James Buchanan Duke | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1856-12-23)December 23, 1856 Durham, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | October 10, 1925(1925-10-10) (aged 68) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Duke University |
| Occupation | Tobacco entrepreneur |
| Known for | American Tobacco Company |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Doris Duke |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Benjamin Newton Duke (brother) Mary Duke Lyons (sister) Brodie Duke (half-brother) |
James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an Americantobacco andelectric power industrialist best known for the invention of moderncigarette manufacture and marketing techniques,[1] and his involvement withDuke University. He was the founder of theAmerican Tobacco Company in 1890.
James Buchanan Duke, known by the nickname "Buck", was born on December 23, 1856, nearDurham, North Carolina, to tobacco manufacturer, philanthropist, and benefactor ofDuke University,Washington Duke (1820–1905), and his second wife, Artelia Roney.[2]
Duke's father, Washington, had owned a tobacco company that his sons James andBenjamin (1855–1929) took over in the 1880s. In 1885, James Buchanan Duke acquired a license to use the first automatedcigarette making machine (invented byJames Albert Bonsack), and by 1890, Duke supplied 40 percent of the American cigarette market (then known as pre-rolled tobacco). In that year, Duke consolidated control of his four major competitors under one corporate entity, theAmerican Tobacco Company, which was a monopoly as he controlled over 90 percent of the American cigarette market. His aggressive business tactics in cutting prices paid to tobacco farmers directly led to theBlack Patch Tobacco Wars in 1906–1908.
At the start of the 1900s, Duke tried to conquer the British market as he had done the American, eventually forcing the then divided British manufacturers to merge into the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain and Ireland, Ltd (Imperial Tobacco). After two years of intense competition in Great Britain, Imperial Tobacco took the fight to the U.S. market, forcing American Tobacco to look for a settlement. This resulted in an agreement whereby American Tobacco controlled theAmerican trade, Imperial Tobacco controlled the trade in the British territories, and a third, cooperative venture named theBritish-American Tobacco Company was set up between the two to control the sale of tobacco in the rest of the world.
During this time, Duke was repeatedly sued by business partners and shareholders. In 1906, the American Tobacco Company was found guilty of antitrust violations, and was ordered to be split into four separate companies: American Tobacco Company,Liggett & Myers,R. J. Reynolds, and theP. Lorillard Company. In 1911, inUnited States v. American Tobacco Co., theU.S. Supreme Court upheld the order breaking up the American Tobacco Company's monopoly. The company was then divided into several smaller enterprises, of which only the British-American Tobacco Company remained in Duke's control.
In 1892, the Dukes opened their first textile firm inDurham, North Carolina, which was run by Buck's brother Benjamin. At the turn of the century, Buck organized the American Development Company to acquire land and water rights on theCatawba River. In 1904, he established theCatawba Power Company and the following year he and his brother founded the Southern Power Company, which became known as Duke Power, the precursor to theDuke Energy conglomerate. The company suppliedelectrical power to the Dukes'textile factory and within two decades, their power facilities had been greatly expanded and they were supplying electricity to more than 300cotton mills and other industrial companies. Duke Power established an electrical grid that supplied cities and towns in thePiedmont Region ofNorth andSouth Carolina.Buck Steam Station inRowan County, North Carolina, built in 1926, was named for Duke.Lake James, a power-generating reservoir in Western North Carolina, was created by the company in 1928 and also named in Duke's honor.
Duke was married twice, first in 1904 to Lillian Fletcher McCredy (also known as Lillian Nanette Duke). They divorced in 1906 and had no children. In 1907 he married the widow Nanaline Holt Inman, with whom he had his only child, a daughter,Doris, born November 22, 1912. Doris was raised atDuke Farms located inHillsborough, New Jersey, where her father had worked with landscapers such asJames Leal Greenleaf (a member of the firm ofFrederick Law Olmsted), and Horatio Buckenham to transform more than 2,000 acres (8 km2) of farmland and woodlots into a landscape containing two conservatories, nine lakes, 35 fountains, 45 buildings, many pieces of sculpture, over 2 miles (3 km) of stone walls and more than 18 miles (29 km) of roadway.[3]
Duke died in New York City on October 10, 1925, and is interred with his father and brother in the Memorial Chapel on the campus ofDuke University. He resided at his home,Lynnwood inCharlotte, North Carolina during the last five years of his life.[4] It was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1978.[5]
In December 1924, Duke establishedThe Duke Endowment, a $40 million trust fund (equivalent to $734 million in 2024[6]), some of which was to go toTrinity College, which was renamedDuke University in honor of his father. The James B. Duke Library, the main campus library atFurman University, is also named for him because of his philanthropic relationship with the university.[7]
On his death, he left approximately half of his estate to the Duke Endowment, adding another $67 million (equivalent to $1.2 billion in 2024[6]) to the trust fund. In the indenture of trust, Duke specified that he wanted the endowment to support Duke University,Davidson College,Furman University, andJohnson C. Smith University; non-profit hospitals and children's homes in the two Carolinas; and ruralMethodist churches in North Carolina, retired pastors, and their surviving families.
Much of the remainder of Duke's approximately $100 million (equivalent to $1.79 billion in 2024[6]) estate went to his daughterDoris Duke, who became "the richest girl in the world".[8] In 1927, Doris sued her mother for control of the family house in Manhattan and won.[9] Doris also successfully sued for control of the Duke Farms estate. Associating Duke Farms with fond memories of her father, Doris Duke made few major changes to the property other than the adaptation of her father's Conservatory to createDisplay Gardens in his honor.[10] These gardens showcased her father's extensive sculpture collection and were open to the public from 1964 until closed by her foundation trustees in May 2008.[11]
it's the final months of the gardens being on display in the greenhouses that have enchanted visitors since 1964
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