James Buchanan Duke

James Buchanan Duke (1856 to 1925) was an American industrialist born in Durham, North Carolina, the son of tobacco grower Washington Duke. Although best known for building the American Tobacco Company, Duke also became a major developer of hydroelectric power in the Carolinas. Beginning around 1904 he established the Catawba Power Company, then in 1905 co-founded the Southern Power Company with his brother, the predecessor of today's Duke Energy. The venture supplied electricity to textile mills owned by the Duke family and, within two decades, expanded to power more than 300 cotton mills and other industrial customers, building an electrical grid across the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina. Duke died in New York City in 1925. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/