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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. 1910s
3. 1916–1969
   Storyline · 45 events · Chapel Hill Segregated schooling and the rise of Lincoln and Central High schools

   In 1916 the Chapel Hill school district bought Louis Hackney's school and renamed it Orange County Training School, later Lincoln High. Hillsborough's Black high school opened in 1936 and became Central High in 1948. Desegregation closed Lincoln as a high school in 1966, discarding its name and colors, and after 1968 walkouts Central's students moved to Orange High.

4. 1930s
5. 1936
   Founding or opening · West Union and North Nash streets, Hillsborough Orange County builds a brick school for Black students in Hillsboro

   Under a PWA-aided building program the county built an eight-room brick school for Black children in Hillsboro in 1935-36, with an auditorium, steam heat and plumbing. High school grades are first reported there for 1938-39, as the Hillsborough High School for Negroes; it became Central High School.

6. March 2, 1936
   Property or economic transaction · West Union and North Nash streets, Hillsborough The county school board buys land for a new Black school in Hillsboro

   The Orange County Board of Education bought the Hillsboro colored school site from Louis Wilson and George Mayo, paying $1,100 to each. The new school for Black students went up there that year.

7. July 1936
   Statistic or record · Hillsborough The school library at Hillsborough High School for Negroes also served as the public library for Black residents

   Hillsborough's new school for Black students, a Public Works Administration building of eight classrooms and an auditorium, was put up in 1936 and ready in July on land bought from Louis Wilson and George Mayo, and its library served the local Black community as a public library. Albert L. Stanback became principal in 1942 and had the school renamed Central High School in 1943.

8. 1940s
9. 1942
   Appointment, election or service · Central High School (now Hillsborough Elementary), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough A. L. Stanback succeeds E. C. Hester as principal of Hillsborough's high school for Black students

   Albert Leon Stanback, a teacher at the Hillsboro High School for Negroes, replaced its first principal, E. C. Hester, in 1942. The school took the name Central High School the next year, and Stanback later pushed for the Cedar Grove consolidated school to take the lower grades.

10. 1943
    Naming or commemoration · West Union and North Nash streets, Hillsborough The Hillsborough High School for Negroes takes the name Central High School

    Under principal A. L. Stanback, the school for Black students in Hillsborough changed its name to Central High School in 1943.

11. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

12. 1946-47 school year
    Statistic or record · West Union and North Nash streets, Hillsborough Central High School adds a twelfth grade

    Central High School, the county's high school for Black students in Hillsborough, added a twelfth grade for the 1946-47 school year. By 1949-50 it served 443 elementary and 206 high school students.

13. May 6, 1946
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough The county board approves twelve classrooms and a gymnasium for Central School

    The board approved a building program of twelve classrooms and a gymnasium at Central, the county's school for Black students in Hillsborough.

14. 1949-50 school year
    Statistic or record · Central High School, North Nash and West Union streets, Hillsborough Central High's 1949-50 reports show 649 pupils and crowded classrooms

    Central High School served 443 elementary and 206 high school students with twelve and eight teachers. Its library of 1,120 books also served the Black community, but nine of its eleven elementary classrooms were too small.

15. 1950s
16. July 1957
    Construction or physical change · West Union and North Nash streets, Hillsborough The county takes bids for a gymtorium and twelve classrooms at Central High School

    H. F. Mitchell Construction Company was low bidder for two buildings at Central High, a twelve-classroom addition and a gymtorium seating about 1,200, designed by Archie Royal Davis. The whole project came to $266,094, and the gymtorium was nearly finished in February 1958.

17. late 1958
    Construction or physical change · Central High School (now Hillsborough Elementary), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough Central High's new gymnasium is finished after the fire

    After the main building of Central High School burned in 1958, Archie Royal Davis designed a new school building and a gymnasium for the site; the gymnasium was finished in late 1958.

18. February 14, 1958
    Disaster or outbreak · Hillsborough Central High School burns

    On the morning of February 14, 1958, fire destroyed the 1936 main building of Central High School, Hillsborough's high school for Black students, including its office, auditorium and several classrooms. Students moved into a newly built structure meant for junior high use, and a new main classroom building designed by Archie Royal Davis went up on the site in 1958.

19. February 14, 1958
    Construction or physical change · 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough The school board orders a new main building for Central High on the day of the fire

    The night the old Central High building burned, the county board set aside $214,892 for a new 18-classroom building designed by Archie Royal Davis's firm. Construction went on through 1958.

20. 1959-1960
    Construction or physical change · Central High School (now Hillsborough Elementary), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough Archie Royal Davis's new main building for Central High goes up

    After the 1958 fire, Archie Royal Davis designed a two-story, flat-roofed brick main building and a barrel-roofed gymnasium for Central High School. The main building went up in 1959-60; the campus is now Hillsborough Elementary.

21. 1960s
22. 1960-1962
    Construction or physical change · Central High School (now Hillsborough Elementary), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough A vocational building is added at Central High School

    Between 1960 and 1962 the county added a one-story, flat-roofed, brick-veneered vocational building with metal awning windows to the Central High campus in Hillsborough.

23. 1960 to 1962
    Construction or physical change · Central High School (now Hillsborough Elementary), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough Central High builds its "300" elementary wing

    Another classroom building, the "300" wing or Elementary School building, went up at Central High from 1960 to 1962. With a vocational and band building finished in 1962, the campus reached the six buildings that stand today.

24. spring 1964
    Life event · Central High School, Hillsborough Central High principal A. L. Stanback dies

    Albert Leon Stanback, who came to Central as a coach and mathematics teacher and led it for more than twenty years, died after a short illness. His funeral was held in the school's auditorium. Under him the school grew to about 1,200 students.

25. 1965
    Founding or opening · Central Elementary School, 154 Hayes Street, Hillsborough Central Elementary School is built north of West Hillsborough

    Planned as a segregated school for Black pupils next to Central High School, the flat-roofed brick and concrete building designed by Archie Royal Davis was finished a few years before desegregation and then served an integrated student body. Additions followed in 1975 and during the 1990s.

26. July 15, 1965
    Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough The board names the first principals of Stanford Junior High and Central Elementary

    Paul Raspberry was chosen to lead the new Stanford Junior High, and Tarleton Davis was picked to open Central Elementary as its first principal.

27. 1968
    Naming or commemoration · Central High School (A. L. Stanback School), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough Central High School becomes A. L. Stanback School

    After Central High's last high school class graduated in 1968 and its older students moved to Orange High School, the school was renamed for its longtime principal A. L. Stanback and became an elementary school.

28. 1968
    Protest or organizing · Hillsborough Central High students march and Orange County schools integrate

    In 1968 Black students at Central High School in Hillsborough walked out and marched to protest a plan for phased desegregation. After Central's last class graduated that spring, its high school students moved to Orange High, ending the county's dual school system in 1968–69.

29. 1969
    Life event · Central High School, Hillsborough Alethea Burt retires from teaching at Central High School

    Alethea Burt, who had led Ridge Road School until it closed in 1951 and then moved with her pupils to teach the elementary grades at Central High School in Hillsboro, retired at the end of the 1968-69 year.

30. 1969-1977
    Founding or opening · Orange County Orange County Schools open kindergarten classes and extend them to every five-year-old

    Kindergarten began in the county schools with the 1969-70 reorganization, housed at Central Elementary and Efland-Cheeks. By the end of Superintendent Williams's term in 1977 it had grown from a partial program to one serving all five-year-olds.

31. 1969-70
    Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Orange County Schools regroup pupils by grade across the Hillsborough schools to complete integration

    For 1969-70 the county put all its pupils outside the Efland area into Hillsborough schools, each serving set grades: kindergarten at Central Elementary, grades 1-2 at Cameron Park, 3-4 at Central, 5-6 at the old Orange Junior High, 7-9 at a new Orange Junior High and 10-12 at Orange High. Efland-Cheeks took kindergarten through third grade and Efland Elementary grades 4-6, and Aycock, Cedar Grove and West Hillsborough dropped out as separate schools.

32. 1969
    Closing or ending · West End Graded School, 111 Jones Street, West Hillsborough West End Graded School closes

    The West Hillsborough elementary school closed in 1969, perhaps because the new Central Elementary School took its pupils once schools were integrated. The main building later burned, leaving only the rear wings.

33. 1970s
34. 1975
    Founding or opening · A. L. Stanback School, 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough A. L. Stanback School becomes a middle school

    The former Central High School, used as A. L. Stanback elementary school since 1968, became a middle school in 1975 and served until the late 1980s, when it closed for several years.

35. 1975
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Central Elementary School in Hillsborough gets a large addition

    Ten years after the first building went up, the county added about 18,700 square feet to Central Elementary under Superintendent George F. Williams, bringing the school to roughly 44,600 square feet.

36. Recent decades · 1976–2026

37. 1990s
38. 1996
    Founding or opening · Hillsborough Elementary School (former Central High School), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough Elementary School opens in the old Central High buildings as the county's first year-round school

    After standing closed for several years, the former Central High campus on North Nash Street reopened in 1996 as Hillsborough Elementary School, the first year-round school in Orange County.

39. 2000s
40. about 2000
    Construction or physical change · Central Elementary School, 154 Hayes Street, Hillsborough Central Elementary School gets a second large addition

    Around 2000 another large addition was built across the center of Central Elementary School's front on Hayes Street in Hillsborough, following the 1975 addition by John James Croft.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.