CHARLOTTE, shi'lot, N. C., city and county-seat of Mecklenburg County, on Sugar Creek, and on the Southern and Seaboard Air line, the Piedmont and Northern and the Nor folk Southern railroads, 267 miles northeast of Atlanta, Ga. Electric car lines connect the city with surrounding towns. The city covers an area of about 20 square miles, and its streets are macadamized and lighted with electricity. The principal public buildings are the United States post-office and courthouse, the assay office, city hall, county courthouse, the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. buildings, the Audi torium, several fine business blocks and nu merous hotels. Nearly all the leading religions are represented, and there are many handsome church edifices. The charitable institutions in clude Saint Peter's Home and Hospital, a hos pital for colored people, Thompson Orphanage, Presbyterian Home for Aged and Kelpless Women, the Presbyterian Hospital, Alexander Rescue Home for Children, Negro Orphanage, Crittenton Home, Mercy Hospital (Catholic), and the Country Home. Beside several public and private schools there are Elizabeth College and Conservatory of Music for young women, Presbyterian College, Saint Mary's Seminary conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, North Car olina Medical College and Biddle University for colored students. There is also a Carnegie library. Charlotte is in a fertile agricultural and an extensive cotton growing region; it is the trade centre for Mecklenburg and sur rounding counties, and is also the centre of the Southern cotton mill industry, having 23 mills, operating 191,266 spindles and 4,326 looms. Within a radius of 100 miles are over 400 mills operating 5,000,000 spindles, 125,000 looms and 3,000 knitting machines. The electric plants in the vicinity supply light and power for many surrounding cities and towns. There are sev eral gold mines nearby. Manufactures include cotton-milling machinery, cotton-seed oil and by-products, various kinds of machinery, agri cultural implements, fertilizers, pipe, hardware, brick, saddlery and harness, belting, clothing, boots and shoes, drugs, flour, cement and build ing materials, scales, caskets, show cases, etc.
The United States census of manufactures for 1914 recorded 106 industrial establishments of factory grade, employing 4,279 persons, of whom 3,800 were wage earners, receiving an nually $1,477,000 in wages. The capital in vested aggregated $11,808,000, and the year's output was valued at $10,893,000: of this, $3, 367,000 was the value added by manufacture. There are several daily, weekly and monthly publications. There are four national and one savings banks, two trust companies and three building and loan associations with combined capitalization of $4,632,590 and deposits of $5,263,279.20. The taxable valuation is about $12,000,000. The city is divided into 11 wards. The government under the 1907 charter is vested in a mayor and a board of aldermen of 21 members (elected for two years) and minor city officials. The waterworks is owned and operated by the municipality and there is a paid fire department. Charlotte was settled about 1750, was incorporated in 1768 and became the county-seat in 1774. It received its city charter in 1866 and its present charter in 1907. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed in the city in May 1775. The signers are commemorated by a monument. During the Revolution several bloody battles were fought in and around Charlotte. In September 1780, Lord Cornwallis entered Charlotte, and oc cupied it for several days. He referred to it as a °hornet's nests and this has since been adopted as the city's emblem. Later in the year General Gates made his headquarters here. The city was the last meeting place of the full Con federate Cabinet. ( See MECKLENBURG COUNTY). Pop. 38,000.