PNC Bank and Jazz 91.9 WCLK celebrates Atlanta’s African American Business Leaders – at his death in 1927, Alonzo Franklin Herndon was Atlanta’s wealthiest African American and one of the first black millionaires in the United States. Herndon born in June, 1858 in Walton County, Georgia to Frank Herndon, a white farmer, and Sophenie, his slave. A serial entrepreneur who owned three barber shops in Atlanta, Herndon also invested in real estate, purchasing more than 100 properties along Auburn Avenue. In 1905, Herndon purchased a failing insurance company incorporated as Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association with $5,000 in assets. By 1922 the company changed its name to Atlanta Life Insurance Company and had over $400,000 in assets. In 1910 Alonzo Herndon built the Herndon Home, it was one of the largest mansions in Atlanta, the home is registered as a National Historic Place. PNC Bank celebrates Atlanta’s African American Business Leaders on February 24 at the Center for Civil and Human Rights at 7:30 AM. More information about that event is available here.
