Cities

Subject

Business and Industry

Headache Powders

1866-1915

During the early twentieth century, many Tar Heels moved to towns and urban areas to find work in mills and on railroads, while local pharmacists also began creating patent medicines. One such medicine, headache relief powders, became popular among mill and railroad workers who referred to them as “production powders.”  Pharmacists often compounded their own headache relief medicine in an easier-made powder form rather than in the more complex pill form.

Business and Industry

Alfred Johnston Fletcher (1887-1979)

1866-1915

Alfred Johnson Fletcher, the seventh of fourteen children, was born in 1887 in the mountains of North Carolina.  After studying law at Wake Forest College, he opened a practice in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. His greatest achievement was the Capitol Broadcasting Company, which he created when he applied for a 250 watt AM station in 1937.  When he went on the air in 1939, he was only the second radio station in Raleigh.

Cities

Richard Joshua “R. J.” Reynolds (1850 – 1918)

1836-1865

As the sixth of 16 children, Richard Joshua Reynolds left his small Virginia town at an early age to establish his own company.  At the age of 25, Reynolds opened a chewing tobacco manufacturing company in Winston, North Carolina and quickly became a pioneer in the industry.  He anticipated the growth in the smoking tobacco market and developed a line of pipe tobaccos.  In 1913, he introduced Camel, the first American blend cigarette.  His innovative branding and marketing strategy set the industry standard.

Business and Industry

Krispy Kreme

1916-1945

Vernon Rudolph and his Krispy Kreme doughnuts are excellent examples of the entrepreneurial spirit that flourished in North Carolina despite the Great Depression.

Cities

Polio in North Carolina

1916-1945

Reaching its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, poliomyelitis (polio), also known as infantile paralysis, infected and crippled hundreds of children across North Carolina.  The disease terrorized the general public, and, in response, North Carolinians successfully mobilized their money and time to assist polio victims statewide.  North Carolina's mandate on polio vaccines, coupled with its citizens' philanthropic efforts, played a significant role in eradicating the disease from the state's population.

Cities

Stamp Tax Protests (Wilmington)

1664-1775

After the English Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765, many North Carolinians refused to pay the tax—even after Governor William Tryon promised special privileges to fifty leading North Carolinian merchants and planters.

Cities

Lillington (Town of)

1866-1915

Named after a Revolutionary War hero, the town is located approximately halfway between Raleigh and Fayetteville. 

Cities

John Alexander Lillington (c.1725-1786)

1664-1775

Namesake of the town of Lillington (the county seat of Harnett County), John Alexander Lillington served as a colonel during the American Revolution and earned fame as a military hero.  Many credit him for the Patriot victory at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge.

Cities

Federal Paper Board Company

1946-1990

Some historians have criticized the paper and pulp companies of southeastern North Carolina for threatening the local environment.  Environmentalists have been especially concerned with the effect of the paper and pulp industry in the area known as the Green Swamp located east of Columbus in Brunswick County.  However, some paper and pulp companies have been actively involved in preserving the environment that they have used for profit.

African American

John Merrick (1859 – 1919)

1836-1865

As the first president of the largest African American insurance company in the United States, John Merrick created more than personal wealth and economic opportunities for other blacks in Durham. He worked to bring better healthcare and educational opportunities to his community.

African American

Oberlin Village

1836-1865

After the Civil War, parcels of southern land were subdivided and sold to former slaves.  Historic Oberlin Village was comprised of such parcels and became one of Raleigh’s first freedmen communities.

African American

Greensboro Shootings

1946-1990

On November 3, 1979, an armed confrontation between members of the Maoist Communist Workers Party (CWP) and several Klansmen and Nazis ended with four CWP members and one supporter being shot dead.  Three trials soon followed, and CWP survivors and their supporters claimed that their anti-establishment views incited a conspiracy to have them killed.