Article: Charlotte's moment: Chip Jones discovers how a city's leaders turned an old textile town into a major economic power. As the dust settles on Wall Street, this Tar Heel city may emerge stronger than ever.(BEYOND BANKING)(Charlotte, North Carolina)

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The plaza of Bank of America in Charlotte was pulsing with music one unseasonably cool day in mid-August. A line of curly-haired schoolgirls danced as part of an Asian-American appreciation day that promoted a new park named for Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi in the Carolinas? The homage to the Indian martyr brought a smile to the sun-baked face of a wiry retiree wearing a Carolina Panthers cap, a black sports shirt, and matching slacks. Hugh L. McColl Jr., a legendary banker, reveled in how times had changed in the old textile city whose downtown used to roll up at night while favorite son Billy Graham read his Bible.

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