a few weeks at a time as she did not want to leave her ageing father's side.

Thackeray’s daughter, the writer Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie recalled a visit to her father by Charlotte Brontë:

In June 1854, Charlotte married Arthur Bell Nicholls, her father's curate and, in the opinion of many scholars, the model for several of her literary characters such as ''Jane Eyre's'' Rochester and St. John. She became pregnant soon after the marriage. Her health declined rapidly during this time, and according to Gaskell, her earliest biographer, she was attacked by "sensations of perpetual nausea and ever-recurring faintness." Charlotte died, along with her unborn child, on 31 March 1855, at the young age of 38. Her death certificate gives the cause of death as phthisis (tuberculosis), but many biographers suggest she may have died from dehydration and malnourishment, caused by excessive vomiting from severe morning sickness or hyperemesis gravidarum. There is also evidence to suggest that Charlotte died from typhus she may have caught from Tabitha Ackroyd, the Brontë household's oldest servant, who died shortly before her. Charlotte was interred in the family vault in The Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Haworth, West Yorkshire, England.

''The Life of Charlotte Brontë'', the posthumous biography of Charlotte Brontë by Gaskell, was the first of many biographies about Charlotte to be published. Though frank in places, Gaskell suppressed details of Charlotte's love for Heger, a married man, as being too much of an affront to contemporary morals and as a possible source of distress to Charlotte's still-living friends, father and husband. Gaskell also provided doubtful and inaccurate information about Patrick Brontë, claiming, for example, that he did not allow his children to eat meat. This is refuted by one of Emily Brontë's diary papers, in which she describes the preparation of meat and potatoes for dinner at the parsonage, as Juliet Barker points out in her recent biography, ''The Brontës''.

Posthumously, her first-written novel was published in 1857, the fragment she worked on in her last years in 1860 (twice completed by recent authors, the more famous version being ''Emma Brown: A Novel from the Unfinished Manuscript by Charlotte Brontë'' by Clare Boylan, 2003), and much Angria material over the ensuing decades.

Gallery

Bibliography

Juvenilia

''The Spell''

''The Secret''

''Lily Hart''

''The Foundling''

''The Green Dwarf''

''My Angria and the Angrians''

''Albion and Marina''

''The Green Dwarf, A Tale of the Perfect Tense'' was written in 1833 under the pseudonym Lord Charles Albert Florian Wellesley. It shows the influence of Walter Scott, and Brontë's modifications to her earlier gothic style have led Christine Alexander to comment that, in the work, "it is clear that Brontë was becoming tired of the gothic mode ''per se''".

''Tales of Angria'', written 1838–1839

*A collection of childhood and young adult writings including the short novels

**Mina Laury

**Stancliffe's Hotel

**The Duke of Zamorna

**Henry Hastings

**Caroline Vernon

''Tales of the Islanders''

Novels

''Jane Eyre'', published 1847

''Shirley'', published 1849

''Villette'', published 1853

''The Professor'', written before ''Jane Eyre'', submitted at first along with ''Wuthering Heights'' and ''Agnes Grey'', then separately, and rejected in either form by many publishing houses, published posthumously in 1857

''Emma'', unfinished; Charlotte Brontë wrote only 20 pages of the manuscript, published posthumously in 1860. In recent decades, at least two continuations of this fragment have appeared:

:* ''Emma'', by "Charlotte Brontë and Another Lady", published 1980; although this has been attributed to Elizabeth Goudge, the actual author was Constance Savery. :* ''Emma Brown'', by Clare Boylan, published 2003

Poetry

''Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell'' (1846)

''Selected Poems of The Brontës'', Everyman Poetry (1997)

Notes

References

Margaret Lane (1953) ''The Brontë Story: a reconsideration of Mrs. Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë''.

Further reading

''The Letters of Charlotte Brontë'', 3 volumes edited by Margaret Smith

''The Life of Charlotte Brontë'', Elizabeth Gaskell

''Charlotte Brontë'', Winifred Gérin

''Charlotte Brontë: a passionate life'', Lyndal Gordon

''The Literary Protégées of the Lake Poets'', Dennis Low (Chapter 1 contains a revisionist contextualisation of Robert Southey's infamous letter to Charlotte Brontë)

''Charlotte Brontë: Unquiet Soul'', Margot Peters

''In the Footsteps of the Brontës'', Ellis Chadwick

''Charlotte Brontë'', Rebecca Fraser

''The Brontës'', Juliet Barker

''Charlotte Brontë and her Dearest Nell'', Barbara Whitehead

''The Brontë Myth'', Lucasta Miller

''A Life in Letters'', selected by Juliet Barker

''Charlotte Brontë and her Family'', Rebecca Fraser

''The Oxford Reader's Companion to the Brontës'', Christine Alexander & Margaret Smith

''A Brontë Family Chronology'', Edward Chitham

''The Crimes of Charlotte Bronte'', James Tilly, 1999

''I Love Charlotte Bronte'', Michelle Daly 2009

External links

Website of the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire

Online editions of Charlotte Brontë's works at eBooks@Adelaide

Charlotte Brontë – Drawing by George Richmond (National Portrait Gallery)

Modern Day Images of Charlotte Bronte Residences

Charlotte Brontë and Her Circle, by Clement K. Shorter, from Project Gutenberg

More Information about Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte's Web: A Hypertext on Charlotte Brontë's ''Jane Eyre''

Memorial Page for Charlotte Bronte on FindaGrave

Various images depicting residences of Charlotte Bronte

'Napoleon and the Spectre', taken from the manuscript of the ''Green Dwarf''

'The Secret' and 'Lily Hart': An Early Manuscript by Charlotte Bronte

Category:English novelists Category:English women writers Category:English poets Category:Women novelists Category:Governesses Category:People from Thornton and Allerton Category:Brontë family Category:English Anglicans Category:Women of the Victorian era Category:Female authors who wrote under male or gender-neutral pseudonyms Category:Christian writers Category:Deaths from typhus Category:1816 births Category:1855 deaths Category:Victorian novelists Category:Infectious disease deaths in England Category:British people of Cornish descent Category:English people of Irish descent Category:Women poets Category:Victorian women writers

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Official name	City of Charlotte
Settlement type	City
Nickname	The Queen City, The QC, Crown Town, The Hornet's Nest, The Home of NASCAR, The Gem of the South, The CLT, Bank Town, Char-Town, City of Trees
Website
Map caption	Charlotte's location in Mecklenburg County in the state of North Carolina
Coordinates display	inline,title
Coordinates region	US-NC
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision type1	State
Subdivision type2	County
Subdivision name	United States
Subdivision name1	North Carolina
Subdivision name2	Mecklenburg County
Government type	Council-manager
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Anthony Foxx, (D)
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Anthony Foxx, (D)
Area magnitude	1 E8
Established title	Settled
Established date	1755
Established title2	Incorporated
Established date2	1768 (as a town, later a city)
Unit pref	Imperial
Area total km2	771
Area total sq mi	297.7
Area water sq mi
population as of	2010
population total	731,424 (17th)
population blank1 title	MSA
population blank1	1,745,524
population blank2 title	CSA
population blank2	2,389,763
population density km2	948.67
Timezone	EST
Utc offset	-5
Timezone dst	EDT
Utc offset dst	-4
Postal code type	ZIP code
Postal code	28201-28237, 28240-28247, 28250, 28253-28256, 28258, 28260-28262, 28265-28266, 28269-28275, 28277-28278, 28280-28290, 28296-28297, 28299
Area code	704, 980
Elevation m	229
Blank name	FIPS code
Blank info	37-12000
Blank1 name	GNIS feature ID
Blank1 info	1019610
Elevation ft	}}

Charlotte () is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424 , making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009 population of 1,745,524. The Charlotte metropolitan area is part of a wider thirteen-county labor market region or combined statistical area with a 2009 estimated population of 2,389,763. Residents of Charlotte are referred to as "Charlotteans".

Charlotte has become a major U.S. financial center, and is now the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City. The nation's largest financial institution by assets, Bank of America, calls the city home. The city was also the former corporate home of Wachovia until its purchase by Wells Fargo in 2008; Charlotte will soon become the headquarters for East Coast Operations of Wells Fargo. Charlotte is also home of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League, the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

Nicknamed the ''Queen City'', Charlotte and its resident county are named in honor of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who had become queen consort of British King George III the year before the city's founding. A second nickname derives from the American Revolutionary War, when British commander General Cornwallis occupied the city but was driven out by hostile residents, prompting him to write that Charlotte was "a hornet's nest of rebellion," leading to the nickname ''The Hornet's Nest''.

Charlotte has a humid subtropical climate and is situated halfway between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. Charlotte is located several miles east of the Catawba River and southeast of Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in North Carolina. Lake Wylie and Mountain Island Lake are two smaller man-made lakes located near the city.

History

Before the American Revolution

Mecklenburg County was initially part of Bath County (1696–1729) of New Hanover Precinct, which became New Hanover County in 1729. The western portion of New Hanover split into Bladen County in 1734, its western portion splitting into Anson County in 1750. Mecklenburg County formed from Anson County in 1762, with further apportionment in 1792, with Cabarrus County formed from Mecklenburg, and in 1842, with Union County formed from Mecklenburg's southeastern portion. These areas were all part of one of the original six judicial/military districts of North Carolina known as the Salisbury District.

The area that is now Charlotte was settled by people of European descent around 1755 when Thomas Spratt and his family settled near what is now the Elizabeth neighborhood. Thomas Polk (granduncle of United States President James K. Polk), who later married Thomas Spratt's daughter, built his house by the intersection of two Native American trading paths between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers. One path ran north-south and was part of the Great Wagon Road; the second path ran east-west along what is now Trade Street. Within decades of Polk's settling, the area grew to become "Charlotte Town," incorporating in 1768. The crossroads, perched atop the Piedmont landscape, became the heart of Uptown Charlotte.

In 1770, surveyors marked the streets in a grid pattern for future development. The east-west trading path became Trade Street, and the Great Wagon Road became Tryon Street, in honor of William Tryon, a royal governor of colonial North Carolina. The intersection of Trade and Tryon commonly known today as "Trade & Tryon" or, simply, "The Square", is more properly called Independence Square.

After the American Revolution

Charlotte is traditionally considered the home of Southern Presbyterianism, but in the 19th century numerous churches, including Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Catholic, formed, eventually giving Charlotte its nickname "The City of Churches."

In 1799, in nearby Cabarrus County, 12-year-old Conrad Reed found a 17-pound rock, which his family used as a doorstop. Three years later, a jeweler determined it was nearly solid gold, paying the family a paltry $3.50. The first verified gold find in the United States set off the nation's first gold rush. Many veins of gold were found in the area throughout the 19th and early 20th century, leading to the 1837 founding of the Charlotte Mint. North Carolina "led the nation in gold production until the California Gold Rush of 1848," although the volume mined in the Charlotte area was dwarfed by subsequent rushes. thumb|right|220px|View of the Old Court House, Charlotte, 1888Some groups still pan for gold occasionally in local streams and creeks. The Reed Gold Mine operated until 1912. The Charlotte Mint was active until 1861, when Confederate forces seized it at the outbreak of the Civil War. The mint was not reopened at the war's end, but the building, albeit in a different location, now houses the Mint Museum of Art.

The city's first boom came after the Civil War, as a cotton processing center and a railroad hub. Charlotte's city population at the 1880 Census grew to 7,084. Population grew again during World War I, when the U.S. government established Camp Greene north of present-day Wilkinson Boulevard. Many soldiers and suppliers stayed after the war, launching an urban ascent that eventually overtook older city rivals along the arc of the Carolina Piedmont.

The city's modern-day banking industry achieved prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, largely under the leadership of financier Hugh McColl. McColl transformed North Carolina National Bank (NCNB) into a formidable national player that through aggressive acquisitions became known as NationsBank, eventually mergin with BankAmerica to become Bank of America. Wachovia experienced similar growth, and was acquired by San Francisco-based Wells Fargo. Measured by control of assets, Charlotte is the second largest banking headquarters in the United States after New York City.

On September 22, 1989, the city took a direct hit from Hurricane Hugo. With sustained winds of 69 mph (111 km/h) and gusts of 87 mph (140 km/h) in some locations, Hugo caused massive property damage, destroyed 80,000 trees, and knocked out electrical power to most of the population. Residents were without power for weeks and cleanup took months. The city was caught unprepared; Charlotte is 200 miles inland, and residents from coastal areas in both Carolinas often wait out hurricanes in Charlotte.

In December 2002, Charlotte and much of central North Carolina were hit by an ice storm (which some dubbed "Hugo on Ice") that knocked out power to over 1.3 million people. During an abnormally cold December, many were without power for weeks. Much of the damage was caused by Bradford pear trees, splitting apart under the weight of the ice.

The city will host the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Charlotte lies at an elevation of , as measured at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

Charlotte constitutes most of Mecklenburg County in the Carolina Piedmont. Charlotte center city sits atop a long rise between two creeks, Sugar Creek and Irwin Creek and was built on the gunnies of the St. Catherine's and Rudisill gold mines.

Though the Catawba River and its lakes lie several miles west, there are no significant bodies of water or other geological features near the city center. Consequently, development has neither been constrained nor helped by waterways or ports that have contributed to many cities of similar size. The lack of these obstructions has contributed to Charlotte's growth as a highway, rail, and air transportation hub.

Climate and environment

Charlotte, like much of the southeastern United States, has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa''), with four distinct seasons. Winters are short and generally mild, with a January daily average of . On average, there are 58 nights per year that drop to or below freezing, and only 2 days that fail to rise above freezing. Spring is long and arrives early, and April is the driest month. Summers are hot and humid, with a daily average in July of . There are 40 days per year with highs at or above , yet is not seen every year. Autumn is similar to spring but generally sees the fewest days of rain.

The highest recorded temperatures were on September 6, 1954; August 9–10, 2007 during the August 2007 Southeastern heat wave. The lowest recorded temperature was on December 30, 1880; February 14, 1899; and January 21, 1985.

Charlotte is directly in the path of subtropical moisture from the Gulf of Mexico as it heads up the eastern seaboard, thus the city receives ample precipitation throughout the year but also many clear, sunny, and pleasantly warm days. On average, Charlotte receives of precipitation annually (January and March being the wettest months), including an average of of snow.

Cityscape

Charlotte has 199 neighborhoods radiating in all directions from Uptown. The primary historic center of Charlotte's Black community is west of Uptown, starting at the Johnson C. Smith University campus and extending to the airport. The eastbound Central Avenue corridor is known for its international population, including East Europeans, Greeks, Middle-Easterners, and Hispanics. North Tryon and the Sugar Creek area include several Asian-American communities. NoDa (North Davidson) and Dilworth, along South Boulevard and East Boulevard, are emerging and established, respectively, enclaves of urban professionals. Myers Park, Dilworth and Eastover are home to some of Charlotte's oldest and largest houses, on tree-lined boulevards, with Freedom Park, arguably the city's favorite, nearby.

Park Road and the SouthPark area have an extensive array of shopping and dining offerings, with SouthPark essentially serving as a second urban core. Far South Boulevard is home to a large Hispanic community. Many students, researchers, and affiliated professionals live near UNC Charlotte in the northeast area known as University City.

The large area known as Southeast Charlotte is home to many golf communities, luxury developments, mega-churches, the Jewish community center, and private schools. As undeveloped land within Mecklenburg has become scarce, many of these communities have expanded into Weddington and Waxhaw in Union County. Ballantyne, far south Charlotte, and nearly every area on the I-485 perimeter, have seen extensive growth over the past 10 years.

Since the 1980s in particular, Uptown Charlotte has undergone massive construction of buildings housing Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Hearst Corporation, Duke Energy, several hotels, and multiple condominium developments.

On Kenilworth and Charlottetowne Avenues, near Carolinas Medical Center-Main, the Metropolitan, a major mixed-use project, was recently completed, replacing the old Midtown Square Mall.

Demographics

As of 2008, census estimates show 687,456 people living within Charlotte's city limits, and 935,304 in Mecklenburg County. The Combined Statistical Area of Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC had a population of 2,338,289. Figures from the more comprehensive 2000 census show Charlotte's population density to be 861.9/km² (2,232.4/sq mi). There are 230,434 housing units at an average density of 951.2 per square mile (367.2/km²).

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, the racial composition of Charlotte was:

White: 55.5% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 49.9%)

Black or African American: 33.5%

Hispanic or Latino American (of any race): 11.2%

Asian American: 4.1%

Native American: 0.4%

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%

some other race: 4.6%

two or more races: 1.8%

The median income for a household in the city is $48,670, and the median income for a family is $59,452. Males have a median income of $38,767 versus $29,218 for females. The per capita income for the city is $29,825. 10.6% of the population and 7.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.8% of those under the age of 18 and 9.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Economy

Charlotte has become a major U.S. financial center and is now the second largest banking center in the United States (after New York). The nation's largest financial institution by assets, Bank of America, calls the city home. The city was also the former corporate home of Wachovia until its 2008 acquisition by Wells Fargo in San Francisco CA; Wells Fargo is in the process of integrating legacy Wachovia, with the two banks expected to be fully merged by the end of 2011. At that time, Charlotte will become the regional headquarters for East Coast Operations of Wells Fargo, headquartered in San Francisco, California. Charlotte will also serve as the headquarters for Wells Fargo's capital markets activites including sales and trading, equity research, and investment banking. Bank of America's headquarters, along with other regional banking and financial services companies, are located primarily in the Uptown central business district.

The following Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in the Charlotte metropolitan area, in order of their rank: Bank of America, Lowe's in suburban Mooresville, Nucor (steel producer), Duke Energy, Sonic Automotive, Family Dollar, Goodrich Corporation, SPX Corporation (industrial technology), and Domtar in suburban Fort Mill. Other major companies headquartered or with corporate operations in Metro Charlotte include: Babcock and Wilcox, RSC Brands, Time Warner Cable (formerly a business unit of Fortune 500 company Time Warner), Speed Channel, ESPNU, Continental Tire the Americas, LLC., Muzak, Belk, Harris Teeter, Meineke Car Care Center, Lance, Inc, Carolina Foods Inc, Bojangles', Carlisle Companies, LendingTree, Compass Group USA, Food Lion and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (the nation's second largest Coca-Cola bottler). US Airways regional carrier CCAir was headquartered in Charlotte.

Charlotte is also a major center in the US motorsports industry, housing multiple offices of NASCAR as well as the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Approximately 75% of the NASCAR industry's employees and drivers are based nearby. The large presence of the racing technology industry along with the newly built NHRA dragstrip, zMAX Dragway at Concord, is influencing other top professional drag racers to move their shops to Charlotte as well. The Metrolina Speedway is expected to bring more local racing along with a skate park, shoppes, restaurants and an upscale hotel.

Located in the western part of Mecklenburg County is the U.S. National Whitewater Center, which consists of man-made rapids of various degrees and is open to the public year round.

The Charlotte Region has a major base of energy-oriented organizations and has become known as “Charlotte USA – The New Energy Capital.” In the region there are 240+ companies directly tied to energy sector collectively employing more than 26,400. Since 2007, more than 4,000 energy sector jobs have been announced. Major energy players in Charlotte include AREVA, Babcock and Wilcox, Duke Energy, Electric Power Research Institute, Fluor, Metso Power, Piedmont Natural Gas, Siemens Energy, Shaw Group, Toshiba, URS Corp., and Westinghouse. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has a reputation in energy education and research and its “Energy Production and Infrastructure Center” trains energy engineers and conducts research.

The area is an increasingly growing trucking and freight transportation hub for the East Coast.

The Charlotte Center city has seen remarkable growth over the last decade. Numerous residential units continue to be built uptown, including over 20 skyscrapers under construction, recently completed, or in the planning stage. Many new restaurants, bars and clubs now operate in the Uptown area. Several projects are transforming the Midtown Charlotte/Elizabeth area.

Law, government and politics

Charlotte has a council-manager form of government. The Mayor and city council are elected every two years, with no term limits. The mayor is ''ex officio'' chairman of the city council, and only votes in case of a tie. Unlike other mayors in council-manager systems, Charlotte's mayor has the power to veto ordinances passed by the council; vetoes can be overridden by a two-thirds majority of the council. The council appoints a city manager to serve as chief administrative officer.

Unlike some other cities and towns in North Carolina, elections are held on a partisan basis. The current mayor of Charlotte is Anthony Foxx, a member of the Democratic Party.

Charlotte tends to lean Democratic, but voters are friendly to moderates of both parties. Republican strength is concentrated in the southeastern portion of the city, while Democratic strength is concentrated in the south-central, eastern and northern areas.

The city council comprises 11 members (7 from districts and 4 at-large). Democrats currently control the council with an advantage of 8-to-3. Of the at-large seats, Democrats won three out of four in the last election. While the city council is responsible for passing ordinances, many policy decisions must be approved by the North Carolina General Assembly as well, since North Carolina municipalities do not have home rule. Since the 1960s, however, municipal powers have been broadly construed.

Charlotte is split between three congressional districts on the federal level—the 8th, represented by Democrat Larry Kissell; the 9th, represented by Republican Sue Myrick; and the 12th, represented by Democrat Mel Watt.

Charlotte was selected in 2011 to host the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

City services

Emergency medical services

Emergency medical services for the City of Charlotte are provided by MEDIC, the Mecklenburg EMS Agency. MEDIC responded to over 93,000 calls for help in 2008, and transported over 71,000 patients to the major hospitals in Charlotte. The Agency employs nearly 350 Paramedics, EMTs, and EMDs. In addition to dispatching Medic’s EMS calls, the Agency also dispatches all county fire calls outside of the city of Charlotte. At any given time, between 20 and 40 ambulances will be deployed to cover the county.

Law enforcement and crime

CMPD is a combined jurisdiction agency. The CMPD has law enforcement jurisdiction in both the City of Charlotte, and the few unincorporated areas left in Mecklenburg County. The other small towns maintain their own law enforcement agencies for their own jurisdictions. The Department consists of approximately 1,700 sworn law enforcement officers, 550 civilian personnel and more than 400 volunteers. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department divides the city into 13 geographic areas, which vary in size both geographically and by the number of officers assigned to each division.

The total crime index for Charlotte is 589.2 crimes committed per 100,000 residents as of 2008 and has shown a steady decline since 2005. The national average is 320.9 per 100,000 residents.

According to the Congressional Quarterly Press; '2008 City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America, Charlotte, North Carolina ranks as the 62nd most dangerous city larger than 75,000 inhabitants. However, the entire Charlotte-Gastonia Metropolitan Statistical Area ranked as 27th most dangerous out of 338 metro areas.

Education and libraries

School system

The city's public school system, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, is the second largest in North Carolina and 20th largest in the nation. In 2009 it won the NAEP Awards, the Nation's Report Card for urban school systems with top honors among 18 city systems for 4th grade math, 2nd place among 8th graders. About 132,000 students are taught in 161 separate elementary, middle and high schools.

Colleges and universities

Charlotte is home to a number of notable universities and colleges such as Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte School of Law, Johnson C. Smith University, Johnson & Wales University, Queens University of Charlotte, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Several notable colleges are located in the metropolitan suburbs. In Davidson, Davidson College is ranked in the top 10 nationally among liberal arts colleges according to U.S. News & World Report. Additional colleges in the area include Belmont Abbey College in the suburb of Belmont, North Carolina, Winthrop University, Clinton Junior College and York Technical College in nearby Rock Hill, South Carolina.

UNC Charlotte is the city's largest university. It is located in University City, the northeastern portion of Charlotte, which is also home to University Research Park, a 3,200 acre (13 km²) research and corporate park. With over 25,000 students, UNC Charlotte is the fastest-growing university in the state system and the fourth largest.

Central Piedmont Community College is the largest community college in the Carolinas, with over 70,000 students each year and 6 campuses through-out the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region. CPCC is part of the statewide North Carolina Community College System.

Pfeiffer University has a satellite campus in Charlotte.

Wake Forest University, with its main campus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, also operates a satellite campus of its Babcock Graduate School of Management in the SouthPark area. Wake Forest is currently looking to move the campus to Uptown Charlotte.

Libraries

The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County serves the Charlotte area with a large collection (over 1.5 million) of books, CDs and DVDs at 15 locations in the city of Charlotte, with branches in the surrounding towns of Matthews, Mint Hill, Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson. All locations provide free access to Internet-enabled computers and WiFi, and a library card from one location is accepted at all 20 locations.

Although the Library's roots go back to the ''Charlotte Literary and Library Association'', founded on January 16, 1891, the state-chartered Carnegie Library which opened on the current North Tryon site of the Main Library was the first non-subscription library opened to members of the public in the city of Charlotte. The philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated $25,000 dollars for a library building on the condition that the city of Charlotte donate a site, and $2500 per year for books and salaries, and that the state grant a charter for the library. All conditions were met, and the Charlotte Carnegie Library opened in a imposing classical building on July 2, 1903.

The 1903 state charter also required a library be opened for the disenfranchised African-American population of Charlotte. This was completed in 1905, with opening of the ''Brevard Street Library for Negroes'', an independent library in Brooklyn, a historically black area of Charlotte, on the corner of Brevard and East Second Street (now Martin Luther King Blvd.) The Brevard Street Library was the first library for free blacks in the state of North Carolina, some sources say in the southeast. This library was closed in 1961 when the Brooklyn neighborhood in Second Ward was redeveloped, but its role as a cultural center for African-Americans in Charlotte is continued by the Beatties Ford branch, and the West branch of the current library system, as well as by Charlotte's African-American Cultural Center.

Religion

The birthplace of Billy Graham (Charlotte is the historic seat of Southern Presbyterianism), but the changing demographics of the city's increasing population have brought scores of new denominations and faiths. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Wycliffe Bible Translators' JAARS Center, and SIM Missions Organization make their homes in Charlotte. In total, Charlotte proper has 700 places of worship.

The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America is headquartered in Charlotte, and both Reformed Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary have campuses there; more recently, the Religious Studies academic departments of Charlotte's local colleges and universities have also grown considerably.

Charlotte's Cathedral of Saint Patrick is the seat of the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. The largest Christian congregation within Charlotte is that of St. Matthew Catholic Church. The Traditional Latin Mass is offered by the Society of St. Pius X at St. Anthony Catholic Church in nearby Mount Holly. The Traditional Latin Mass is also offered at St. Ann, Charlotte, a church under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Charlotte.

The Greek Orthodox Church's cathedral for North Carolina, Holy Trinity Cathedral, is located in Charlotte.

Charlotte has the largest Jewish population in the Carolinas. Shalom Park, in South Charlotte is the hub of the Jewish community, featuring two synagogues Temple Israel (Charlotte, North Carolina) and Temple Beth El as well as a community center and the Charlotte Jewish Day School for grades K-5. There is also Chabad Lubavitch, a Reconstructionist chavurah, and Sephardic Temple Adat David, which is located in uptown Charlotte. Numerous Reform, Conservative, and Renewal congregations are located in the suburbs of the greater Charlotte area.

Charlotte is also headquarters for both the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Advent Christian Church.

Culture

Performing arts organizations in Charlotte include the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Opera Carolina, both of which perform at the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.

Museums

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

Billy Graham Library

Carolinas Aviation Museum

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fire Education Center and Museum

Charlotte Nature Museum in Freedom Park

Charlotte Trolley Museum in Historic South End

Discovery Place

Discovery Place KIDS-Huntersville

Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture

Historic Rosedale Plantation

Levine Museum of the New South

The Light Factory

McColl Center for Visual Art

Mint Museum of Art

Mint Museum of Craft + Design

NASCAR Hall of Fame

Second Ward Alumni House Museum

Media

===Sports=== thumb|right|Bank of America Stadium Charlotte is currently home to two major professional sports franchises: the Carolina Panthers of the National Football league, and the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association. The Panthers have been located in Charlotte since their creation in 1995, and the Bobcats have been located in Charlotte since their creation in 2004. The Panthers play their home games in Bank of America Stadium, while the Bobcats play in the Time Warner Cable Arena; both venues are located in Uptown Charlotte. From 1988 to 2002, Charlotte hosted an NBA franchise named the Charlotte Hornets, but the franchise relocated to New Orleans, Louisiana in 2002 after bitter animosity between the team's fans and principal owner George Shinn.

Club	Sport	Founded	League	Venue
Carolina Panthers		1995	National Football League	Bank of America Stadium
Charlotte Bobcats	Basketball	2004	National Basketball Association	Time Warner Cable Arena
	Ice hockey	2010	American Hockey League	Time Warner Cable Arena
Charlotte Knights	Baseball	1976	International League	Knights Stadium, Fort Mill, SC
Charlotte Hounds	Lacrosse	2012	Major League Lacrosse	American Legion Memorial Stadium
Charlotte Eagles		1993	USL Pro
Charlotte Lady Eagles		1993	W-League
Carolina Speed		2006	American Indoor Football Association

Transportation

Mass transit

The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) is the agency responsible for operating mass transit in Charlotte, and Mecklenburg County. CATS operates light rail transit, historical trolleys, express shuttles, and bus service serving Charlotte and its immediate suburbs. The LYNX light rail system comprises a 9.6-mile line north-south line known as the Blue Line. Bus ridership continues to grow (66% since 1998), but more slowly than operations increases which have risen 170% in that same time when adjusted for inflation. The 2030 Transit Corridor System Plan looks to supplement established bus service with light rail and commuter rail lines as a part of a system dubbed LYNX.

Walkability

A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked Charlotte 49th most walkable of fifty largest U.S. cities.

Roads and highways

Charlotte's central location between the population centers of the northeast and southeast has made it a transportation focal point and primary distribution center, with two major interstate highways, I-85 and I-77, intersecting near the city's center. Charlotte's beltway, designated I-485 and simply called "485" by locals, is partially finished but funding has been slow in coming. The new projection has it slated for completion by 2013. Upon completion, 485 will have a total circumference of approximately 67 miles (108 km). Within the city, the I-277 loop freeway encircles Charlotte's uptown (usually referred to by its two separate sections, the John Belk Freeway and the Brookshire Freeway) while Charlotte Route 4 links major roads in a loop between I-277 and I-485. Independence Freeway, which carries US 74 and links downtown with the Matthews area is undergoing an expansion and widening in the eastern part of the city.

Air

Charlotte/Douglas International Airport is the 8th busiest airport in the U.S. and ninth busiest in the world as measured by traffic. It is served by many domestic airlines, as well as international airlines Air Canada, Insel Air, and Lufthansa, and is the largest hub of US Airways. Nonstop flights are available to many destinations across the United States, as well as flights to Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, and South America.

Intercity rail

Charlotte is served daily by three Amtrak routes:

The ''Crescent'' connects Charlotte with New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C.; Charlottesville, and Greensboro to the north, and Greenville, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans to the south.

The ''Carolinian'' connects Charlotte with New York; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Richmond; Raleigh; Durham; and Greensboro.

The ''Piedmont'' connects Charlotte with Raleigh, Durham and Greensboro.

The city is currently planning a new centralized multimodial train station called the Gateway Station. It is expected to house the future LYNX Purple Line, the new Greyhound bus station, and the Crescent line that passes through Uptown Charlotte.

Sister cities

List of sister cities of Charlotte, designated by Sister Cities International: Arequipa, Peru (1962) Baoding, Hebei, People's Republic of China (1987) Krefeld, Germany (1985) Kumasi, Ghana (1996) Limoges, France (1992) Voronezh, Russia (1991) Wrocław, Poland (1993) Hadera, Israel (2010)

See also

Charlotte Fire Department

Charlotte metropolitan area

Hurricane Hugo

I-85 Corridor

List of people from Charlotte

List of tallest buildings in Charlotte

May 1989 tornado outbreak

Mecklenburg County

Piedmont Crescent

References

Further reading

Graves, William, and Heather A. Smith, eds. ''Charlotte, NC: The Global Evolution of a New South City'' (University of Georgia Press; 2010) 320 pages. Essays that use Charlotte to explore how globalization and local forces combine to transform Southern cities.

Hanchett, Thomas W. ''Sorting Out the New South City: Race, Class, and Urban Development in Charlotte, 1875–1975''. 380 pages. University of North Carolina Press. August 1, 1998. ISBN 0-8078-2376-7.

Kratt, Mary Norton. ''Charlotte: Spirit of the New South''. 293 pages. John F. Blair, Publisher. September 1, 1992. ISBN 0-89587-095-9.

Kratt, Mary Norton and Mary Manning Boyer. ''Remembering Charlotte: Postcards from a New South City, 1905–1950''. 176 pages. University of North Carolina Press. October 1, 2000. ISBN 0-8078-4871-9.

Kratt, Mary Norton. ''New South Women: Twentieth Century Women of Charlotte, North Carolina''. Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in Association with John F. Blair, Publisher. August 1, 2001. ISBN 0-89587-250-1.

External links

Official Charlotte-Mecklenburg County NC website

Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS)

Visit Charlotte, from the Charlotte Regional Visitor's Authority

Charlotte ''Metropolis'' – stop motion video by Rob Carter

Category:Charlotte metropolitan area Category:Cities in North Carolina Category:County seats in North Carolina Category:Populated places established in 1755

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