Topics Related to Business

Founder of Burlington Mills, 1924; success of rayon propelled world's largest textile company. "Pioneer Plant" 3/4 mi. S.

In the early decades of the 1900s, Durham acquired national reputation for entrepreneurship. Businesses owned by African Americans lined Parrish Street. Among them were N.C. Mutual Life Insurance Co. (moved to Parrish, 1906), led by John Merrick, Dr. Aaron Moore, & C. C. Spaulding, and Mechanics and Farmers Bank (1907), led by R. B. Fitzgerald and W. G. Pearson.

Black business leader. In 1898 he founded what is now N.C. Mutual Life Insurance Company. His grave is 85 yds. N.W.