James Robert Finley was born in Wilkes County on May 29, 1864. Finley served as North Wilkesboro’s first postmaster following the town’s founding in 1891. In 1901, he founded Forest Furniture Company, which at the time of his death was one of the largest companies in northwest North Carolina. As a business and civic leader in North Wilkesboro, he coined the town’s nickname of “Key to the Blue Ridge.” He died on March 24, 1950.