John Sprunt Hill
Encyclopedia
John Sprunt Hill was a North Carolina
lawyer, banker and philanthropist who played a fundamental role in the civic and social development of Durham, North Carolina
, the expansion of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and the development of rural credit union
s in North Carolina during the first half of the 20th Century.
, in Duplin County, North Carolina
to William Edward Hill and Frances Diana Hill, John Sprunt Hill left school at age twelve, to work as a clerk in a country store for four years. He then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel, graduating maxima cum laude in 1889 with a Ph.B. For two years, Hill taught at Faison High School, until he began attending law school at UNC in 1891. In 1892, he moved to New York City
to complete his degree
at Columbia University
. Hill graduated from Columbia Law in 1894 and was admitted to the New York bar association
and began practicing estate law, becoming a well-regarded and successful lawyer with his own firm, Hill, Sturcke & Andrews, by January 1895. In 1898, Hill volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army in the Spanish-American War
, fighting in Puerto Rico
. Following the war, he returned to Manhattan, continuing his law practice and becoming involved with the Democratic Party
. He joined and served as a leader in groups like the Reform Club
and the Young Men's Democratic Club. In 1900, John Sprunt Hill ran, unsuccessfully, as a Democrat, for a seat in the United States House of Representatives
, representing the heavily-Republican
14th district of New York
.
, who had co-founded the American Tobacco Company
with James B. Duke
. John Sprunt Hill married Watts, in New York, on November 29, 1899. In September 1903, shortly after the birth of their first child, George Watts Hill
, John and Annie decided to relocate their family to Durham, to go into business with his father-in-law.
During the Great Depression
, Watts and Hill reorganized the Durham Loan & Trust Company into the Durham Bank & Trust Company in 1931. In 1950, Home Savings Bank merged with the Durham Bank & Trust. In early 1961, Durham Bank & Trust merged with University National Bank of Chapel Hill to become Central Carolina Bank and Trust
.
opened in 1916, in the southern Durham County community of Lowe's Grove. Twenty farmers in the Durham County community pooled $101.75, and the credit union movement was born. E. C. Branson, in a sketch published in 1918, called Hill the “Father of Rural Credit in North Carolina.”
, serving Durham County
as the representative of the 16th State Senate District from 1933 to 1938.
enthusiast, Hill began building what became the Hillandale Country Club in Durham in 1909. Hill opened the course the 149 acre (0.60298214 km²) golf course
, designed by Donald Ross
, who drafted the first 9 holes in 1909 and Perry Maxwell, who drafted the back 9 in 1915, to public use in 1934, finalizing the transaction by 1939 by donation to the Durham Foundation.
He gave the city the land for Hillside Park. He acquired the golf course at Forest Hills and donated it to the city for a park in 1930. He donated a large tract of land on the East side of town to the city in 1932 for parkland, which the city divided up into a park for African-Americans (East End) and for whites (Long Meadow.) He donated land for a park at Branch Pl and Proctor, no longer extant. In 1933, he donated $20,000 to the city to purchase Durham Athletic Park
and funded the reconstruction of the stadium after it burned down in 1939.
donated a sum of $8,500 to purchase the old Stokes homesite on Fayetteville Street, in order to relocate and expand Lincoln Hospital
, Durham's primary hospital for African-Americans in the days of segregation.
In 1930, John Sprunt Hill offered the John O'Daniel Hosiery Mills building for a Farmer's Exchange - a farmers' cooperative which grew to 900 members by 1935. The decline in tobacco sales during the late-1920s, due to blight
, spurred the need for farmers to market other farm products. The JOD Hosiery Mill became Durham's first Farmers' Market
- what was referred to as a "curb market" at the time - where the farmers would sell some of their produce directly. These early curb markets were evidently operated exclusively by women - offering "an extra source of income through the sale of poultry, eggs, baked and pickled goods, and fresh flowers and vegetables in season."
Upon his death, in 1961, John Sprunt Hill donated his Morehead Hill Spanish Colonial Revival mansion
, designed by Kendall and Taylor of Boston and built in 1912, to a foundation created in memory of his wife, who died on March 26, 1940. The Annie Watts Hill Foundation was created to support non-sectarian, non-political female organizations. As of 2008, the Junior League
of Durham and Orange Counties makes its home here, although it is open to any group meeting the aforementioned criteria.
. A generous donor from the time of his graduation in 1889 until his death, Hill was named a trustee of the University of North Carolina in 1904 and remained a trustee for the rest of his life. John Sprunt Hill was selected to give the commencement address to the graduating class of 1903.
Hill served as chair of the building committee during the 1920s, when the university received its first major state appropriation for new construction since the American Civil War
. He oversaw the location and building of Manning and Carroll halls and the halls that flank them, as well as Wilson Library and Memorial Auditorium, effectively creating the quad
at Polk Place.
In 1930, with the completion of Wilson as UNC's new library, the Hills donated most of the funds needed to renovate Carnegie Library
, for use as the new home for the music department, itself only a decade old. The couple stipulated that the building, renamed Hill hall, could only be used for music, stipulating frequent concerts and recitals.
A lifelong student of history and literature, on May 9, 1948, Hill established an endowment fund for the North Carolina Collection of the UNC Library. John Sprunt Hill also endowed a chair in the University's department of history.
, which was completed next to the UNC campus in 1924 in order "to provide for the special wants and comforts of the University alumni... and University visitors." In 1935, they donated the hotel to the University, stipulating that the profits from the Inn would support what would later become the North Carolina Collection in UNC's Wilson Library.
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
lawyer, banker and philanthropist who played a fundamental role in the civic and social development of Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
, the expansion of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
and the development of rural credit union
Credit union
A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members...
s in North Carolina during the first half of the 20th Century.
Early life and Education
Born in FaisonFaison, North Carolina
Faison is a town in Duplin and Sampson counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 744 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Faison is located at ....
, in Duplin County, North Carolina
Duplin County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 49,063 people, 18,267 households, and 13,060 families residing in the county. The population density was 60 people per square mile . There were 20,520 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...
to William Edward Hill and Frances Diana Hill, John Sprunt Hill left school at age twelve, to work as a clerk in a country store for four years. He then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel, graduating maxima cum laude in 1889 with a Ph.B. For two years, Hill taught at Faison High School, until he began attending law school at UNC in 1891. In 1892, he moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to complete his degree
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Hill graduated from Columbia Law in 1894 and was admitted to the New York bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
and began practicing estate law, becoming a well-regarded and successful lawyer with his own firm, Hill, Sturcke & Andrews, by January 1895. In 1898, Hill volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, fighting in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican Campaign
The Puerto Rican Campaign was an American military sea and land operation on the island of Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War. The offensive began on May 12, 1898, when the United States Navy attacked the archipelago’s capital, San Juan. Though the damage inflicted on the city was minimal,...
. Following the war, he returned to Manhattan, continuing his law practice and becoming involved with the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. He joined and served as a leader in groups like the Reform Club
Reform Club
The Reform Club is a gentlemen's club on the south side of Pall Mall, in central London. Originally for men only, it changed to include the admission of women in 1981. In 2011 the subscription for membership of the Reform Club as a full UK member is £1,344.00, with a one-off entrance fee of £875.00...
and the Young Men's Democratic Club. In 1900, John Sprunt Hill ran, unsuccessfully, as a Democrat, for a seat in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, representing the heavily-Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
14th district of New York
New York's 14th congressional district
New York's 14th Congressional District is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in New York City. It includes most of the East Side of Manhattan, all of Roosevelt Island and the neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City, and Sunnyside in Queens...
.
Return to North Carolina
While attending Columbia, John Sprunt Hill met and became romantically-involved with fellow-student Annie Louise Watts, daughter of North Carolina businessman George Washington WattsGeorge Washington Watts
George Washington Watts was an American manufacturer, financier and philanthropist. Alongside James B. Duke, he co-founded the American Tobacco Company, as well as Watts Hospital, the first hospital in Durham, North Carolina, which prompted the establishment of Duke University.-Biography:Born in...
, who had co-founded the American Tobacco Company
American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company...
with James B. Duke
James Buchanan Duke
James Buchanan Duke was a U.S. tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for his involvement with Duke University.-Personal life:...
. John Sprunt Hill married Watts, in New York, on November 29, 1899. In September 1903, shortly after the birth of their first child, George Watts Hill
George Watts Hill
George Watts Hill was an American banker, hospital administrator and philanthropist who played a key role in the socioeconomic development of Durham, North Carolina, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Research Triangle Park...
, John and Annie decided to relocate their family to Durham, to go into business with his father-in-law.
Boom and bust in the Bull City
G.W. Watts and J.S. Hill became powerful partners in the burgeoning Bull City. Together, they founded the Home Savings Bank, where Hill served as president, and Durham Loan & Trust Company, where he served as chairman of the board, almost immediately upon Hill's arrival in Durham. From 1908 to 1910, J.S. Hill served as vice-president of Erwin Cotton Mills. In 1916, Watts and Hill founded the Home Security Life Insurance Company.During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Watts and Hill reorganized the Durham Loan & Trust Company into the Durham Bank & Trust Company in 1931. In 1950, Home Savings Bank merged with the Durham Bank & Trust. In early 1961, Durham Bank & Trust merged with University National Bank of Chapel Hill to become Central Carolina Bank and Trust
Central Carolina Bank and Trust
Central Carolina Bank and Trust was a bank headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. It began in 1961 with the merger of Durham Bank & Trust and University National Bank of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. CCB merged with SunTrust Banks of Atlanta, Georgia in 2005...
.
"Father of Rural Credit Unions"
In 1913, Hill traveled to Europe in an effort to study rural credit systems that had sprung up there in response to widespread poverty. He returned to the United States intent on implementing a similar system at home. North Carolina of that time was more than 80% rural, and the economy farm-based, with a majority of residents living in poverty. He addressed farmers’ organizations and Congressional committees on the subject. Hill remarked that, "Credit union membership is a certificate of character and a badge of honor. Let a person stay in the credit union for ten years and it changes his whole philosophy of life - it is a modern miracle." Soon after passage of the North Carolina Credit Union Act on March 6, 1915, North Carolina's first credit unionCredit union
A credit union is a cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members...
opened in 1916, in the southern Durham County community of Lowe's Grove. Twenty farmers in the Durham County community pooled $101.75, and the credit union movement was born. E. C. Branson, in a sketch published in 1918, called Hill the “Father of Rural Credit in North Carolina.”
State Politics
John Sprunt Hill served on the North Carolina Highway Commission from its inception in 1921 through 1931, helping to create the largest state maintained highway network in the United States. In 1932, he successfully ran for a seat in the North Carolina SenateNorth Carolina Senate
The North Carolina Senate is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly.Its prerogatives and powers are similar to those of the other house, the House of Representatives. Its members do, however, represent districts that are larger than those of their colleagues in the House. The...
, serving Durham County
Durham County
Durham County may refer to:*Durham County, North Carolina*Durham County, Ontario*Durham County, New South Wales*Durham County, Western Australia*Durham County -See also:*County Durham, a ceremonial county in North East England...
as the representative of the 16th State Senate District from 1933 to 1938.
Recreation
A golfGolf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
enthusiast, Hill began building what became the Hillandale Country Club in Durham in 1909. Hill opened the course the 149 acre (0.60298214 km²) golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
, designed by Donald Ross
Donald Ross
Donald James Ross was an influential golf course designer. He was born in Dornoch, Scotland, but became a citizen of and spent most of his adult life in the United States...
, who drafted the first 9 holes in 1909 and Perry Maxwell, who drafted the back 9 in 1915, to public use in 1934, finalizing the transaction by 1939 by donation to the Durham Foundation.
He gave the city the land for Hillside Park. He acquired the golf course at Forest Hills and donated it to the city for a park in 1930. He donated a large tract of land on the East side of town to the city in 1932 for parkland, which the city divided up into a park for African-Americans (East End) and for whites (Long Meadow.) He donated land for a park at Branch Pl and Proctor, no longer extant. In 1933, he donated $20,000 to the city to purchase Durham Athletic Park
Durham Athletic Park
Durham Athletic Park, affectionately known as "The DAP" , is a former minor league baseball stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The stadium was home to the Durham Bulls from 1926 through 1994...
and funded the reconstruction of the stadium after it burned down in 1939.
Durham
In 1917, John Sprunt Hill, George W. Watts, James B. Duke and Benjamin N. DukeBenjamin Newton Duke
Benjamin Newton Duke was a U.S. tobacco, textile, energy industrialist and philanthropist.-Biography:...
donated a sum of $8,500 to purchase the old Stokes homesite on Fayetteville Street, in order to relocate and expand Lincoln Hospital
Lincoln Community Health Center
Lincoln Community Health Center is a primary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina since opening its doors as Lincoln Community Hospital in 1901. LCHC offers a wide range of health services including adult medicine, pediatrics, dental, social work/mental health services, family care...
, Durham's primary hospital for African-Americans in the days of segregation.
In 1930, John Sprunt Hill offered the John O'Daniel Hosiery Mills building for a Farmer's Exchange - a farmers' cooperative which grew to 900 members by 1935. The decline in tobacco sales during the late-1920s, due to blight
Blight
Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. It is simply a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs. Accordingly, many diseases that primarily exhibit this...
, spurred the need for farmers to market other farm products. The JOD Hosiery Mill became Durham's first Farmers' Market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
- what was referred to as a "curb market" at the time - where the farmers would sell some of their produce directly. These early curb markets were evidently operated exclusively by women - offering "an extra source of income through the sale of poultry, eggs, baked and pickled goods, and fresh flowers and vegetables in season."
Upon his death, in 1961, John Sprunt Hill donated his Morehead Hill Spanish Colonial Revival mansion
John Sprunt Hill House
The John Sprunt Hill House is a historic house at 900 S. Duke street in Durham, North Carolina in the Morehead Hill Historic District. Built in 1912, it was the home of John Sprunt Hill and his wife Annie Watts Hill , daughter of George Washington Watts, co-founder of the American Tobacco...
, designed by Kendall and Taylor of Boston and built in 1912, to a foundation created in memory of his wife, who died on March 26, 1940. The Annie Watts Hill Foundation was created to support non-sectarian, non-political female organizations. As of 2008, the Junior League
Junior League
The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc. is a non-profit organization of 292 Junior Leagues in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States. Junior Leagues are educational and charitable women's organizations aimed at improving their communities through volunteerism and...
of Durham and Orange Counties makes its home here, although it is open to any group meeting the aforementioned criteria.
The University of North Carolina
John Sprunt Hill's longest-running philanthropic interest was his love of the University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. A generous donor from the time of his graduation in 1889 until his death, Hill was named a trustee of the University of North Carolina in 1904 and remained a trustee for the rest of his life. John Sprunt Hill was selected to give the commencement address to the graduating class of 1903.
Hill served as chair of the building committee during the 1920s, when the university received its first major state appropriation for new construction since the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. He oversaw the location and building of Manning and Carroll halls and the halls that flank them, as well as Wilson Library and Memorial Auditorium, effectively creating the quad
Quad
Quad may refer to:-Architecture:*Quadrangle in architecture, e.g., on a university campus*Quad, a dormitory room or suite housing four residents...
at Polk Place.
In 1930, with the completion of Wilson as UNC's new library, the Hills donated most of the funds needed to renovate Carnegie Library
Carnegie Library
Carnegie Library, Carnegie Public Library, Carnegie Free Library, Carnegie Free Public Library, Andrew Carnegie Library, Andrew Carnegie Free Library or Carnegie Library Building may refer to any of the following Carnegie libraries:- California :*Carnegie Library , listed on the National Register...
, for use as the new home for the music department, itself only a decade old. The couple stipulated that the building, renamed Hill hall, could only be used for music, stipulating frequent concerts and recitals.
A lifelong student of history and literature, on May 9, 1948, Hill established an endowment fund for the North Carolina Collection of the UNC Library. John Sprunt Hill also endowed a chair in the University's department of history.
The Carolina Inn
In 1920, the Hills began building the Carolina InnCarolina Inn
The Carolina Inn is a hotel listed on the National Register of Historic Places on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Orange County, North Carolina which opened in 1924. It was built in 1922 by alumnus John Sprunt Hill and donated to the University in 1935. It was...
, which was completed next to the UNC campus in 1924 in order "to provide for the special wants and comforts of the University alumni... and University visitors." In 1935, they donated the hotel to the University, stipulating that the profits from the Inn would support what would later become the North Carolina Collection in UNC's Wilson Library.