AH Challenge: Make Charleston The Largest City In The South

Challenge: With a point of departure no earlier than 1860, make Charleston, South Carolina the largest, most important city/metro area in the Southern United States in 2012, exceeding the size and importance of OTL Metro Atlanta.
 
Here's the beginning of my go at it

"Aargh!" cursed Professor Charles Penn, as the holding delay was announced aboard the British Airways 767. The flight had left Heathrow two hours late due to an electronics problem, and as usual, traffic was backed up into the American Airlines superhub at Riley International.

The only upside was the view of the magnificent city below him. Landmarks abounded as he gazed at Greater Charleston, who's population was just shy of 5.7 million. It's only rival in the Southeast was Atlanta, which lagged behind by nearly 400,000; though the latest growth rate of the Peachtree city was faster, but not by much. The two, much like Dallas and Houston, competed over everything-a recent example was the new Boeing factory which had ultimately gone to Charleston at its second airport near Berkeley, though they had lost out on the Wachovia headquarters to Atlanta.

He gazed at the magnificent state capitol complex, and just a few blocks away, the flagship campus of the University of South Carolina, part of the research triangle of South Carolina, though he was to give his (an outsider's) lecture on the economic history of the New South at Duke University in Summerville. However, his gaze remained on the public university and the rotunda of the state capitol.

These two institutions, he thought, marked the beginning of Charleston's 150 year long march towards greatness. Although even most of the city's residents would publicly disapprove of General Sherman and his destructive march through Atlanta, Savannah, and Columbia; secretly they knew the the rampage had benefited Charleston at the expense of most of the rest of the Carolinas.

With the port cities of Savannah, Beaufort, and Wilmington in ruins, Charleston had been the major beneficiary. You could still see the presence of Reconstruction as one gazed around, especially towards the massive base that was the headquarters of the United States Navy's Atlantic fleet-he could see two aircraft carriers and dozens of other warships, along with shipyards and other facilities that were rivaled only by those in Norfolk.

The Captain announced that the hold had been lifted. He gazed at his watch and said a silent thanks. They would still beat the dozen American Airlines widebodies arriving from Europe by a half hour. Customs shouldn't be too bad. He was looking forward to his trip, especially the golfing in Mt. Pleasant.....
 

Abhakhazia

Banned
General Sherman burns Atlanta to the ground, Carthage-style, New Orleans gets wiped out by a Hurricane in 1880, Refugees from both cities go to Charleston.

That was easy.

Oh wait, do I have to write some sort of story?
 
Keep Charleston intact after the Civil War and make South Carolina *really* friendly to attracting new industry, specifically textiles and shipbuilding. Have mismanagement plague Savannah as a potential rival or have the State of Georgia experience a lot more racial strife. Lure new industries over the course of time and avoid the plagues of the late 19th century while bringing in the railways, making Charleston the biggest port of departure between New Orleans and Baltimore. Swap the state legislatures of Georgia and South Carolina from OTL such that Charleston only cares about the color green during the Civil Rights movement - Atlanta wanted to do business, Birmingham wanted to do business their way. Have the financial sector lured to South Carolina with friendly business laws to eliminate Charlotte as a rival.
 
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