The Life of THOMAS H BRIGGS
Thomas Henry Briggs, Sr. (1821-1886), builder and manufacturer, worked in Raleigh during a long career that extended from the antebellum period into the 1880s. With James Dodd, he formed about 1850 the company of Briggs and Dodd, contractors and manufacturers of building components. The firm constructed some of the city's most stylish and complex buildings, including antebellum villas by architect William Percival. After the Civil War, Thomas H. Briggs continued in the building and manufacturing business as well as operating the hardware store established by Briggs and Dodd in 1865. Still in the family, Briggs Hardware is among the oldest businesses in the state.
Thomas H. Briggs, Sr., was the son of John J. Briggs, a well-known carpenter and builder in Raleigh, and Elizabeth Utley Briggs. Thomas was born in Orange County, according to his obituary, probably when his parents were residing there during a construction project. Thomas married Eveline Norwood on September 12, 1846, and they had six children: Thomas Henry, Jr.; James Augustine; Evelina; John D.; Fabius Haywood; and Henrietta. According to family tradition, Thomas was mostly self-educated and apprenticed and worked for his father until 1847. As a youth, he worked as a carpenter on construction of the North Carolina State Capitol where his father was lead carpenter.
As a young man, Briggs began to build houses and other structures as well as such items as horse troughs, coffins, and pumps. He also started to manufacture millwork by 1850, and joined in a partnership with James Dodd as manufacturers and builders. Their steam-powered planing mill in the 1850s included lathes, mortisers, and other sash machinery. In 1850 Thomas Briggs was listed in the census as a carpenter, aged 28, living next door to his father and mother. By 1860, Thomas was cited as a builder, living next door to James Dodd, who was also listed as a builder.
The firm had accounts with many local clients, both building owners and builders. In 1851, for example, the account book recorded work for the Misses Hinton: building a portico, shingling, glazing, and painting, and two front doors and frames. In 1849-1851 the account book listed items supplied to brick builder Dabney Cosby for unnamed projects, including lumber for mantels, making windows and doors, and making and putting up mantels—and for making "2 Plum rules for Osburn"—plumb rules for Cosby's enslaved workman Osborne (see Albert and Osborne). In 1852, Briggs credited Cosby with $20 for "building a chimney at my house."
In addition to their work as builders, Briggs and Dodd also engaged in real estate, owning property including houses in Wake County and surrounding counties. For a time in the 1850s and 1860s Briggs and later Dodd were part owners of a sawmill operation at the water powered mill site known as Yates Mill in Wake County.
In the 1850s, Briggs and Dodd undertook construction of three prominent and novel villas on the edges of Raleigh: Montfort Hall, the Carter Braxton Harrison House, and the Rufus S. Tucker House. Designed by architect William Percival, all three featured unfamiliar architectural designs and modern heating and plumbing systems that presented challenges. When Briggs and Dodd completed the Tucker House (1858-1859), they won a tribute from the client, leading merchant R. S. Tucker. He stated: "The style of the House being new to our Mechanics and the work tedious and difficult—Must have required patience and a great deal of labor but you have shown in its successful completion that you are Master Builders." More proof of Briggs and Dodd's high quality work and familiarity with current trends came when they won a prize in the builder-manufacturer category at the State Fair of 1860 for their sliding door architrave, a veranda column, circular sash and blinds, rolling slat blinds, and a circular-headed window, all of which were designed for use in the most up-to-date buildings.
An article about T.H. Briggs and Sons, prepared by the Briggs family and published in the Raleigh News and Observer on August 16, 1965, described Thomas H. Briggs, Sr.'s experience during the Civil War. The account stated that he served in the home guard, raised supplies for North Carolina troops, and donated food and clothing on the home front. He also helped close in the unfinished Peace College (designed by Thomas J. Holt) to ready the building for service as a Confederate hospital. According to family tradition, at the beginning of the war, Briggs liquidated all the assets he could into gold and silver coins and put them in lead pipes. Then, the story goes, in 1865, "when Sherman's Army of the North began to approach the City after leaving Atlanta, which they devastated, Thomas Henry I took his pipes and buried them on a hill near the residence of Col. Thomas Devereau[x]." After the war, Briggs recovered his coins and was immediately ready to expand his business to meet renewed demand for construction.
Briggs and Dodd opened a hardware store on Fayetteville (the main commercial street) in Raleigh in August 1865 and the business prospered and grew. They built the Briggs Building on its present site in 1874, which they cited as the tallest building of its day in eastern North Carolina. Briggs and Dodd's partnership ended in 1868, and Briggs made his two sons, Thomas Henry, Jr. (1847-1928) and James Augustine, partners in the firm.
After the war, Briggs continued a prolific and varied career. In addition to the hardware store, he operated a millwork plant, participated in real estate development, and with his contracting business constructed many of Raleigh's houses and other buildings. In 1870 Briggs's sash and blind factory represented $7,500 capital investment, and the 8-horsepower steam engine powered 2 planers, 2 morticers, 1 scroll saw, 1 sash saw, and 3 circular saws. He employed 12 workers who produced boards and ornamental millwork. In the late 1870s he advertised "Thos. H. Briggs, Manufacturer of Doors, Sash, Blinds, Window and Door Frames, Hand Rail, Dressed Flooring, Ceiling, Weatherboarding, Mouldings, Fancy Scroll Work For Porches, Brackets and Mantles, Always on Hand or Made to Order" (illustrated in Catherine W. Bishir, Charlotte V. Brown, Carl R. Lounsbury, and Ernest H. Wood III, Architects and Builders in North Carolina: A History of the Practice of Building [1990]).
As Raleigh grew after the war, Briggs's firm was a major builder. On December 23, 1879, Hale's Weekly of Raleigh described the planing mills built in 1858 near the corner of Hargett and West Streets and stated that the Briggs contracting firm, with about 25 employees, had built "more houses than any other firm" in Raleigh. According to his descendants, Briggs took part in developing the Oakwood neighborhood in Raleigh and constructed many of the houses there as well as others in the city. In addition to documented works, several buildings have been attributed to Thomas H. Briggs by local and family tradition, and doubtless many more were his work. One of his last and most prestigious jobs was construction of the large and ornate Wake County Courthouse, from designs by Albany, New York, architect John B. Halcott.
Briggs took an active role in Raleigh community life, and along with other local businessmen, he helped Shaw University obtain a charter in 1875. Like his father and other family members, he was a strong Baptist and a member of Raleigh's First Baptist Church. He died on August 4, 1886, at his home at 221 West Morgan Street. In his honor, local businesses closed for the day and a memorial service was given at the Tucker Auditorium Building. According to the News and Observer of August 5, 1886, Briggs "remained actively engaged as an architect and builder, and ably conducted his extensive planning mills." Assessing his impact in the city, the newspaper stated, "All his work was thorough, uniformly excellent. He had in the course of his life employed many mechanics and others, and it can with perfect truth be said that every man who ever worked for him, without an exception, loved him." (Courtesy of NCSU Library)