Looking east from the corner of Fayetteville and S. Elm Sts. - Whited Street is in the foreground, 1940. (Courtesy Durham County Library) The Southern Fidelity Mutual Insurance Co. was started in 1926 by William Gaston Pearson, who, in addition to his involvement in the NC Mutual Company, was principal of the Whitted School and then Hillside High School. He also started the Bankers Fire Insurance Company, located 1/2 block south on Fayetteville St.