N.C. Tobacco Firm Before BofA in Dow

Source from:  charlotte.com RICK ROTHACKER 02/14/2008

When Bank of America Corp. joins the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday, the Charlotte-based bank will be at least the second Carolinas-based company to hold such an honor. The other company was American Tobacco Co., according to research by Dow Jones Indexes back to 1935. American Tobacco, once based in Durham, was an original member of the stock market benchmark in 1896 and made its final departure in 1985, when it was known as American Brands, according to a Dow history. American Tobacco, formed through an 1890 merger, was based in Durham, although its president, J.B. Duke, benefactor of the namesake university, kept his office in New York, said Alison Holcomb, assistant site manager at the Duke family homestead. Over time, the company has had a twisted corporate history filled with spinoffs and name changes. American Brands, now Illinois-based Fortune Brands Inc., sold American Tobacco to Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. in 1994, a Fortune Brands spokesman said. In a homecoming of sorts, Brown & Williamson's domestic tobacco business in 2004 merged with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., based in Winston-Salem. Enditem