Written by Carter Hall on November 29th, 2019
In 1881, Orange County, just to the west of Durham, NC, split, creating the present-day landscape of Durham County. The region itself had always been heralded for agricultural prowess, with corn, wheat, soybeans, and, especially, tobacco dotting the landscape for miles. After the town of Durham had officially been created in 1849 with the help of Dr. Bennett Durham, it became an area of neutral territory after the end of the Civil War in 1865. Soldiers from both the Northern and Southern armies began demanding for tobacco. Businessmen such as J.R. Green, owner of a small factory in Durham, began importing whatever tobacco he could find, sparking the tobacco boom as we know it today. (Robertson 13-17)
Credit: Arthur Rothstein. http://photogrammar.yale.edu/records/index.php?record=fsa1998019830/PP
Below is a representation of the staggering agricultural production Durham experienced in the decades before its manufacturing boom became a more prominent entity. Note that the most recent values are estimates made off of ratios of pounds produced to acreage for the remaining data shown.
Sources: http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/AgCensusImages/1945/01/26/1171/Table-02.pdf, http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/AgCensusImages/1954/01/26/1166/Table-09.pdf, https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/North_Carolina/Publications/Annual_Statistical_Bulletin/AgStat/Section05.pdf
While the figures for 2016 and 2017 are not exact numbers, their small appearance in comparison to figures of the 1950s highlights the effectiveness of the Surgeon General’s report on tobacco as a carcinogen. Debuted in the 1960s, the report significantly hurt the tobacco industry both nationwide and in Durham, forcing many companies to close their doors after decades of production, though few companies like Liggett Group LLC remain in operation today (the company is located in Mebane, NC).
Sources:
Richardson, Lynn. “The Bull City—A Short History of Durham, North Carolina” Durham County Library North Carolina Collection. Accessed 28 November 2019. Presentation.
