Julian Carr (industrialist)

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Julian Shakespeare Carr (1845-1924) was a North Carolina industrialist and philanthropist. He was married to Nannie Carr, with whom he had two daughters (including Eliza Carr) and three sons.

Carr was the son of a Chapel Hill merchant and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His student days were interrupted by service as a private in the Confederate States Army. Later in life, he was known as "General Carr," the rank having been bestowed by the state veteran's association due to his long service in veterans' affairs and generosity toward widows and their children.

After the war, Carr became a partner in the tobacco manufacturing firm W. T. Blackwell and Co. in nearby Durham. His business acumen led to the firm becoming known worldwide through its recognizable Bull Durham trademark. Carr became one of the state's wealthiest individuals, engaging in successful textile, banking (Durham's First National Bank), railroad, public utility (Electric Lighting Company), and newspaper endeavors.

Carr was also instrumental in the founding of Duke University (where the history building on East Campus is named after him). As Trinity College struggled to overcome postwar dependency on uncertain student tuition and church donations, interested Methodist laymen were crucial to its survival. Carr's name first appears in college records signing a note to forestall foreclosure on a mortgage due in 1880. Carr was elected a trustee of Trinity College in 1883, and over the course of the decade acted as benefactor and administrator of the struggling institution that was eventually renamed Duke University. He engineered the selection of John F. Crowell as the institution's new president, and along with Washington Duke won support to remove the school from its rural setting to Durham. The move was made possible by Carr's gift of 62 acres of land for the site.

A long time advocate for the welfare of Confederate veterans, the "high-private," as he liked to refer to himself, was Commander-in-Chief of the United Confederate Veterans at the end of his life.

Carr was nominated for vice president of the United States by delegates from North Carolina at the 1900 Democratic National Convention. He served as a delegate himself to the 1912 convention.

General Jule, as he was known, served as the representative for the Methodist Episcopal Church South to the United States Food Administration during World War I.

Carr was instrumental in the Western education of Charles Soong and the financing of Soong's Shanghai Bible-publishing business, who later was active in Sun Yat-Sen's attempts to establish a modern republic in China. Though it is largely forgotten today, Carr was a major financial backer of the Chinese Revolution.