Archippus Floyd Barrett (1870-1926)

Barrett as he looked during his mayoralty.

  Alamance County, North Carolina resident Archippus Floyd Barrett served eight years as mayor of the city Burlington, and in addition to his mayoralty carved out a notable career for himself as a pharmacist in that city. Born on March 15, 1870, in Person County, North Carolina, Archippus Floyd "Chip" Barrett was the son of Aaron and Rebecca Ann (Carver) Barrett. Sharing a first name with a figure briefly mentioned in the New Testament, Barrett's first name also has a variation in spelling, being spelled with both a double "p" and a single "p". However, numerous Burlington city directories (as well as Barrett's own death certificate from 1926) record the spelling as "Archippus", and it is that spelling that is given here.

  There exists a dearth of resources regarding Barrett's early life or education, excepting notice of his entering the druggist's trade at an early age. In the 1880s he was employed by the R.A. Morton & Co. drug store in the town of Roxboro and in October 1891 married to Margaret E. Pentecost (1872-1940). The couple were wed until Barrett's passing in 1926 and had five children, Essie Mae (1894-1959), Carl Victor (1898-1960), Raymon Ellis (1899-1971), Clifford Edwin (1902-1978), and Archippus Floyd Jr. (1913-2001). 

  Removing to Burlington in 1894, "Chip" Barrett soon joined the R.A. Freeman Drug Co., where for more than two decades he worked in the prescription department. Sources also denote Barrett and R.A. Freeman as being the co-managers of the Burlington Opera House from 1906-07, their full dates of service remaining unknown at this time. 

  By 1903 Barrett's love for his adopted city and popularity amongst its citizens led to his being nominated for mayor that year. He would win that election and for the next several years was continually reelected, his last term concluding in 1911. Barrett's mayoralty saw multiple improvements made to city infrastructure, including the introduction of city street lights in 1904, and in 1908-09 Barrett and the board of aldermen gave the go-ahead for the installation of:

"Another steam generating unit at the power plant on Hawkins Street; also a deep well; a frog tight reservoir and water and sewer lines. And to furnish sufficient pressure for hydrants, an elevated steel tank was erected on a knoll northeast of the old railroad shops."

   In addition to the numerous structural improvements made during his terms, Barrett's mayoralty also saw the Burlington city hall move to more respectable quarters on the second floor of the C.G. Moore building, prior to the construction of an actual city hall building in 1915. After leaving office Barrett continued as a druggist with the Freeman Drug Co. and in 1913 was named to the city Water, Light, and Power Commission in the wake of the resignation of J. Ed Moore, who had been elected as mayor.
  Archippus Floyd Barrett died at his home in Burlington on March 8, 1926, one week shy of his 56th birthday. His cause of death is given as influenza (as per his death certificate.) He was survived by his children and wife Margaret, who, following her death in 1940, was interred alongside her husband at the Pine Hill Cemetery in Burlington.