A Winning Tradition

Durham County welcomes you. We are where Tobacco Road meets the Bull City. Big things happen here, and our history laid the groundwork for a wave of innovation that would define the following century and shape the development of Durham and the surrounding area for years to come.

The Durham area has been a leader of industry innovations and investment since Washington Duke discovered Brightleaf tobacco, establishing the largest corporation at the time, American Tobacco Company, and birthing conglomerates American Tobacco, P. Lorillard, R.J. Reynolds, and Liggett & Meyers.

Thus began an entrepreneur-led wave of new business and innovation, which included the first textile mill to produce denim, The Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company. In one year, employment more than doubled and the company became one of the largest denim producers in the country.

Following this success were the world's largest hosiery maker, the largest and oldest African American-owned life insurance company in the nation (North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company), and M&F Bank.

Today, more than 170 major research and development companies, including IBM, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer, Underwriters Laboratories, and agencies such as the EPA, employ more than 39,000 full-time employees in Durham County.