Moses H. Cone
Encyclopedia
Moses Herman Cone was an American textile
entrepreneur
, conservationist
, and philanthropist
of the Gilded Age
who was active in the southern United States
. He began his career in sales and became an innovator who offered finished clothing, which was unusual in an era when textiles were normally sold as unfinished cloth.
Cone manufactured unusual textile fabrics and founded a company that became a leading manufacturer of denim
. His company
was a major supplier to Levi Strauss and Company
for nearly a century.
Mr. Cone and his wife had no children and donated substantial property upon their deaths. Their home Flat Top Manor
has become a North Carolina
tourist attraction that receives 250,000 visitors a year. It forms part of Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
, which is run by the National Park Service
. Their donations founded the Moses Cone Health System
, a private not-for-profit health care system based in Greensboro, North Carolina
and its principal facility The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital
.
. He was the eldest of thirteen children of Jewish-German
immigrants. His parents, Herman Kahn and Helen Guggenheimer, emigrated from Germany
to America in the 1840s. Moses' father changed his last name from Kahn to "Cone" almost immediately upon arrival in the United States to become more American
.
Moses' father Herman had a dry goods
and grocery business in Jonesborough along with his brother-in-law Jacob Adler, the husband of his sister Sophia. While running the business Herman and Jacob would alternately make week-long peddling trips selling their wares. On one of these trips Herman met Helen Guggenheimer near Lynchburg, Virginia
. They married in 1856 and Moses was their first child born in 1857. Two years later their next child arrived on the scene named Ceaser with whom Moses had a close relationship with all his life.
The family lived in Jonesborough until 1870 and had an additional five children. Between 1857 and 1870 Moses' father became fairly well-to-do through his business affairs and real estate ventures. The family then moved to Baltimore, Maryland. There Moses' father and relatives started a wholesale grocery business called Guggenheimer, Cone, & Company, Wholesale Grocers. Then in 1873 Jacob Adler also moved to Baltimore and went in partnership with Herman selling groceries. They formed a new firm that was called Cone & Adler. They ran the business successfully and in 1878 dissolved it. This same year Moses' parents had their last child.
to Alabama
.
Moses met and wooed Bertha Lindau. In the 1880s the Cones then moved to Eutaw Place in Baltimore, conveniently the same street where the Lindaus lived. They became neighbors. Bertha was one year younger than Moses. Moses and Bertha in all likelihood met at a community social club called the "Sociables."
In 1884 Bertha was twenty six years old. In that same year Moses and Bertha began a four year courtship before marrying. Ceaser also courted Bertha. Moses and Bertha were both from German Jewish descendants and had much in common. In addition, they both were firstborn children from large families. They had no children themselves.
. This gave them experience then in textile
products and the textile industry. The Cone brothers soon invested in Southern textile mills which generally had over a 20% return on average. One of these companies the Cones invested into was C. E. Graham Manufacturing Company of Asheville, North Carolina
, an up and coming newly formed textile mill. Moses became its president in 1882. The company's original builder Charles Edward Graham continued with its on-site management while Moses pursued other investments and ventures.
In 1880 Moses moved to Greensboro, North Carolina
. Soon thereafter he joined Simon Lowman and Charles Burger to form Cone Brothers, Lowman, and Burger Clothing Manufactureres based out of Baltimore. Moses discovered the need for durable clothing for the blue-collar people of the High Country and fulfilled this need with denim
and plain fabric based clothing.
In 1890 Moses and Ceesar were contemplating even grander ventures and formed the Cone Export & Commission Company in New York City
along with Anderson Price and Jay C. Guggenheimer as the other major stockholders. They developed what was called the "Plaid Trust" which was a commission clearing house to stabilize the production market on checks
and plaid
s. They were a marketer of Southern cloth mill-goods to South America
in competition with Great Britain
. Initially the par value of the capital stock of their new company was fifty dollars per share. There were 20,000 shares of the company, so the value of this new firm was placed at one million dollars. Eventually they took in another forty mills over time to capture control of this market, but their ambitious goal was never fully achieved.
In 1895 Moses purchased a defunct steel mill and developed it into a large cotton mill called Proximity that produced blue and brown denim. He built additional mills throughout the Greensboro area and the deep South
and soon became one of the biggest producers of the denim
fabric
in the world. He and his brother Ceasar were sons of a German Jewish immigrant who came to America as a grocery salesman. They fashioned a textile empire to become one of the leading producers of denim in the world. Moses became known as "The Denim King" in the late nineteenth century. At the turn of the twentieth century he began supplying denim to Levi Strauss and Company, a relationship that the Greensboro firm retains to this day.
Cone Mills Corporation
was the world leader in the manufacturing of denim and largest supplier in the world. Moses was instrumental in the development of Watauga Academy, now known as Appalachian State University
. In 1899, Moses donated $500 to the founders; it was the largest single donation received for the school's construction.
.
They in turn a few years later conveyed the property to the National Park System with the proviso that it be known as the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
.
The Cone sisters, Claribel and Etta, befriended Picasso, along with Matisse and lived amongst the School of Paris
in its prime in Europe. The Cone Collection is one of the greatest in the world for these artists.
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, conservationist
Conservationist
Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...
, and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
of the Gilded Age
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age refers to the era of rapid economic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction eras of the late 19th century. The term "Gilded Age" was coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded...
who was active in the southern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He began his career in sales and became an innovator who offered finished clothing, which was unusual in an era when textiles were normally sold as unfinished cloth.
Cone manufactured unusual textile fabrics and founded a company that became a leading manufacturer of denim
Denim
Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...
. His company
Cone Mills Corporation
Cone Mills Corporation was a world leader in textile manufacturing of corduroy, flannel, denim and other cotton fabrics for most of the 20th century. The company was based in Greensboro, North Carolina and its mills were mostly in North and South Carolina...
was a major supplier to Levi Strauss and Company
Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business...
for nearly a century.
Mr. Cone and his wife had no children and donated substantial property upon their deaths. Their home Flat Top Manor
Flat Top Manor
Flat Top Manor, as it is known to the locals, is also referred to as Moses Cone Manor, Moses Cone Estate, the Moses H. Cone Mansion, or just Flat Top. On the Blue Ridge Parkway it is located at Milepost 294 in Blowing Rock, North Carolina...
has become a North Carolina
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...
tourist attraction that receives 250,000 visitors a year. It forms part of Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park is a country estate in honor of Moses H. Cone in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It is on the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 292 and 295 with access at Milepost 294. Most locals call it Cone Park. The park is run by the National Park Service and is open to the...
, which is run by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
. Their donations founded the Moses Cone Health System
Moses Cone Health System
Cone Health, formerly the Moses Cone Health System, is a private, not-for-profit, healthcare delivery system based in Greensboro, NC, that includes The Moses H...
, a private not-for-profit health care system based in Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
and its principal facility The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital
Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, also known as Moses Cone Hospital, is a 535 bed tertiary care facility located in Greensboro, North Carolina. The hospital opened in 1953 on North Elm Street as a 310 bed community hospital...
.
Early life
Moses Herman Cone was born in 1857 in Jonesborough, TennesseeJonesborough, Tennessee
Jonesborough is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The population was 4,168 at the 2000 census...
. He was the eldest of thirteen children of Jewish-German
History of the Jews in Germany
The presence of Jews in Germany has been established since the early 4th century. The community prospered under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades...
immigrants. His parents, Herman Kahn and Helen Guggenheimer, emigrated from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to America in the 1840s. Moses' father changed his last name from Kahn to "Cone" almost immediately upon arrival in the United States to become more American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Moses' father Herman had a dry goods
Dry goods
Dry goods are products such as textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and sundries. In U.S. retailing, a dry goods store carries consumer goods that are distinct from those carried by hardware stores and grocery stores, though "dry goods" as a term for textiles has been dated back to 1742 in England or...
and grocery business in Jonesborough along with his brother-in-law Jacob Adler, the husband of his sister Sophia. While running the business Herman and Jacob would alternately make week-long peddling trips selling their wares. On one of these trips Herman met Helen Guggenheimer near Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
. They married in 1856 and Moses was their first child born in 1857. Two years later their next child arrived on the scene named Ceaser with whom Moses had a close relationship with all his life.
The family lived in Jonesborough until 1870 and had an additional five children. Between 1857 and 1870 Moses' father became fairly well-to-do through his business affairs and real estate ventures. The family then moved to Baltimore, Maryland. There Moses' father and relatives started a wholesale grocery business called Guggenheimer, Cone, & Company, Wholesale Grocers. Then in 1873 Jacob Adler also moved to Baltimore and went in partnership with Herman selling groceries. They formed a new firm that was called Cone & Adler. They ran the business successfully and in 1878 dissolved it. This same year Moses' parents had their last child.
Adult life
Moses and Ceasar, now as young adults, immediately formed a new firm with their father. It was called H. Cone & Sons. Moses and his brother Ceasar were "drummers" (traveling salesmen) for their father's dry goods firm. They sold their wares from MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
to Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
.
Moses met and wooed Bertha Lindau. In the 1880s the Cones then moved to Eutaw Place in Baltimore, conveniently the same street where the Lindaus lived. They became neighbors. Bertha was one year younger than Moses. Moses and Bertha in all likelihood met at a community social club called the "Sociables."
In 1884 Bertha was twenty six years old. In that same year Moses and Bertha began a four year courtship before marrying. Ceaser also courted Bertha. Moses and Bertha were both from German Jewish descendants and had much in common. In addition, they both were firstborn children from large families. They had no children themselves.
Career
Moses and Ceasar dealt much with textile mill owners in their travels as salesmen. They not only sold normal dry goods, but introduced into their wares ready-made clothing as well as certain fabrics like denimDenim
Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...
. This gave them experience then in textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
products and the textile industry. The Cone brothers soon invested in Southern textile mills which generally had over a 20% return on average. One of these companies the Cones invested into was C. E. Graham Manufacturing Company of Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
, an up and coming newly formed textile mill. Moses became its president in 1882. The company's original builder Charles Edward Graham continued with its on-site management while Moses pursued other investments and ventures.
In 1880 Moses moved to Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
. Soon thereafter he joined Simon Lowman and Charles Burger to form Cone Brothers, Lowman, and Burger Clothing Manufactureres based out of Baltimore. Moses discovered the need for durable clothing for the blue-collar people of the High Country and fulfilled this need with denim
Denim
Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...
and plain fabric based clothing.
In 1890 Moses and Ceesar were contemplating even grander ventures and formed the Cone Export & Commission Company in 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...
along with Anderson Price and Jay C. Guggenheimer as the other major stockholders. They developed what was called the "Plaid Trust" which was a commission clearing house to stabilize the production market on checks
Check (fabric)
A check is a pattern consisting of crossed horizontal and vertical lines forming squares.-Etymology:...
and plaid
Plaid (pattern)
For other meanings, see plaid.A plaid is a pattern consisting of crossed horizontal and vertical bands in two or more colors in woven cloth.Common examples of plaid patterns include:*Tartan, the pattern most commonly associated with plaid....
s. They were a marketer of Southern cloth mill-goods to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
in competition with Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. Initially the par value of the capital stock of their new company was fifty dollars per share. There were 20,000 shares of the company, so the value of this new firm was placed at one million dollars. Eventually they took in another forty mills over time to capture control of this market, but their ambitious goal was never fully achieved.
In 1895 Moses purchased a defunct steel mill and developed it into a large cotton mill called Proximity that produced blue and brown denim. He built additional mills throughout the Greensboro area and the deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
and soon became one of the biggest producers of the denim
Denim
Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This produces the familiar diagonal ribbing identifiable on the reverse of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck. Denim has been in American usage since the late 18th century...
fabric
Fabric
A fabric is a textile material, short for "textile fabric".Fabric may also refer to:*Fabric , the spatial and geometric configuration of elements within a rock*Fabric , a nightclub in London, England...
in the world. He and his brother Ceasar were sons of a German Jewish immigrant who came to America as a grocery salesman. They fashioned a textile empire to become one of the leading producers of denim in the world. Moses became known as "The Denim King" in the late nineteenth century. At the turn of the twentieth century he began supplying denim to Levi Strauss and Company, a relationship that the Greensboro firm retains to this day.
Cone Mills Corporation
Cone Mills Corporation
Cone Mills Corporation was a world leader in textile manufacturing of corduroy, flannel, denim and other cotton fabrics for most of the 20th century. The company was based in Greensboro, North Carolina and its mills were mostly in North and South Carolina...
was the world leader in the manufacturing of denim and largest supplier in the world. Moses was instrumental in the development of Watauga Academy, now known as Appalachian State University
Appalachian State University
Appalachian State University is a comprehensive , public, coeducational university located in Boone, North Carolina, United States. Appalachian State, also referred to as Appalachian, App State, or simply App, is the sixth largest institution in the University of North Carolina system...
. In 1899, Moses donated $500 to the founders; it was the largest single donation received for the school's construction.
Widow and children
His wife Bertha lived an additional 39 years and donated the Flat Top Mansion property to the Moses H. Cone Memorial HospitalMoses H. Cone Memorial Hospital
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, also known as Moses Cone Hospital, is a 535 bed tertiary care facility located in Greensboro, North Carolina. The hospital opened in 1953 on North Elm Street as a 310 bed community hospital...
.
They in turn a few years later conveyed the property to the National Park System with the proviso that it be known as the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park is a country estate in honor of Moses H. Cone in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It is on the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 292 and 295 with access at Milepost 294. Most locals call it Cone Park. The park is run by the National Park Service and is open to the...
.
The Cone sisters, Claribel and Etta, befriended Picasso, along with Matisse and lived amongst the School of Paris
School of Paris
School of Paris refers to two distinct groups of artists — a group of medieval manuscript illuminators, and a group of non-French artists working in Paris before World War I...
in its prime in Europe. The Cone Collection is one of the greatest in the world for these artists.