Kingsport Spirit

Kingsporters are familiar with the ‘by-pass’ or highway. Some abbreviate it as the ‘John B’. In fact, another iconic Kingsport name, Pal’s, just opened its newest location at 1345 South John B. Dennis Highway near I-26.

He was the brains behind Kingsport. He’s buried here. But he had many other interests across the country which were little known locally.

He was one of the most famous financiers of the early 20th century. An entire book could be written about the fascinating life and connections of John B. Dennis (he was a neighbor to Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay), but I want to focus on a few tidbits that give a glimpse into his life.

I found an Associated Press article from July 21, 1904, referencing a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, including John B. Dennis. But who were his peers on the board?

James Boyd was a successful businessman in the steel and railroad industry. He made his home in Southern Pines and established the 1,200-acre Weymouth estate, which passed to his sons James (the famous novelist) and Jackson.

R.J. Reynolds, tobacco magnate, who was the primary booster of the city of Winston-Salem and became the richest man in North Carolina.

George W. Watts who helped incorporate W. Duke Sons & Company tobacco company and privately financed Watts Hospital in Durham, now part of the Duke Hospital system.

T.C. Williams, Jr., was the son of the Richmond, Virginia tobacco magnate who dabbled in railroads and banks and gave generously to the University of Richmond. The name has been ‘cancelled’ recently due to his family’s views on segregation.

E.B. Addison was a dominant factor in the industrial, financial, and philanthropic development of Richmond. He was vice president of City Bank and co-owner of Allison & Addison Fertilizing and Chemical Works.

J.B. Duke was a tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University.

N.S. Meldrum became one of the leading capitalists of Houston. He was president of Seaboard Airlines, the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railroad, the Securities Company of New York, the Texas Pacific Railroad, and Vice President of Blair & Company of New York.

S.T. Morgan owned the largest of any fertilizer company in the world and the corporation controlled 135 affiliated plants scattered generally over the southeastern United States. Morgan was able to expand the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company by means of aid from the Dukes. He moved the headquarters from Durham, NC to Richmond, VA in 1896 and became immersed in that city’s civic affairs. He is credited with funding the Unity Monument at Bennett Place Historical Site as a monument to national unity after the Civil War.

Samuel Spencer became president of six railroads and was a director of at least ten railroads and several banks and other companies. He was most famous as the father of Southern Railway.

E.T. Stotesbury was a prominent investment banker, a partner in Philadelphia’s Drexel & Co. and its New York affiliate J. P. Morgan & Co. for over fifty-five years. He was involved in the financing of many railroads. Stotesbury, West Virginia, a coal mining town in Raleigh County, is named for him, as well as his equestrian estate, the Stotesbury Club House. One of his mansions is now a wedding venue.

Henry Walters moved to Wilimington, NC in 1889 to serve as general manager of his father’s railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Company. Following his father’s death in 1894, he was elected president. He transferred the line’s headquarters to New York. Under his leadership, the railroad experienced rapid growth until World War I. In 1902 Walters also took control of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad.

F.M. Whittle was a prominent Petersburg, VA businessman who oversaw the interests of the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company’s expansion into Savannah and other locales in Georgia and Florida.

Clearly John B. Dennis ran in the highest circles, but like many of Kingsport’s prominent pioneers (including J. Fred Johnson and George Eastman), he never had children. I wonder what happened to his estate.