Farmers Mutual Exchange

In the chronology

1. February 1900 Thomas J. Oldham presides over the Orange branch of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Association As president of the Orange County branch of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Association, Oldham called its members to a meeting at the Hillsborough court house on February 15, 1900, with T. B. Parker as secretary. In 1897 he had been the association's supervisor for Bingham Township under president Matthew Atwater. People: Matthew Atwater Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 1, 1900, p. 3
2. March 1930 Farmers of Durham and nearby counties organize the Farmers Exchange cooperative About 400 farmers and farm leaders formed the Farmers Exchange in March 1930 to market farm products and buy supplies at cost. John Sprunt Hill of Durham backed it, and by 1952 it served about 4,100 members in five counties including Orange. People: John Sprunt Hill Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 245-246
3. August 4, 1934 The Farmers Mutual Exchange holds its fifth annual meeting at Hogan's Lake Members of the cooperative serving Durham, Orange, Chatham, Granville and Person counties met at Hogan's Lake for business, swimming and a picnic dinner. Manager C. W. Tilson reported 700 members and about 4,000 patrons, the exchange paid a 6 per cent dividend and a 2 per cent refund on purchases, and President Graham and Dean Schaub of State College spoke. People: Frank Porter Graham The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 10, 1934, p. 1
4. about 1940 The Farmers Mutual Exchange installs a 30,000-egg electric incubator About 1940 the Exchange put in an all-electric incubator holding 30,000 eggs, supplied by blood-tested county flocks. It sold baby chicks and gave farmers a steady market for eggs and broilers. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 244
5. November 6, 1941 The livestock auction market at Hillsborough holds its first sale The county gave the land, the town installed watering, and the Farmers Exchange built the barn for a livestock auction at Hillsborough. Its first sale was held November 6, 1941, and yearly sales grew from $150,000 to $1,100,000 by 1951. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 246
6. April 29 to May 9, 1942 Neighborhood leaders ask Orange County farm families to pledge a pig or an acre for war bonds In the same canvass, leaders took pledges under the "Buy a Bond Pig" and "Buy a Bond Acre" plans, in which a family promised the sale price of a pig or an acre of crops toward war bonds and stamps; the Farmers Mutual Exchange Livestock Market supplied pigs to families who could feed them out. In the June survey 58 percent of white families and 30 percent of Black families had bought or pledged bonds and stamps. U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service, Orange and Lee Counties, North Carolina, Demonstrate How Neighborhood Leaders Can Help in Securing Participation of Rural Families in Agriculture's Wartime Programs, Extension Service Circular 387 (1942), scan p. 14 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 8, 1942, p. 3
7. summer 1943 The Farmers Mutual Exchange builds a slaughterhouse on Occoneechee Farm In summer 1943 the Exchange put up an abattoir next to the Hillsborough livestock market on Occoneechee Farm. Farmers could bring cattle and hogs for slaughter at cost and collect the meat the next day. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 247
8. November 1943 Black 4-H club members show their own beef heifers at the Hillsborough calf show Five Black 4-H club members in Orange County who owned grade Hereford heifers entered them in the calf show at Hillsborough in November 1943, and their heifers took second prize. M. C. Burt, county agent for Black farm families, wrote that this put them among the first Black 4-H members in North Carolina to own grade beef heifers and made them the first to show beef heifers at a county show; he credited the county agent's office, the Farmers Mutual Exchange and the Farm Security Administration with placing the animals. People: Don S. Matheson, John P. Ballard, Moses Cimuel Burt The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 8, 1944, p. 7
9. March 1945 The Farmers Exchange opens its Carrboro branch The cooperative's Carrboro unit opened in March 1945, joining its Hillsborough branch. In the year to June 1952 the two branches bought $303,096 in produce and sold $1,149,392 in supplies. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 246
10. March 12, 1946 Farm leader H. S. Hogan buys the Nash-Kollock school property in Hillsborough The Cates heirs deeded the Nash-Kollock property in Hillsborough, lot and old school building, to H. S. Hogan, a director and secretary of the Farmers Mutual Exchange. The revenue stamps showed a price above $2,000, and the paper expected the Exchange to build a warehouse there while efforts to restore the decaying building had stalled. People: Henry S. Hogan The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 10, 1946, p. 1
11. 1947 The Farmers Mutual Exchange opens a pulpwood yard in Carrboro In 1947 the Exchange began buying pulpwood at its Carrboro warehouse, paying cash for any amount from a wagonload up. The book calls this new market the main advance in county farm forestry. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 248
12. December 9, 1947 Fire destroys the Farmers Exchange livestock market near Hillsborough A fire of unknown origin leveled the Farmers Exchange livestock pens and office on the old Durham road near Hillsborough. The loss was put at $15,000; the workers escaped, but 13 to 20 cattle and 18 hogs died. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 11, 1947, p. 1 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 11, 1948, p. 1

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