Editing Charlotte, North Carolina (section)

===19th century===
In 1842, [[Union County, North Carolina|Union County]] formed from Mecklenburg's southeastern portion and a western portion of Anson County. These areas were all part of one of the original six judicial/military districts of North Carolina known as the [[Salisbury District, North Carolina|Salisbury District]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/patriot_militia_nc_salisbury_district.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070713204516/http://www.carolana.com/NC/Revolution/patriot_militia_nc_salisbury_district.html | archive-date = July 13, 2007 | title = The American Revolution in North Carolina | access-date = June 25, 2011}}</ref>

The area that is now Charlotte was first settled by European colonists around 1755 when Thomas Spratt and his family settled near what is now the Elizabeth neighborhood. [[Thomas Polk]] (great-uncle of [[President of the United States|President]] [[James K. Polk]]), who later married Thomas Spratt's daughter, built his house by the intersection of two [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] trading paths between the [[Yadkin River|Yadkin]] and [[Catawba River|Catawba]] rivers.<ref name="Story1">{{cite web| url = http://www.cmstory.org/content/1755-founding-new-city| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518112246/http://www.cmstory.org/content/1755-founding-new-city| archive-date = May 18, 2015| title = The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Story: History Timeline: Founding a New City| work = cmstory.org Web Site | publisher = Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County| access-date = September 25, 2015}}</ref> 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.

Nicknamed the "Queen City",<ref name=caucus>{{cite web|last1=Bernstein|first1=Viv|title=Welcome to Charlotte, a City of Quirks|url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/welcome-to-charlotte-a-city-of-quirks/?_php=true&_type=blogs|work=The New York Times Caucus Blog|date=September 3, 2012 |access-date=July 29, 2014}}</ref> like its county a few years earlier, Charlotte was named in honor of [[Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]], who had become the [[queen consort of Great Britain and Ireland]] in 1761, seven years before the town's incorporation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royal.uk/queen-charlotte|title=Queen Charlotte (19 May 1744 - 17 November 1818)|website=royal.uk|access-date=May 17, 2016}}</ref> A second nickname derives from the [[American Revolutionary War]], when British commander General [[Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis]] occupied the city but was driven out by hostile residents. He wrote that Charlotte was "a [[hornet]]'s nest of rebellion", leading to the nickname "The Hornet's Nest".<ref>[https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/hornets-nest-book-one/welcome-cornwallis Charlotte Mecklenburg Library: A Welcome for Cornwallis] (Retrieved on 07–25–19)</ref>

Within decades of Polk's settling, the area grew to become the Town of Charlotte, [[municipal incorporation|incorporated]] in 1768.<ref name="charter">{{cite web |url=https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/history-timeline-rural-beginnings-1730-1772/1768-charlotte-chartered |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622062601/https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/history-timeline-rural-beginnings-1730-1772/1768-charlotte-chartered |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |title=1768- Charlotte Chartered |website=cmstory.org |access-date=May 31, 2020 }}</ref> Though chartered as Charlotte, the name appears as a form of "Charlottesburgh" on many maps until around 1800.<ref name="burgh">{{cite web | url=https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ncmaps/id/467 | title=A Compleat map of North-Carolina from an actual survey | date=1770 | access-date=May 31, 2020 | website=library.unc.edu}}</ref> A form of "Charlottetown" also appears on maps of British origin depicting General Cornwallis' route of invasion.<ref name="town">{{cite web | url=https://www.loc.gov/item/74692779/ | title=The marches of Lord Cornwallis in the Southern Provinces, now States of North America; comprehending the two Carolinas, with Virginia and Maryland, and the Delaware counties | date=1787 | access-date=August 18, 2020 | website=loc.gov}}</ref> The crossroads in Piedmont 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.<ref name="Story2">{{cite web
| url = http://www.cmstory.org/content/1770-designing-city
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518120812/http://www.cmstory.org/content/1770-designing-city
| archive-date = May 18, 2015
| title=The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Story: History Timeline: Designing a New City
| work = cmstory.org Web Site
| publisher=Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
| access-date=September 25, 2015}}</ref>
The [[Trade and Tryon|intersection of Trade and Tryon]] is commonly known today as "Trade and Tryon", or simply "The Square",<ref name="Story1"/> and formally as "Independence Square".<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://101independencecenter.com/
 |title        = 101 Independence Center
 |access-date  = September 25, 2015
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080605040203/http://101independencecenter.com/
 |archive-date = June 5, 2008
 |url-status   = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref>

While surveying the boundary between the Carolinas in 1772, [[William Moultrie]] stopped in Charlotte, whose five or six houses were "very ordinary built of logs".<ref>{{Cite news
 |url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/12/3005507/sc-nc-border-moving.html#storylink=misearch
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212225747/http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/12/3005507/sc-nc-border-moving.html#storylink=misearch
 |archive-date=February 12, 2012
 |title=N.C.-S.C. border may move
 |last=Beam
 |first=Adam
 |work=[[The State (newspaper)|The State]]
 |access-date=February 29, 2012
 |date=February 12, 2012 }}</ref>

Local leaders came together in 1775 and signed the [[Mecklenburg Resolves]], more popularly known as the [[Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence]]. While not a true declaration of independence from [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] rule, it is among the first such declarations that eventually led to the [[American Revolution]]. May 20, the traditional date of the signing of the declaration, is celebrated annually in Charlotte as "MecDec", with musket and cannon fire by reenactors in Independence Square. North Carolina's [[Flag of North Carolina|state flag]] and [[Seal of North Carolina|state seal]] also bear the date.

Charlotte is traditionally considered the home of Southern [[Presbyterianism]], but in the 19th&nbsp;century, numerous churches, including Presbyterian, [[Baptist]], [[Methodist]], [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]], [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]], and [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] formed, eventually giving Charlotte the nickname, "[[City of Churches|The City of Churches]]".<ref name="Story40">{{cite web
|url= http://www.cmstory.org/content/1800-city-churches
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150518165339/http://www.cmstory.org/content/1800-city-churches
|archive-date= May 18, 2015
|title= The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Story: History Timeline: The City of Churches
|work = cmstory.org Web Site
|publisher=Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
|access-date=September 25, 2015}}</ref>

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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050103061621/http://www.blanchardonline.com/AmericanRarities/archive-08/dah.html Blanchard Online: American Rarities] (Retrieved on 05–22–07)</ref> The first documented gold find in the United States of any consequence set off the nation's first [[gold rush]]. Many veins of gold were found in the area throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, leading to the 1837 founding of the [[Charlotte Mint]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.charlottegold.net/history.html|title=History of the Charlotte Mint|website=Charlottegold.net|access-date=December 12, 2021|archive-date=November 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128045746/http://www.charlottegold.net/history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> North Carolina was the chief producer of gold in the United States, until the Sierra Nevada found in 1848,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blanchardonline.com/AmericanRarities/archive-08/char.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040419135250/http://blanchardonline.com/AmericanRarities/archive-08/char.html|archive-date=April 19, 2004 |title=The Charlotte Branch Mint |website=Blanchardonline.com |access-date=July 2, 2010}}</ref> although the volume mined in the Charlotte area was dwarfed by subsequent rushes.