WI: Charlotte Successful?

In the late 1800s in North Carolina, there was a problem to be solved. Where would we put our new agricultural college? In OTL, this was solved when a Raleigh area farmer donated a significant amount of land to the state government, land that would form the core of North Carolina State University. But what if Raleigh did not receive such a boon? What if Charlotte, the state's largest and most influential city, won the bid for NC State? What if the Wolfpack found its home in the Queen City?
 
Well, it's probably diminished by the increased difficulty of collaboration with Duke and UNC (and they will be diminished by the increased difficulty of collaborating with NCSU in Charlotte, but both of those universities had fairly established reputations even before NC State was founded). All three universities have benefited greatly from that collaboration, especially in things like library services (the Triangle Research Libraries Network, for instance was one of the early pioneers in library consortia).

The land grant will still mean State remains a significant research institution, but without the broader interplay with the rest of the Triangle (or Duopoly, in this case), it probably won't develop the institutional prestige that allows it to draw as much in the way of funding/faculty. Conversely, it would probably benefit from the politics of being supported by Charlotte and Western North Carolina, rather than being as tied to the Triangle.
 
Well, it's probably diminished by the increased difficulty of collaboration with Duke and UNC (and they will be diminished by the increased difficulty of collaborating with NCSU in Charlotte, but both of those universities had fairly established reputations even before NC State was founded). All three universities have benefited greatly from that collaboration, especially in things like library services (the Triangle Research Libraries Network, for instance was one of the early pioneers in library consortia).

I'm not too sure about all that. Duke...wasn't even known as Duke in the 1880s, it was still known as Trinity and wouldn't move to Durham until 5 years after the establishment of State in Raleigh. Maybe with *NC State providing a Charlotte-based counterweight to Chapel Hill and the Raleigh area, Trinity College stays in Trinity, North Carolina, midway between the areas? Besides, *NC State would have a local partner in Davidson College, in the northern half of Mecklenberg County, as well as other smaller colleges scattered throughout the area. Anyone else have thoughts?
 
Don't forget Wake Forest University, still in Wake Forest until the 1950's. UNC would have some local partner even if Trinity College never moves to Durham, though I expect the increased distance would make things somewhat less collaborative.

Let's also not forget the smaller colleges in Raleigh: Meredeth College (opened 1891 as the Baptist Female University), Peace College (1857 as Peace Institute), Shaw University (1865, an HBCU), and Augustine University (1867, also an HBCU). Without NC State University, one of these - probably Peace College - might well rise to more prominence.
 
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