Charlotte, North Carolina

===20th century===
Some groups still [[Placer mining|pan for gold]] occasionally in local streams and creeks. The [[Reed Gold Mine]] operated until 1912.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://historicsites.nc.gov/all-sites/reed-gold-mine|title=Reed Gold Mine – NC Historic Sites|access-date=December 12, 2021}}</ref> The Charlotte Mint was active until 1861 when [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] forces seized it at the outbreak of the [[American Civil War|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 Charlotte became a cotton processing center and railroad hub. By the 1880s, Charlotte sat astride the Southern Railway mainline from [[Atlanta]] to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C]]. Farmers from miles around would bring cotton to the railroad platform in Uptown. Local promotors began building textile factories, starting with the 1881 Charlotte Cotton Mill that still stands at Graham and 5th streets.<ref>[https://www.charlottesgotalot.com/articles/history/the-history-of-charlotte The History of Charlotte, NC]. Retrieved May 2, 2022.</ref>

Charlotte's city population at the [[1890 United States census|1890 census]] grew to 11,557.<ref name="Story">{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.cmstory.org/content/population-statistics
 |title        = The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Story
 |work         = cmstory.org Web Site
 |publisher    = Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County
 |access-date  = September 25, 2015
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150925111706/http://www.cmstory.org/content/population-statistics
 |archive-date = September 25, 2015
 |url-status   = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref>

[[File:North Carolina - Charlotte - NARA - 68146416 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|View of Charlotte in 1932]]
In 1910, Charlotte surpassed [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]] to become North Carolina's largest city with 34,014 residents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cmhpf.org/S&Rs%20Alphabetical%20Order/Surveys&rmeckcourthouse.htm |title=Survey and Research Report on the Mecklenburg County Courthouse|publisher=Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission|access-date=February 1, 2018}}</ref>

The population grew again during [[World War I]], when the U.S. government established [[Camp Greene]], north of present-day Wilkinson Boulevard. The camp supported 40,000 soldiers, with many troops and suppliers staying after the war, launching urbanization that eventually overtook older cities along the [[Piedmont Crescent]]. In the [[1920 United States census|1920 census]], Charlotte fell to being the state's second largest city, [[Winston-Salem]] with 48,395 people, had two thousand more people than Charlotte. Charlotte would pass Winston-Salem in population by the [[1930 United States census|1930 census]], and has remained North Carolina's largest city since.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/northwest-almanac-when-winston-salem-was-the-state-s-largest/article_f91d8e8f-4071-5894-94aa-a675e9a5f4d6.html|title=Northwest Almanac: When Winston-Salem was the state's largest city|work=[[Winston-Salem Journal]]|date=January 8, 2018|access-date=February 1, 2018}}</ref>

Until 1958, the [[Seaboard Air Line Railroad]] operated a daily passenger train from its [[Charlotte station (Seaboard Air Line Railroad)|own station]] (which had opened in 1896) to [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]].<ref name="aboard">{{cite news |last=Gubbins |first=Pat Borden |date=August 7, 1988 |title=ALL ABOARD! TENANT SOUGHT TO RENOVATE SEABOARD DEPOT|work=Charlotte Observer}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Seaboard Air Line, Table 38 |journal=Official Guide of the Railways |publisher=National Railway Publication Company |volume=91 |issue=3 |date=August 1958}}</ref>