Catherine Evans Whitener
1880 – 1964
Born in a Whitefield County farmhouse in 1880, Catherine Evans Whitener was the second of six children. Though she only earned a fifth grade education, her intelligence and curiosity far exceeded her formal education.
At the age of 12 she admired the craftsmanship of a tufted bedspread made by a cousin and vowed to replicate it so she could have one of her own. The spread had been produced using a technique called “candlewicking.” At 15, she began experimenting in earnest during her sparse off-duty hours from chores on farm and in the household. After much trial and error, she mastered the process and completed two quilts.
As family and friends saw the quilts, they began to ask Catherine to produce more and she found it necessary to teach her craft to young people who could help her prepare them for sale. She expanded her line to include mats and bathrobes. In 1917, she and her brother formed the Evans Manufacturing Company and the next year Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta placed an initial order for 24 spreads.
In 1933, the New Deal moved the bedspread business from cottages into factories and in 1941, America’s bedspread industry, still centered in Dalton, employed 10,000 workers and yielded sales of more than $25 million.
Today, more than 90 percent of the carpet produced in the U.S. is tufted, a development directly linked to Catherine’s early experiments with bedspreads. 
Year inducted: 2001
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