Charlotte & McCrory in Time Magazine

Posted on 27 Sep 2008 by Justin Ruckman

In 1791, George Washington called Charlotte, N.C., a “trifling place.” In 1941 an author scoffed that the city had as much use for high-rises “as a hog has for a morning coat.” By 1991, Charlotte was still a minor-league city without major-league sports, a cultural wasteland with a central business district that died every weekday after work. “No restaurants. No nightlife. Nothing,” recalls seven-term Republican mayor Pat McCrory. “You could lie down in the street and never have to worry about getting run over.” A local planner gained notoriety by proving it was impossible to find a Snickers bar downtown after 5 o’clock.

But there’s no longer anything trifling about Charlotte. (…)

“We don’t mind when the competition thinks we’re Mayberry,” says McCrory. “We’re happy to be America’s best-kept secret.”

Read the article, one of a series of “global postcards”, by Andy McMillan at Time.com.