Business and Industry

[2]North Carolina, with its unique combination of environments and terrain, has been a leader in a variety of industries from colonial times to modern day. First, in shipping, logging, and cotton and tobacco exports [3], by the mid-19th century, North Carolina was blazing a trail in the development of the textiles and furniture industries until manufacturing in those areas moved abroad in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, some of the top institutions of higher learning are assembled in the Research Triangle and Triad. In fact, North Carolina has become a hub for the biomedical and information technology [4] fields, with more than 100 R&D companies and federal research facilities located in the Triangle, and 14 Fortune 500 [5] companies throughout the state (2010).

Table of Contents

African American Owned Businesses [6]

Agriculture

• Agriculture overview [7]
• Agricultural Economy of Antebellum Life [8]
• Agriculture During the Great Depression [9]
• Live at Home Program [10] (Governor O. Max Gardner [11])
• Farm and factory struggles in the 1920s [12]
• All Agriculture-related entries [13]
• Agriculture Organizations [14]
• Tobacco
• Tobacco overview [15]
• Industrialization [16]
• Tools of the Trade [17]
• All Tobacco articles [18]

Economy

• Economics overview [19]
• All Economics articles [20]

Mines and mineral resources

• Mining overview [21]
• All Mines and mineral resources articles [22]
• Gold Mining
  • Gold Rush: 1800s [23]
  • Gold Mining in the Uwharries [24]

Inventions

• Overview [25] (Tar Heel Junior Historian)
• Overview [26](Encyclopedia of North Carolina)
• Gatling Gun [27]
• Headache Powder [28]
• Kicking Machine [29]
• Women Inventors [30]
• All Science, technology, and innovations articles [31]

Manufacturing

• Farm and factory struggles in the 1920s [12]
• General
• Overview [32]
• Manufacturing - Productivity [33]
• Manufacturing - Early History [34]
• Manufacturing - Declines in Traditional Industries [35]
• Manufacturing Specialization [36]
• Manufacturing - Implications of Industrial Changes [37]
• Manufacturing - Job Losses [38]
• Manufacturing - Factory Closings - 2003-2006 [39]
• Manufacturing - Future Outlook [40]
• Furniture [41]
• Furniture industry overview [42]
• Furniture industry - Colonial Era to the Civil War [43]
• Furniture industry - Industrial Age [44]
• Furniture industry - Modern Furniture Industry [45]
• Furniture industry - Companies [46]
• References and resources [47]
• Indian Cabinetmakers in Piedmont North Carolina [48]
• Textile Industry
• Textile industry overview [49]
• Child Labor [50]
• Mill Villages [51]
• Childhood in Textile Mill Villages [52]
• Life in Textile Mill Villages [53]
• Strike of 1934 [54]
• All Textile industry articles [55]

Transportation

• Overview
• Part I: Introduction [56]
• Part II: Highway use [57]
• Part III: Public transportation [58]
• Part IV: Highway conditions [59]
• Part V: Water transportation [60]
• Part VI: Air and rail travel [61]
• Part VII: Projected future innovations [62]
• History
• Improvements in transportation: Post-American Revolution to the Civil War [63]
• Transportation History Overview [64]
• Transportation improvements in the 1920s [65]
• Airlines
• Piedmont Airlines [66]
• Wheeler Airlines [67]
• Automobiles
• Automobiles overview [68]
• Steam-powered cars [69]
• All Automobile articles [70]
• Aviation
• Overview: 1873-2003 [71]
• Blimps [72]
• Copters & Gliders [73]
• Space Flight [74]
• All Aviation articles [75]
• Aviation Pioneers
• Lindbergh's Influence [76]
• Wright Brothers [77]
• Railroads
• Railroads overview [78]
• Railroads carried wounded soldiers [79]
• All Railroad articles [80]
• Roads & Highways
• Highways overview [81]
• Blue Ridge Parkway [82]
• All Roads articles [83]
• Waterways
• Steamboating in Eastern North Carolina [84]
• All Inland water transportation articles [85]

North Carolina Fortune [5] 1000 Companies (2010):

Company Name	City	State	Gender of Executive	Number of Employees	Industry
Alliance One Intl Inc [86]	Morrisville	NC	Male	50 to 99	Cigar Cigarette & Tobacco Dealers-Whls
American Tire Distr Holdings [87]	Huntersville	NC	Male	100 to 249	Tire-Dealers-Retail
Bank Of America Corp [88]	Charlotte	NC	Male	5000 to 9999	Holding Companies (Bank)
BB&T Corp [89]	Winston Salem	NC	Male	100 to 249	Holding Companies (Bank)
Belk Inc [90]	Charlotte	NC	Male	500 to 999	Department Stores
Carlisle Co Inc [91]	Charlotte	NC	Male	20 to 49	Rubber-Mfrs Supplies (Mfrs)
Comm Scope Inc [92]	Hickory	NC	Male	100 to 249	Communications Equipment NEC (Mfrs)
Dex One Corp [93]	Cary	NC	Male	500 to 999	Yellow Pages-Publishers (Mfrs)
Duke Energy Corp [94]	Charlotte	NC	Male	1000 to 4999	Electric Companies
Family Dollar Stores Inc [95]	Matthews	NC	Male	1000 to 4999	Variety Stores
Goodrich Corp [96]	Charlotte	NC	Male	100 to 249	Aircraft Components-Manufacturers
Hanesbrands Inc [97]	Winston Salem	NC	Male	1000 to 4999	Textile Mills (Mfrs)
Ingles Markets Inc [98]	Black Mountain	NC	Male	100 to 249	Grocers-Retail
Laboratory Corp-Amer Holdings [99]	Burlington	NC	Male	1000 to 4999	Laboratories-Medical
Lorillard Inc [100]	Greensboro	NC	Male	250 to 499	Cigarettes (Mfrs)
Lowe's Co Inc [101]	Mooresville	NC	Male	1000 to 4999	Home Centers
Martin Marietta Materials Inc [102]	Raleigh	NC	Male	100 to 249	Construction-Sand & Gravel
Nucor Corp [103]	Charlotte	NC	Male	50 to 99	Steel Mills (Mfrs)
Pantry Inc [104]	Cary	NC	Male	500 to 999	Convenience Stores
Piedmont Natural Gas Co Inc [105]	Charlotte	NC	Male	250 to 499	Gas-Natural
Progress Energy Inc [106]	Raleigh	NC	Male	1000 to 4999	Utilities-Holding Companies
Reynolds American Inc [107]	Winston Salem	NC	Female	100 to 249	Cigar Cigarette & Tobacco-Manufacturers
Ruddick Corp [108]	Charlotte	NC	Male	10 to 19	Grocers-Retail
Sonic Automotive Inc [109]	Charlotte	NC	Male	100 to 249	Automobile Dealers-New Cars
SPX Corp [110]	Charlotte	NC	Male	100 to 249	Manufacturers Distrs & Indl Products
VF Corp [111]	Greensboro	NC	Male	100 to 249	Clothing-Wholesale

 

Image Credits:

Hine, Lewis Wickes, 1874-1940, Detail from "Girls running warping machines in Loray mill, Gastonia, N.C. Many boys and girls much younger. Boss carefully avoided them, and when I tried to get a photo which would include a mite of a boy working at a machine, he was quickly swept out of range. 'He isn't working here, just came in to help a little.' Location: Gastonia, North Carolina," November 1908. Photo ID# LOT 7479, v. 1, no. 0246 [P&P] . From the records of the National Child Labor Committee (U.S.), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [112] Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.