In the years following the Civil War, local entrepreneurs in and around Durham eagerly followed the path first blazed by John Ruffin Green, producing their own tobacco while prominently attaching the name of Durham to their brands. They recognized the value of pairing a quality product with the powerful appeal of memory and regional identity.
At the outset of his enterprise, Green brought in several partners to strengthen the business. In 1869, William T. Blackwell and James Day, both experienced tobacco jobbers from Kinston, relocated to Durham and joined him. Yet only months after the partnership was formed, tragedy intervened. Green fell ill and died, leaving his share of the company to his family.
Blackwell, however, had complete faith in the product and in the commercial power of the now-famous bull trademark. Determined to continue the business, he purchased Green’s interest from the family. Recognizing that he and Day needed additional leadership, Blackwell advertised in the local newspaper for an educated man with business experience. Through that search, one of the most consequential—and controversial—figures in Durham’s history entered the story: Julian Shakespeare Carr.
Born and raised in Chapel Hill, Carr had been shaped early by his father’s work as a merchant, from whom he learned the fundamentals of trade and finance. He attended the University of North Carolina until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army. After the war, Carr spent time in Arkansas working with an uncle before his father urged him to seize the opportunities emerging in Durham.
Once in Durham, Carr quickly proved indispensable. With remarkable business foresight, he helped craft an advertising campaign that carried Durham tobacco far beyond the South and even across the globe. Under his direction, the W. T. Blackwell Company became the first of several tobacco firms that transformed Durham from a modest farming village into a thriving industrial center.
Carr was only one of many ambitious figures drawn to Durham by the promise of opportunity. Among them was Richard Harvey Wright, who arrived from Granville County after establishing a profitable mercantile business. Though unable to attend the University of North Carolina as he had hoped, Wright pursued his education independently, combining disciplined self-study with sharp business instincts. His determination elevated him into the ranks of Durham’s wealthiest citizens.
Another, and perhaps more unlikely, addition to Durham’s expanding circle of tobacconists was Brodie Leonidas Duke. If Carr represented the former Confederate who later embraced public commemoration of the Southern cause, Brodie’s postwar journey reflected a different response to the conflict. Deeply marked by the trauma of his Civil War service as a prison guard in Salisbury, he sought relief not in memory but in labor. This search led him first to his uncle’s farm, where he learned the craft of processing and manufacturing tobacco.
By 1869, only four years after returning home from Salisbury, Brodie had moved to Durham and was working tirelessly to establish his own enterprise. His brand, Duke of Durham, quickly gained national popularity. As his success became evident, his father and brothers recognized the opportunity before them and soon moved the family’s operations the short distance from the farm into town.
Nine years after the Civil War, Durham had been transformed from a quiet rural hamlet into a bustling industrial town. Into this rapidly changing environment came Washington Duke and his sons, James Buchanan and Benjamin Newton, determined to secure their own place in the tobacco trade. Like Carr and Brodie, Washington’s path had also been shaped by the war. Captured while serving in Virginia, he was briefly imprisoned before being transported by boat to New Bern. Released with only fifty cents in his pocket, he was forced to walk nearly one hundred miles back to Durham. That difficult journey marked the beginning of the Duke family’s rise within the industry that would come to define the city.
With the success of these businesses—combined with the strategic advantage of the railroad running through town—Durham decisively pivoted from an agricultural community to an industrial center. Like prospectors drawn by the promise of gold, ambitious men from across the region and beyond came to Durham seeking their fortunes in the manufacture of tobacco.
The next time you find yourself in downtown Durham, pause for a moment and look beyond the modern skyline. Imagine the city in the late nineteenth century, when men like Carr, Blackwell, Wright, and the Dukes pressed forward into an uncertain future, driven by ambition, resilience, and the hope that what once seemed impossible might somehow become possible.
For readers eager to uncover more about Durham’s remarkable beginnings, The Story of Durham: Told the Wright Way offers a compelling journey into the people, industries, and ambitions that gave rise to the Bull City. Rich in local history and vivid storytelling, it brings Durham’s founding era to life in a way that will leave you seeing the city with fresh eyes.
For a more intimate and deeply human portrait, Brodie Duke: The Man, the Myth, the Truth explores the life of one of Durham’s most fascinating figures—a man haunted by his past yet driven to carve out his own identity within the powerful Duke family empire. It is a gripping story of resilience, conflict, and ambition that adds new depth to Durham’s larger history.
Together, these books offer both the sweeping story of Durham’s rise and the personal struggles behind its most influential families—perfect additions for anyone who wants to better understand the city’s past and the people who shaped it.