Francis Henry Fries

Francis Henry Fries (February 1, 1855 – 5 June 1931) was an American textile businessman and industrialist from North Carolina. The town, Fries in Virginia was named in his honor.

Early life Fries was born on February 1, 1855, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was the son of Francis Levin Fries and Lisetta Maria Vogler, the descendants of immigrants who came from Saxony under the auspices of the Moravian Church. Fries attended the Salem Boys' School, and later graduated from Davidson College in 1874. His elder sister, Mary Elizabeth Fries, was the second wife of Rufus Lenoir Patterson. In the next 20 years, operations would expand to a peak of 7,700 spindles and 450 looms.

In 1887, Fries left his father's company. He instead opted to undertake an effort to connect Winston-Salem to Roanoke, Virginia by rail to improve commerce. Supervising all financing and construction, Fries completed what became known as the Roanoke and Southern Railway in four years. He served as the railway's first president.

As a Democrat, he served on the staff of Governor Alfred Moore Scales, where he earned the title of "Colonel" which he would use in his professional career to distinguish himself from his father. In 1900 Fries purchased rural farmland surrounding Bartlett Falls on the New River in Grayson County, Virginia. He then hired a local labor force to build a dam, a cotton mill and a full-service company owned town. By 1901, the New River Train was extended to the mill site and Fries petitioned the Virginia State Legislature to incorporate the new town of Carico, Virginia. For reasons that are not well documented, the town name was instead legislatively changed to Fries, Virginia and officially incorporated in 1902. In 1904, he was elected president of the North Carolina Bankers Association.

Rosa Eleanor Fries (1887–1954), who married Richard Furman Willingham in 1909.

Fries died on June 5, 1931.