Chronology

A $10 million gift creates the O.B. Hardison Scholarship at UNC

Stephen Israel, a 1966 graduate whose life was changed by Hardison's courses, gave $10 million for undergraduate humanities scholarships named for his former professor.

Carrboro adopts a townwide Language Access Plan

The Town Council adopted a Language Access Plan naming six community languages (Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Karen, Burmese and Arabic), with Spanish the most spoken. The plan was developed with UNC's Building Integrated Communities program and the Refugee Community Partnership.

State highway marker for the Occaneechi Indian Tribe dedicated at the tribal center

North Carolina dedicated highway historical marker G-142, which notes the band's 2002 state recognition, at the Occaneechi Tribal Center on Dailey Store Road, and the tribe opened a new community center the same day.

Chapel Hill breaks ground on the Trinity Court redevelopment

Trinity Court, 40 public housing units built in 1975 and vacated in 2018 for structural problems, is being rebuilt with Community Housing Partners as 54 affordable apartments after an April 2022 rezoning and an October 2022 tax credit award. Leasing began in winter 2026.

Buckhorn Flea Market closes on Buckhorn Road

The Buckhorn Flea Market on Buckhorn Road in western Orange County, known to many Spanish speakers as La Pulga de Mebane, closed after about four decades when a trucking company bought the land. Its 300 to 500 weekend vendors were largely Latino immigrants, and the Mebane City Council voted on July 1 to annex and rezone the property for a truck terminal.

Interlibrary loan returns through UNC-Chapel Hill

Working with UNC-Chapel Hill, the Orange County Public Library restored interlibrary loan during the 2024–25 fiscal year at no cost to patrons. The county had charged $1 plus library costs, raised the fee to $3 in October 2013 and cut it from $4 back to $3 in 2018 before the service lapsed.

Subject: Orange County Public Library

Anson Dorrance announces his retirement as UNC women's soccer coach

Dorrance told his team he was retiring after 45 seasons with the women's program, days before the season opener; associate head coach Damon Nahas became interim head coach. His women's teams went 934-88-53 and won 21 NCAA titles.

Part of UNC women’s soccer national dynasty · 26 events

Carrboro and Orange County name the Drakeford Library Complex

The Carrboro Town Council on October 15 and the Orange County commissioners on November 7, 2024 approved naming the building under construction at 203 South Greensboro Street for Robert "Bob" Drakeford, Carrboro's first Black mayor. A naming committee of two council members, two commissioners and two Friends of the Library members recommended the name on September 24 after a community survey drew more than 200 responses.

Subject: Orange County Public Library

Student groups hold a memorial for James Cates in the Pit

The Southern Student Action Coalition, the Black Student Movement, the Community Justice, Abolition and Anti-Racism Collective and the UNC NAACP held a memorial at the Pit, where speakers criticized the wording and placement of the 2022 plaque.

People: Danita Mason-Hogans

Radius Pizzeria & Pub closes after more than eleven years

Owners Kate and Mick Carroll closed Radius Pizzeria & Pub at 112 North Churton Street on December 29, 2024, saying they wanted more time with their family.

Kathleen DuVal wins the Bancroft Prize

UNC historian Kathleen DuVal won the Bancroft Prize for Native Nations: A Millennium in North America. She was the Carl W. Ernst Distinguished Professor in UNC's history department.

William J. Barber II gives the Bobby Boyd Leadership Lecture at UNC

William J. Barber II spoke on poverty and inequality at the UNC School of Social Work's Bobby Boyd Leadership Lecture in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building to nearly 300 people, with about 750 more online.

Chuck Stone receives a posthumous Pulitzer Prize special citation

The Pulitzer Prize Board gave Stone, the former Walter Spearman Professor of journalism at UNC, a special citation for his civil rights reporting, his work as the first Black columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News and his part in founding the National Association of Black Journalists.

Kathleen DuVal wins the Pulitzer Prize for History

UNC historian Kathleen DuVal won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History for Native Nations: A Millennium in North America, a history of Native American nations over a thousand years. She taught early American and American Indian history at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Mia Hamm gives UNC's spring Commencement address in Kenan Stadium

Former Tar Heel soccer player Mia Hamm, class of 1994, delivered the 2025 Commencement address to 6,829 graduates in Kenan Stadium.

Subject: Kenan Stadium

Randee Haven-O'Donnell announces she will not seek reelection to the Carrboro Town Council

Ending twenty years on the town's governing board, Haven-O'Donnell said she was encouraging new voices and would turn to organizing and advocacy on reproductive rights, tenants' rights, stormwater, water quality and PFAS pollution. Chapelboro noted that during her service the council approved the South Green development, a community safety task force and greenway projects.

Food pantries open at the Main Library and the Southern Branch

During the 2025–26 fiscal year the library built a permanent food pantry in the Main Library lobby in Hillsborough and worked with a local Girl Scout troop to establish one at the Southern Branch in Carrboro. The Main Library also collected 424 pounds of food for the Orange Congregations in Mission pantry.

Subject: Orange County Public Library

A memorial garden and bench for Zijie Yan are dedicated at Caudill Labs

Two years after his death, UNC dedicated a memorial site in the Caudill Labs courtyard with a garden, a bench made from a 250-year-old campus post oak, and a plaque in English and Mandarin. His doctoral adviser Doug Chrisey gave the first memorial lecture in his honor the same afternoon.

Hilliard Caldwell dies at 88

Caldwell, who advised the Lincoln High School students who held Chapel Hill's first sit-in in 1960 and later served on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, died on September 6, 2025. The town issued a statement remembering his service and courage.

People: Barbara Foushee

State law removes Chapel Hill's zoning control over UNC projects

The Regulatory Reform Act of 2025 became law without the governor's signature, making UNC System projects in Orange County subject only to state rules and leaving the town a consultation role on utilities, stormwater, traffic and similar matters.

Carrboro Town Council reaffirms support for immigrant communities and its 4th Amendment status

The Town Council passed a resolution by council members Eliazar Posada-Orozco and Cristóbal Palmer condemning discriminatory actions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and reaffirming Carrboro's status as a 4th Amendment town. The council had voted unanimously for that designation on May 20, 2025.

People: Barbara Foushee

Students and residents mark 55 years since the killing of James Cates

The Carolina NAACP chapter and the Black Student Movement held a remembrance for Cates on campus, and student leaders again called the 2022 plaque's passive wording inadequate.

Penny Rich runs for Orange County register of deeds

Rich, by then an assistant clerk of superior court, entered the 2026 Democratic primary for Orange County register of deeds. She campaigned on modernizing the office's technology and public website and on heir property issues affecting African American families.

UNC announces a campus extension at Carolina North

The university announced plans for a mixed-use extension on about 230 acres around the former Horace Williams Airport, with student and workforce housing, research space and retail, calling it the largest expansion since 1793; groundbreaking is expected in summer 2027.

Subject: Horace Williams Airport

Orange County's clerk of superior court is honored for work in guardianship law

Kleinschmidt received the Isabella Award at the National Probate Judges Conference for his contributions to guardianship and probate law. The award is named for judge Isabella Horton Grant and goes to people whose leadership improves guardianship laws, court administration and practice.

Dual Supply puts up a going-out-of-business sign

Dual Supply, the downtown hardware store at 115 West King Street, began a closing sale set to run until the shop closed at the end of September 2026.

The Burwell School is renamed the Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School

The Burwell School Historic Site in Hillsborough took the name the Elizabeth Keckly Center at the Burwell School in late August 2026, honoring the woman the Burwells held in slavery in the house from 1835. Site director Elizabeth Hays said the aim was to hold the site's histories together.

Subject: Burwell School

UNC says a new residence hall will be named Jackson Hall for Blyden and Roberta Jackson

UNC-Chapel Hill announced that one of two new residence halls, to be built on the site of the former Jackson Hall that housed undergraduate admissions, will be named Jackson Hall for Blyden and Roberta Jackson. The two halls will add about 730 beds.

People: Blyden Jackson