Odus McCoy Mull Papers
Odus McCoy Mull was a lawyer, businessman, state politician, and active Wake Forest College alumnus from Shelby, North Carolina. This collection contains Mull's correspondence, subject files, and other business, legal, personal, and political papers. The materials relate to his activities and involvement with Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest College, and North Carolina Vocational Textile School, legal cases and the Tennessee Valley Authority, and his race for speakership of the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1941.
Biographical and Historical Note
Odus McCoy Mull (sometimes written Odes or Otis) was a lawyer, businessman, state politician, and active Wake Forest College alumnus. Mull was born September 18, 1880, in Township Ten, Cleveland County, N.C. At a very young age, Mull's father, Houston E. Mull, passed away, but was supported by his mother, Margaret Ann Carpenter Mull, and stepfather Julius E. Smith. He attended Belwood Institute (1892-1896) and Piedmont High School (1896-1898), and then spent a year farming before enrolling in Wake Forest College (1899-1903). In college, Mull was captain of the baseball team as well as receiving bachelor's (1902) and law degrees (1903). He remained involved with Wake Forest College for the rest of his life.
After graduation, Mull returned to his hometown of Shelby, N.C., to practice law with his stepfather and then with the Webb brothers, James L. Webb and E. Yates Webb, who were both political figures, serving between the two of themselves as judges, Congressional representatives, and state senators. Mull also worked in politics, as well as pursuing business interests as well. He worked as general manager and financial advisor at Cleveland Cloth Mills and advised other textile mills across his career. Mull was elected to represent Cleveland County in the N.C. House of Representatives several times, serving 6 terms: 1907, 1919, 1929, 1939, 1941, during which he was Speaker of the House, and 1947. From 1928 to 1932, Mull was chair of the state Democratic executive committee, helping to propel O. Max Gardner, who was also from Shelby, to the N.C. governorship. As a state representative, he co-wrote the Mull McCoin Bill (1919) authorizing state and country cooperation in road building and assisted in the passage of a bill that established state vocational education. Mull also served on a board that lead to the construction of Shelby Hospital.
Outside of his professional work, Mull was active in church and Wake Forest affairs. He served as a College Trustee for many years, including working from 1944 to 1956 as head of the Planning and Building Committee that relocated Bowman Gray School of Medicine and later the College to Winston-Salem. In 1956, he became president of the Board. Mull was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1957. Mull was also active in the Baptist church, serving as Board of Deacons chair, teaching the O. M. Mull Bible Class at First Baptist Church in Shelby for 30 years, and participating in county and state affairs within the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
Mull married the former Montrose Pallen McBrayer on June 12, 1907. They had one daughter, Montrose McBrayer Mull (later Meacham). Mull died November 27, 1962, and is buried in Sunset Cemetery in Shelby.
Sources:
- Slappey, Kellie. "William Kerr Scott (1896-1958)." North Carolina History Project: Encyclopedia of the Old North State. Accessed at https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/william-kerr-scott-1896-1958/
- Powell, William S. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Various entries. Accessed at https://www.ncpedia.org/
- Shaw, Bynum. The History of Wake Forest College, Volume IV, 1943-1967. Accessed at https://zsr.wfu.edu/special/collections/digital/
Collection Overview
This collection contains Mull's correspondence, subject files, and other business, legal, personal, and political papers. The materials relate to his activities and involvement with Bowman Gray School of Medicine (1937-1961), Wake Forest College (1935-1961); North Carolina Vocational Textile School in Belmont, N.C. (1941-1961); the North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem (1937-1959); legal cases and the Tennessee Valley Authority (1939-1952); and Mull's race for the speakership of the N.C. House in 1941. Mull corresponded with individuals and organizations in Shelby and Cleveland County, N.C., as well as many fellow Baptists and Wake Forest College alumni across the state.
He corresponded with a number of statewide politicians, such as governors and state treasurers, as well as with politicians representing N.C. in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. These men include: Alfred Lee Bulwinkle, U.S. Representative (1921-1929, 1931-1950), Josephus Daniels, U.S. Secretary of the Navy (1913-1921), Emery B. Denny, N.C. Supreme Court Justice (1942-1966). Every N.C. governor who held the seat between 1921 and 1954 is also present, including segregationist Clyde Roark Hoey, later a U.S. Senator, and Oliver Max Gardner, considered the head of the "Shelby Dynasty," a state political machine centering around men from Cleveland County that started with Gardner's governorship and ended with the election of William Kerr Scott, who improved road and phone access in rural areas and had white women and Black men among his appointees.
Controlled Access Headings
Personal Names
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Processed by: John Woodard; machine-readable finding aid created by Apex, 2004
- Revision Description
- Revised by Stephanie Bennett and Nancy Sullivan, 2022
- Access Restrictions
- This collection is open for use.
- Copyright Notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Odus McCoy Mull Papers (MS75), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.