Research Catalog

Title

Electrifying the Piedmont Carolinas : the Duke Power Company, 1904-1997 / by Robert F. Durden.

Author

Durden, Robert Franklin.

Publication

Durham, N.C. : Carolina Academic Press, [2001], ©2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiii, 298 pages : map, portraits, photographs; 24 cm

Summary

• "In the twentieth century, industrialization transformed the Piedmont Carolinas from a poor, largely agricultural and backward region into one of the most vibrant and attractive areas of the nation. While many factors played a part in this transformation, one indisputable factor was the reliable and economical source of electricity provided after 1904 by what became Duke Power Company.".
• "This book covers the history of Duke Power from its foundation up to 1997. Unlike most of the investor-owned electric utilities in the United States, which were controlled by giant holding companies or investment banks, the Duke Power Company was financed largely by a local family, the Dukes of Durham, who had made their fortune in tobacco and textiles before turning to the electric-power business in the early 1900s. J. B.
• Duke speculated that development of hydroelectric power would draw industries such as textiles to the rural South and reinvigorate its economy. His power company did that and more, lasting through the struggles during utilities regulation and labor organization, harnessing of nuclear power, continuing to diversify its operations into the 1990s. Robert F.
• Durden has chronicled Duke Power's contributions to the rich economic diversity of North and South Carolina and its effect on the people for whom it has provided power for almost 100 years."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Duke Power Company History
• Electric utilities > United States > History > 20th century
• Electrification > South Carolina > History > 20th century
• Electrification > North Carolina > History > 20th century

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-277) and index.

Contents

Ch. I. Launching the Southern Power Company -- Ch. II. Expanding a Trial-Blazing System, 1911-1925 -- Ch. III. From the Roaring 'Twenties to the Depressed 'Thirties and World War II -- Ch. IV. The Glory Years: From the Late 1940s to the Late 1960s -- Ch. V. A Troubled Time for Duke Power, 1969-1975 -- Ch. VI. Climbing Slowly Out of a Financial Hole, 1975-1985 -- Ch. VII. Preparing for a Deregulated, Competitive, and Global Future, 1985-1994 -- Ch. VIII. The Climax of Change, 1994-1997.

ISBN

0890897433

LCCN

20108707

OCLC

• ocm47144257
• SCSB-4215899

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries