Catherine Evans Whitener (August 10, 1880 – June 2, 1964) was a rural artisan credited with reviving and expanding the tufted textile industry in northwest Georgia.
She stopped going to school after fifth grade, a common practice for rural Georgia girls in the late nineteenth century.
As the industry grew, thousands of the hand-tufted bedspreads and carpets were sold, and with the help of her family Whitener opened the Evans Manufacturing Company in 1917.
Whitener’s tufting industry eventually expanded to include bath mats, accent rugs, and carpets.
Dalton, Georgia, prior to the Silicon Valley boom, was the city with the most millionaires per capita in the United States; all part of Whitener’s legacy.