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Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 9,006 dated events and 77 storylines, each connected to the index. A storyline gathers many dated events into one history, such as the Regulator crisis. Browse all 77 storylines. Every entry names its source. See all 667 sources.

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Searched the full chronology of 9,006 dated events and 77 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–200 of 232, 200 to a page.Back to highlights

Entries

  1. Colonial and Regulator years · 1680–1774

  2. 1750s
  3. Construction or physical change · William Reed's Ordinary (Seven Hearths), 157 East King Street, Hillsborough The house later called William Reed's Ordinary is built on East King Street

    The two-story main block of the house at 157 East King Street, on the lot first owned by town official and tavern keeper William Reed, was probably built around 1754, and early owners kept a tavern in its basement rooms. A one-story west wing was added around 1830.

  4. 1760s
  5. Construction or physical change · Northeast corner of North Churton and East Tryon streets (front half now at 103 East Tryon Street), Hillsborough A house is built for Catherine Lockhart at Churton and Tryon streets

    A one-and-a-half-story frame house is built for Catherine Lockhart on the northeast corner of Churton and Tryon streets. In the early 1800s shoemaker William H. Brown lived in it and kept his shop there; its front half survives next door at 103 East Tryon Street.

  6. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

  7. 1770s
  8. Property or economic transaction · William Courtney's Yellow House, 141 East King Street, Hillsborough William Courtney buys the East King Street lots from Ralph McNair

    William Courtney bought from Ralph McNair the lots at 141 East King Street where the house later called William Courtney's Yellow House stands.

  9. 1780s
  10. Construction or physical change · 115 East Queen Street, Hillsborough Sterling Harris builds the house on East Queen Street later called Heartsease

    Sterling Harris built the one-and-a-half-story core of the house about 1786. Polly Burke bought it in 1810 and added a bay, and Dennis Heartt's family named it Heartsease after 1837.

  11. Construction or physical change · William Whitted House, 306 North Churton Street / 103 East Queen Street, Hillsborough The William Whitted House is built facing East Queen Street

    A two-story frame house with a massive stone chimney is built about 1786 for William Whitted at East Queen and North Churton streets. A five-bay Italianate wing facing Churton Street was added later, possibly designed by Jules Korner of Kernersville.

  12. Construction or physical change · John Newman House, 230 West Queen Street, Hillsborough A one-story Federal house is built on West Queen Street, later the John Newman House

    The hall-and-parlor house at 230 West Queen Street dates from about 1787; a deed of February 25, 1790 already describes the lot as improved. Its earliest recorded owner was Vincent Peter Williamson, and Governor Thomas Burke's widow Mary Burke Doherty owned it for a time before the Newman family bought it in the 1860s.

  13. Property or economic transaction · Twin Chimneys, 168 West King Street, Hillsborough Daniel Mallett buys the West King Street lots where Twin Chimneys stands

    On September 4, 1788, Daniel Mallett bought Lots 21 and 31 on West King Street, the first deed since 1768 to mention buildings or improvements on the property now called Twin Chimneys.

  14. 1790s
  15. Founding or opening · Lockhart-Phillips Cemetery, 117 East Tryon Street, Hillsborough Catherine Lockhart's burial in 1792 is the earliest known grave in the Lockhart-Phillips family cemetery

    The small walled cemetery on East Tryon Street holds seventeen marked graves; the earliest is probably that of Mrs. Catherine Lockhart, who died in 1792. Saddler James Phillips, a founder of the Presbyterian church, probably built the fieldstone wall around 1820 and was buried there in 1847.

  16. Statistic or record · Hillsborough A free Black distiller works on East King Street as the county counts its Black residents

    Africa Parker, a free Black man, was running a distillery on East King Street near William Courtney's house in Hillsborough in 1799. The census the next year counted 3,327 enslaved people and 100 free Black people in Orange County alongside 12,222 white residents.

  17. Property or economic transaction · Phillips-Hill-Webb House (BelleVue), 209 East Tryon Street, Hillsborough Samuel Chinny buys the East Tryon Street land later called BelleVue

    Samuel Chinny bought land at the east edge of town that had first belonged to James Hogg, and probably built the house that became the eastern part of the Phillips-Hill-Webb House; a deed of 1801 mentions a house on the lot.

  18. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

  19. 1800s
  20. Construction or physical change · Nathaniel Rochester House, 225 West King Street, Hillsborough The one-story house later called the Nathaniel Rochester House is built on West King Street

    A one-story frame house, close in detail to the Ruffin-Roulhac House, was built at 225 West King Street around 1800; tradition makes Nathaniel Rochester, founder of Rochester, New York, an early owner.

  21. Construction or physical change · 143 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough Duncan Cameron builds a law office on Margaret Lane, later the Nash Law Office

    Lawyer Duncan Cameron built a one-story Federal-style law office on his lots on Margaret Lane. In 1807 he sold the property to Frederick Nash, who kept his practice there and taught law students in it until his death in 1858.

  22. Property or economic transaction · William Courtney's Yellow House, 141 East King Street, Hillsborough William Courtney Jr. deeds the Yellow House on East King Street to his brother Joseph

    A 1801 deed from William Courtney Jr. to his brother Joseph is the first to call the property the "yellow house", the earliest evidence of a house on the lot. The two-story Georgian house still stands at 141 East King Street.

  23. Property or economic transaction · Colonial Inn site, 153 West King Street, Hillsborough Hatter Henry Shutt buys the West King Street lot where the Colonial Inn now stands

    In 1803 Henry Shutt bought the vacant lot and built a house there, living in it and running a hatter's shop. The lot was offered at public sale in 1820, and Isaiah Spencer built his inn on it in 1838.

  24. Property or economic transaction · Poplar Hill, south bank of the Eno River (now 203 South Cameron Street), Hillsborough James Hogg sells Poplar Hill to his son-in-law William Norwood

    James Hogg, who had built the house later called Poplar Hill on an 1,100-acre tract on the south bank of the Eno, sells the estate in 1803 to his son-in-law William Norwood. It later became the home of John Wall Norwood.

  25. Construction or physical change · Berry Brick House, 208 West Queen Street, Hillsborough A brick house is built on West Queen Street for Rhody Berry, mother of builder John Berry

    The one-and-a-half-story Federal house, the oldest surviving brick dwelling in the original town, was built about 1805 for Mrs. Rhody Berry. Tradition credits her son John Berry, but he was seven that year, and the 2014 nomination suggests neighbor Samuel Hancock, the brickmason who later became his partner.

  26. Construction or physical change · 209 East Tryon Street, Hillsborough Saddler James Phillips builds a brick kitchen on the school-house lot on East Tryon Street

    James Phillips, a Hillsborough saddler, buys the old school-house lot at the east edge of town and builds a two-room brick kitchen beside the house, where he lives until 1847. The kitchen, with his name scratched in a window pane, still stands beside BelleVue.

  27. 1810s
  28. Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, 102 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough The Hillsborough Presbyterian Church is built on the old St. Matthew's church lot with lottery money

    The brick church on West Tryon Street was built in 1815 and 1816 near the site of the colonial St. Matthew's church, lost in the 1790s, with money raised by a lottery the state authorized. The brickmasons John Berry and Samuel Hancock are credited with the work.

  29. Construction or physical change · Twin Chimneys, 168 West King Street, Hillsborough The Rev. John Knox Witherspoon adds the paired end chimneys to his West King Street house

    While he owned the house now called Twin Chimneys, the Presbyterian minister and schoolmaster built the Flemish-bond pairs of chimneys at each gable end that gave it its name. The two-story front porch dates from about 1816.

  30. Construction or physical change · Cedar Walk, between West Margaret Lane and West King Street, Hillsborough Mrs. Frederick Nash plants the double row of cedars that forms Hillsborough's Cedar Walk

    Mrs. Frederick Nash planted two rows of cedar trees along a path of about ten feet running north from West Margaret Lane toward West King Street, linking the Nash house with the John H. Witherspoon house. The walk survives and several houses face onto it.

  31. Construction or physical change · Thomas Ruffin Law Office, 201 South Cameron Street, Hillsborough Thomas Ruffin's law office is built beside his Hillsborough house

    A one-room frame law office with a rubble stone chimney was built for Thomas Ruffin, later chief justice of North Carolina, near his house on what became the Burnside lawn. It still stands on its original site.

  32. 1820s
  33. Construction or physical change · Lockhart-Phillips Cemetery, 117 East Tryon Street, Hillsborough Saddler James Phillips walls in the Lockhart-Phillips family cemetery

    James Phillips probably built the fieldstone wall around the small family graveyard on East Tryon Street, where Catherine Lockhart was buried in 1792 and Phillips himself in 1847.

  34. Construction or physical change · 101 East Orange Street, Hillsborough A small Federal house is built on East Orange Street for Martin Hanks

    The three west bays of the house later called Little Hawfields and the Ruffin-Roulhac House were built about 1821 for Martin Hanks. In the 1830s Francis L. Hawks and Frances C. P. Blount Hill bought it and added the east rooms.

  35. Construction or physical change · Burwell School, 319 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Tavern keeper William Adams builds the house that became the Burwell School

    William Adams, a Hillsborough tavern keeper and businessman, builds a two-story house with two rooms on each floor facing West Union Street in 1821. Those rooms survive as the south rooms of the Burwell School.

  36. Construction or physical change · Eno Lodge, 229 South Churton Street (drive from US 70A), Hillsborough Jonathan P. Sneed builds the house on the bluff south of the Eno later called Eno Lodge

    Jonathan P. Sneed built a two-story Federal house on the high ground above the Eno across from town. It was later known as Norwood, Eno Lodge and the Eagles' Nest.

  37. Construction or physical change · Mallett House (Patterson-Palmer House), 173 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough A lateral-hall house is built on Margaret Lane for Caroline Mallett Walker and Carleton Walker

    After Peter Mallett's heirs deeded their shares of Lot 19 to their sister Caroline Mary Mallett Walker, a one-and-a-half-story Federal house was apparently built there for her and her husband Carleton Walker. With Ayr Mount it is one of only two lateral-hall houses in Hillsborough.

  38. Construction or physical change · Over-the-River (Norwood-Webb-Cheshire House), 210 US 70A, Hillsborough John Wall Norwood builds Over-the-River across the Eno from Hillsborough

    John Wall Norwood and his wife built a two-story, center-hall house south of the Eno opposite the town. It became known as Over-the-River and later as the Norwood-Webb-Cheshire House.

  39. Construction or physical change · Eagle Lodge, 142 West King Street, Hillsborough The cornerstone of Eagle Lodge's Masonic hall is laid on West King Street

    The cornerstone of the brick Masonic hall at 142 West King Street, designed by state architect William Nichols and believed built by brickmasons John Berry and Samuel Hancock, was laid on November 23, 1823. The lot was deeded to the lodge in 1824 after the building went up.

  40. Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough Free Black woodworker Thomas Day advertises in Hillsborough

    Thomas Day, the free Black cabinetmaker, lived in Hillsborough for a time and advertised his business in local papers in 1824.

  41. Construction or physical change · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 210 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough John Berry and Samuel Hancock build St. Matthew's Episcopal Church to William Nichols's design

    St. Matthew's, an early Gothic Revival church of Flemish-bond brick, was built in 1825-1826 by the local masons John Berry and Samuel Hancock to a design by William Nichols, who set its size at 35 by 45 feet. It replaced an earlier church at Churton and West Tryon streets that had burned in 1793.

  42. Property or economic transaction · Hasell-Nash House, 116 West Queen Street, Hillsborough Eliza Hasell sells her West Queen Street house to Samuel Simpson of New Bern

    In 1829 Eliza Hasell and her new husband, the Rev. William S. Plumer, sold the house to Samuel Simpson of New Bern. It later passed to his daughter Mary and her husband Henry Kollock Nash, who lived there until their deaths in 1897; their daughter Annie Nash kept it until 1919.

  43. 1830s
  44. Construction or physical change · 139 West King Street, Hillsborough Dr. Edmund Strudwick builds a medical office on West King Street

    Dr. Edmund Strudwick put up a one-story, two-room frame office at 139 West King Street, on the site of Edmund Fanning's law office. Dr. W. F. Strudwick later practised there and Robert Strudwick used it as a law office.

  45. Construction or physical change · Southeast corner of North Churton and East Union streets (house now at 123 East Union Street), Hillsborough Schoolmaster William J. Bingham builds a house at Churton and Union streets

    William James Bingham, then head of the Hillsborough Academy, builds a one-and-a-half-story house at the southeast corner of North Churton and East Union streets and lives there until 1845. Later owners included the Methodist church, which used it for a time as a parsonage.

  46. Construction or physical change · Turner-Strudwick House, 404 North Churton Street, Hillsborough The house of tinner Josiah Turner Sr. is built on North Churton Street

    The Turner house at 404 North Churton Street is built about 1833 on a five-acre lot bounded by Churton, Orange and Union streets. It appears on John L. Bailey's 1839 map and was the home of Josiah Turner Sr., a tinner, and his family.

  47. Construction or physical change · Burnside, 201 South Cameron Street, Hillsborough Paul C. Cameron builds Burnside on the foundation of Thomas Ruffin's old house

    Paul Cameron built the town house he named Burnside on South Cameron Street, on the stone foundation of his father-in-law Thomas Ruffin's earlier house. Enslaved workers from Cameron's Fairntosh plantation built it under his master carpenter Jack, and John Berry laid the brick.

  48. Property or economic transaction · Haralson-Strudwick House site, 114 West Queen Street, Hillsborough Dr. Edmund Strudwick buys Archibald Haralson's house on West Queen Street and enlarges it

    Dr. Edmund Strudwick bought the house from Archibald Haralson in 1837, enlarged it, and is thought to have built the brick kitchen that still stands in the rear yard. The house became known as the Haralson-Strudwick House.

  49. Construction or physical change · 117 East Queen Street, Hillsborough Dr. James Webb builds a house around Polly Burke's log schoolhouse

    About twenty years after the one-room log schoolhouse went up on his East Queen Street land, Dr. James Webb built a house around it, with the log room as its living room.

  50. Construction or physical change · Colonial Inn, Hillsborough Isaiah Spencer builds the Hillsborough inn later called the Colonial Inn

    Isaiah Spencer built the two-story inn on West King Street in 1838. His advertisement of October 17 offered the house, built for a hotel on the street leading west from the court house, and in mid-November the Recorder noted it lately opened. Known locally as Spencer's Tavern and advertised as the Orange Hotel, a name it kept for fifty years, it was later the Occoneechee Hotel, the Corbinton Inn and, from 1946, the Colonial Inn. Local lore and a 1953 plate caption put it in the eighteenth century.

  51. Property or economic transaction · Burnside, 201 South Cameron Street, Hillsborough Paul Cameron sells Burnside to Cadwallader Jones Jr.

    Paul Cameron sold Burnside, his three-year-old Hillsborough house, to Cadwallader Jones Jr. for $2,000. Jones sold it back to Cameron in the 1850s when he ran into money trouble.

  52. Property or economic transaction · Alexander Dickson House, then near NC 86 at Interstate 85 outside Hillsborough (now 150 East King Street) Alexander Dickson becomes owner of the house later called the Alexander Dickson House

    Around 1839 Alexander Dickson acquired the late-Georgian frame farmhouse of about 1790 that stood near the later junction of Interstate 85 and NC 86 outside Hillsborough. Joseph E. Johnston used it as his headquarters in 1865, and it was moved to 150 East King Street in 1983.

  53. 1840s
  54. Construction or physical change · 115 East Queen Street, Hillsborough Dennis Heartt's family adds a two-story wing to Heartsease

    After buying Polly Burke's Queen Street house in 1837, the family of Recorder editor Dennis Heartt named it Heartsease and built a two-story Greek Revival wing on its west side about 1840.

  55. Construction or physical change · Peter Brown Ruffin House (Ruffin-Snipes House), 320 West King Street, Hillsborough John Berry adds a rear ell to Peter Brown Ruffin's house on West King Street

    Builder John Berry added at least one two-story rear ell, with a Federal-style stair typical of his work, to the 1820s house that Peter Brown Ruffin owned in the 1840s. The house's first owner is unknown.

  56. Construction or physical change · William Alexander Graham Law Office, Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough William A. Graham builds a law office on his new Eno River property, Montrose

    On buying the property in 1842, William A. Graham built a one-and-a-half-story frame law office there. It survives on the Montrose grounds; his son John W. Graham added a two-room rear ell around 1893.

  57. Property or economic transaction · 120 West Corbin Street, Hillsborough Nathan Hooker buys ninety-four acres on the north side of Hillsborough

    Nathan Hooker bought two tracts of just over ninety-four acres on the northern edge of town. A one-room Greek Revival cottage at 120 West Corbin Street, dated about 1843, is said to be the surviving wing of his house, which later burned.

  58. Construction or physical change · Corner of North Churton and East Queen streets, Hillsborough The Old Orange County Courthouse is moved up Churton Street to Queen Street

    After the county built a new courthouse, its commissioners advertised the old wooden courthouse for sale at the November 1845 county court, to be removed from the court square. The Baptist missionary Elias Dodson bought it, and by about 1847 it stood at the corner of Churton and Queen streets as a church. The building later became the freedmen's school and then the home of Dickerson Chapel AME Church.

  59. Construction or physical change · Highlands, 205 US 70A, Hillsborough Andrew Mickle turns the log schoolhouse at Highlands into a house

    The log school built south of the Eno around 1844 was converted to a residence, and Andrew Mickle added a three-bay, two-story side-hall section in 1846. Paul C. Cameron enlarged it again in 1857.

  60. Property or economic transaction · Mallett House (Patterson-Palmer House), 173 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough Caroline Mallett Walker conveys the Margaret Lane house to James M. Palmer

    In 1846 Caroline Mary Walker conveyed the lateral-hall house at 173 West Margaret Lane, by deed of trust, to James M. Palmer. Palmer, bankrupt, gave it up in 1863, and a later owner, Tom Haise or Hayes, kept a shoemaker's shop there.

  61. Property or economic transaction · Over-the-River (Norwood-Webb-Cheshire House), 210 US 70A, Hillsborough James Webb Jr. and his wife buy Over-the-River from the Norwoods and enlarge it

    John Wall Norwood and his wife sold Over-the-River to James Webb Jr. and his wife, who added to the two-story wing. In 1936 the house was sold to Mr. and Mrs. James Webb Cheshire.

  62. 1850s
  63. Construction or physical change · Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough English landscape designer Thomas Paxton lays out the Montrose grounds for Mrs. William A. Graham

    The terraced landscape at Montrose, running down to the Eno, was first shaped in the 1850s by the English landscape architect Thomas Paxton, working under the direction of Mrs. William A. Graham.

  64. Construction or physical change · 114 West Orange Street, Hillsborough The old Burwell schoolroom is said to be moved to West Orange Street during John Berry's work on the Burwell School

    The west wing of the bungalow at 114 West Orange Street is reputed to be the old Burwell schoolroom, moved there in 1850 while John Berry was renovating the Burwell School. The house around it dates from 1922.

  65. Construction or physical change · BelleVue (Phillips-Hill-Webb House), 209 East Tryon Street, Hillsborough Thomas Blount Hill buys the Phillips place and makes it the BelleVue villa

    Thomas Blount Hill of Halifax County buys the East Tryon Street estate and adds a west wing, a three-story central tower and wide porches, turning the old house into an Italianate villa he names BelleVue. It passed to his daughter Mary Alice and her husband Joseph Cheshire Webb, and in the 1980s opened as the Hillsborough House Inn.

  66. Founding or opening · Corner of North Churton and East Queen streets, Hillsborough First Baptist Church of Hillsborough is organized in the old courthouse

    The First Baptist Church was organized in Hillsborough and met in the former 1790 courthouse building, now Dickerson Chapel, until 1862, while it raised its own church building on a lot acquired between 1854 and 1860.

  67. Property or economic transaction · Eno Lodge, 229 South Churton Street (drive from US 70A), Hillsborough Judge John L. Bailey buys the Norwood house south of the Eno and names it Eno Lodge

    Superior court judge John Lancaster Bailey bought the house above the Eno from Joseph C. Norwood, probably added the rear ell and north bay, and called it Eno Lodge. He lived there until about the start of the Civil War, when he moved to Buncombe County.

  68. Property or economic transaction · Parks-Richmond House lot (Lot 18), 175 West King Street, Hillsborough Ralph Graves sells the West King Street lot later the Parks-Richmond House to John J. Freeland

    In 1854 Ralph Graves, husband of Emma Taylor, sold Lot 18 on West King Street, for many years the home of clerk of court John Taylor, to John J. Freeland. Elbert H. and Emily Pogue owned it from the 1870s.

  69. Property or economic transaction · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 210 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough Thomas Ruffin deeds St. Matthew's Church the land he had given by word around

    Thomas Ruffin's deed of April 10, 1854 formally conveyed 1 1/3 acres to St. Matthew's Church, land he had given verbally around 1820. The tract was later enlarged for the church, parish house and walled cemetery.

  70. Construction or physical change · King-Richards-Johnston House, 131 West King Street, Hillsborough The King-Richards-Johnston House is built on West King Street

    The one-and-a-half-story frame house at 131 West King Street, dated by Bellinger to about 1855, was a boarding house by 1894. Owners of the property over the years included Abner Nash, William Courtney, Jehu Whitted, William D. Murphy, Henry Richards and Mayor Ben G. Johnston.

  71. Construction or physical change · Cameron Ice House, south of Cameron Park Elementary School (200 East King Street parcel), Hillsborough An octagonal brick ice house is built for Burnside

    A mostly underground octagonal brick ice house with a conical shingled roof was built for Burnside, the Cameron family estate on South Cameron Street; the brickwork is said to be John Berry's. It stands in the woods south of Cameron Park Elementary School and was restored around 2002.

  72. Construction or physical change · Highlands, 205 US 70A, Hillsborough Paul C. Cameron enlarges Highlands, the former log schoolhouse south of the Eno

    Paul C. Cameron added two bays to Highlands, giving it the center-hall plan it keeps. The house had begun about 1844 as a log school and was made a dwelling by Andrew Mickle in 1846.

  73. Construction or physical change · Cameron Park, Burnside grounds, South Cameron Street, Hillsborough Paul Cameron brings English gardener Thomas A. Adams to plant the Burnside grounds

    Paul Cameron hired Thomas A. Adams, a landscape gardener from Chester, England, to plant the twenty-acre front yard of Burnside with trees ordered from Parsons and Co. of Long Island. The grounds became known as Cameron Park, and many of the trees still stand.

  74. Construction or physical change · Sans Souci, 235 East Corbin Street, Hillsborough Pride Jones has John Berry enlarge Sans Souci

    After inheriting Sans Souci from Dr. William Cain in 1857, Dr. Pride Jones has builder John Berry renovate the house, adding the rear dining room and stair, the full-width front porch and the one-story wings.

  75. Property or economic transaction · Roulhac-Hamilton House (Laburnum Cottage), 143 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Thomas Ruffin buys a West Tryon Street house for his widowed daughter Catherine Roulhac

    About 1857 Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin bought the house at 143 West Tryon Street, built around 1840, for his widowed daughter Catherine Ruffin Roulhac, who named it Laburnum Cottage. After her death in 1880 it passed to her daughter Annie Roulhac and then to the Hamilton family, whose children included the historian J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton.

  76. 1860s
  77. Construction or physical change · Ruffin-Hill House grounds, 311 and 313 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough Brick quarters for enslaved people are built at the Mangum House on St. Mary's Road

    Around 1860 two four-bay brick buildings, likely quarters for enslaved people, and a brick smokehouse were built to serve the Priestly Mangum House on St. Mary's Road. The house later burned, and the Ruffin-Hill House went up near its site in 1877-1878; the quarters still stand at 311 and 313 St. Mary's Road.

  78. Construction or physical change · Eagle Lodge, 142 West King Street, Hillsborough Eagle Lodge's rooftop observatory is taken down and a hipped roof built

    In 1862 the glassed-in observatory on the roof of the Masonic hall, said to have predated President Caldwell's 1831 observatory at the university, was removed and the present hipped roof built.

  79. Disaster or outbreak · Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough William A. Graham's house at Montrose burns

    The house the Grahams had enlarged at Montrose burned in 1862, and the family moved to a house on West Tryon Street. Only the law office and outbuildings were left on the land.

  80. Property or economic transaction · John Newman House, 230 West Queen Street, Hillsborough John Newman acquires the old Federal house on West Queen Street that his family keeps for generations

    John Newman acquired the one-story Federal house at 230 West Queen Street in the mid-1860s. It passed to his son William Henry Newman in 1917 and then to his daughters Estelle, Josie and Gertrude, and late 1940s wings were added on each side.

  81. Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough, Ruffin-Roulhac House Thomas Ruffin buys the Hillsborough house he called Little Hawfields

    The house on East Orange Street, built about 1821 and enlarged in the 1830s, was sold to Thomas Ruffin in 1865. He named it Little Hawfields. The Town of Hillsborough acquired the property in 1972 and made it the Town Hall.

  82. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

  83. Property or economic transaction · 135 Court Street, Hillsborough John Wall Norwood buys the brick law office facing the courthouse

    Attorney Richard Ashe sold the one-room brick law office on Court Street, facing the Orange County Courthouse, to John Wall Norwood for $400. The office, already shown on an 1839 map, is now called the Norwood Law Office.

  84. 1870s
  85. Founding or opening · William Whitted House, 306 North Churton Street / 103 East Queen Street, Hillsborough Eliza Beaty keeps a boarding house in the William Whitted House

    In the late nineteenth century Mrs. Eliza Beaty runs a well-known boarding house in the old William Whitted House at East Queen and North Churton streets. The Italianate wing facing Churton Street may have been added for her.

  86. Construction or physical change · Burnside, 201 South Cameron Street, Hillsborough The Camerons move a two-story building thought to be slave quarters to Burnside

    In the late nineteenth century the Cameron family moves a two-story frame building, thought to have been built as quarters for enslaved people, to the southeast corner of the Burnside house at 201 South Cameron Street. It was joined to the main house at the second floor in the 1950s.

  87. Life event · Hillsborough, Ruffin-Roulhac House Thomas Ruffin dies at his Hillsborough home

    Ruffin died in the northeast room of the house on January 15, 1870, and his widow Anne inherited the estate. He was buried at St. Matthew's Church in Hillsborough, on ground he had given for the church, where he had served on the vestry.

  88. Property or economic transaction · Turner-Strudwick House, 404 North Churton Street, Hillsborough The Turner family goes bankrupt and its North Churton Street estate is sold at auction

    In 1872 the Turner family goes bankrupt and its estate around the house at 404 North Churton Street is sold at auction. Edmund Strudwick of Norfolk bought the house in 1887.

  89. Appointment, election or service · Twin Chimneys, 168 West King Street, Hillsborough Harriet H. Strayhorn serves as Hillsborough's postmistress

    Harriet H. Strayhorn, who with William F. Strayhorn owned Twin Chimneys on West King Street, was Hillsborough's postmistress from 1873 to 1881.

  90. Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough United Methodist Church, 130 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodist Church finishes paying for its building

    The Civil War interrupted work on the brick church John Berry designed and built on West Tryon Street, and the congregation did not finish paying for it until 1874.

  91. Construction or physical change · Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough Maj. John W. Graham builds a twelve-room house at Montrose on his father's old foundation

    In 1874 William A. Graham gave the vacant Montrose land to his son Maj. John W. Graham, who built a twelve-room house on the foundation of the first house. It burned in 1893.

  92. Life event · Hillsborough, Ruffin-Roulhac House Anne Ruffin dies and Little Hawfields passes to her heirs

    Anne Kirkland Ruffin, who had inherited the Hillsborough house on Thomas Ruffin's death in 1870, died in 1875. The estate passed to her children and a grandchild.

  93. Construction or physical change · 219 North Churton Street, Hillsborough James A. Cheek builds an Italianate house on North Churton Street

    James A. Cheek built a five-bay Italianate I-house with an ornate sawnwork porch on Lot 78, on a rise above North Churton Street. His family kept it until 1908; a brick kitchen and an 1880s barn survive behind it.

  94. Construction or physical change · St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 210 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough St. Matthew's Episcopal Church reworks its entrance tower and adds the spire

    In 1875 the west entrance tower of St. Matthew's was reworked and given its slate-covered spire.

  95. Construction or physical change · 311 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough Thomas Ruffin Jr. and his wife Mary build the Ruffin-Hill House

    Thomas Ruffin Jr. and his wife Mary built an I-house with Italianate and Eastlake trim on a 47-acre tract near the burned Priestly Mangum House. Their daughter Mary Ruffin Hill and her husband Thomas Hill lived there for many years.

  96. 1880s
  97. Construction or physical change · Old Orange County Courthouse, 104 East King Street, Hillsborough The upstairs courtroom of the Orange County Courthouse is renovated

    In the 1880s the second-floor courtroom of John Berry's 1844-1845 courthouse on East King Street was renovated; the rest of the interior keeps most of its original finish.

  98. Construction or physical change · 131 East Queen Street, Hillsborough James Webb Jr. builds Mid-Lawn at East Queen and North Cameron streets

    James Webb Jr. built a two-story Italianate house, later called Mid-Lawn, on the northwest corner of East Queen and North Cameron streets. The Observer reported his 'very handsome residence' nearly finished in November 1884 and Webb moved into his new house by April 1885; if that is this house, it was finished then rather than in 1881. David and Elizabeth Patterson bought it in 1919.

  99. Founding or opening · Park Building, 128 North Churton Street, Hillsborough The Park Building, a brick general store, stands on North Churton Street

    C. M. Parks's large brick store on Churton Street was going up in August 1883 and was to be occupied about the start of 1884; it is very probably the two-story pressed-brick building at 128 North Churton Street, one of the oldest commercial buildings in the district, labeled the Park Building on Sanborn maps from 1884 to 1911. It now serves as a bank with drive-through lanes.

  100. Founding or opening · 106 North Churton Street, Hillsborough A brick saloon and barber shop stands at 106 North Churton Street

    The two-story brick building at 106 North Churton Street appears as a saloon and barber shop on the Sanborn maps from 1884 through 1911. By 1924 it held bank offices, and its storefront was redone in the Colonial Revival style about the 1930s.

  101. Construction or physical change · Edward Atkins Rosemond House, 115 East Tryon Street, Hillsborough Edward Atkins Rosemond builds his house on East Tryon Street

    Edward Atkins Rosemond built a two-story I-house on the East Tryon Street lot he had bought in 1885; the Observer reported his 'handsome new residence' finished and his family moved in by April 1886. It was enlarged at the rear by 1905 and given a front-gabled east wing by 1911.

  102. Property or economic transaction · 115 East Tryon Street, Hillsborough Edward Atkins Rosemond buys the East Tryon Street lot where he builds his house

    Deeds show Edward Atkins Rosemond bought the property at 115 East Tryon Street in 1885. His two-story I-house went up between 1888 and 1894, was enlarged by 1905 and 1911, and passed to his daughter and granddaughter.

  103. Property or economic transaction · 404 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Edmund Strudwick of Norfolk buys the Turner house on North Churton Street for his mother and sisters

    Norfolk cotton merchant Edmund Strudwick bought the house built for tinner Josiah Turner Sr. and enlarged it for his mother and sisters, apparently adding the gables, bay windows and new sash that give it a Victorian look.

  104. Property or economic transaction · Colonial Inn (then the Occoneechee Hotel), 153 West King Street, Hillsborough The old Spencer inn changes hands and gains a two-story street piazza

    The 2014 survey says Richison Nichols bought Isaiah Spencer's inn, apparently in 1888, and built the two-story piazza that reaches the street. The Observer reported the Orange Hotel property sold at auction on May 21, 1888 to D. C. Parks for $3,000, and Parks was renting the hotel to M. W. McCollum that September; whether that was this inn is not stated. The 1888 Sanborn map shows it as the Occoneechee Hotel, the name it kept until 1908.

  105. Construction or physical change · 110 East Orange Street, Hillsborough A small office from the Turner-Strudwick grounds is moved to East Orange Street

    A one-story frame office on the Turner-Strudwick House lot, shown on John Bailey's 1839 map when the lot belonged to Josiah Turner Sr., was moved next door to 110 East Orange Street, two years after Edmund Strudwick of Norfolk bought the property. It was later enlarged into a house and rebuilt in 1987. It is not Dr. Edmund Strudwick's medical office on West King Street.

  106. Construction or physical change · First Baptist Church, 201 West King Street, Hillsborough First Baptist Church of Hillsborough repairs its church and ties the walls with rods

    In 1889 the Romanesque Revival brick church at 201 West King Street, which John Berry finished by 1868, was fully repaired, including reinforcing its walls with rods.

  107. Property or economic transaction · 175 West King Street and the Colonial Inn, Hillsborough David C. Parks buys the Parks-Richmond lot and joins it to the Colonial Inn lot as one hotel

    D. C. Parks bought Town Lot 18 on West King Street and combined it with Lot 15, the site of the present Colonial Inn, to run them as one hotel. The house on Lot 18 held the office, reception rooms and dining room, and the inn building held the sleeping rooms.

  108. 1890s
  109. Construction or physical change · Colonial Inn, Parks-Richmond House and Twin Chimneys, 153, 175 and 168 West King Street, Hillsborough D. C. Parks has designer Jules Körner remodel his hotel buildings and Twin Chimneys

    While he owned the Occoneechee Hotel, David C. Parks hired Jules Körner of Kernersville to update the hotel, the Parks-Richmond House next door and Twin Chimneys across West King Street, giving them new window and door frames with pointed-arch surrounds.

  110. Property or economic transaction · Poplar Hill (Occoneechee Farm), south bank of the Eno River, Hillsborough Julian S. Carr buys Poplar Hill south of the Eno and renames the estate Occoneechee Farm

    The Norwood family sold Poplar Hill, the house James Hogg had built about 1794 on the south bank of the Eno, to the Durham industrialist Julian S. Carr, who renamed the property Occoneechee Farm. Carr enlarged and altered the house over the next three decades.

  111. Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, 102 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough The Hillsborough Presbyterian Church is stuccoed and given Gothic windows and a shingled tower

    In 1892 the 1816 brick church was covered with scored stucco and given pointed-arch windows, a gabled roof and a shingled entrance tower with a spire; a two-story rear wing was probably added at the same time. Carpenters were at work by April 9, and the congregation held its first service in the remodeled church on September 18, 1892.

  112. Construction or physical change · 109 West King Street, Hillsborough A one-story brick store, a drug store by 1900, is built at 109 West King Street

    The 1894 Sanborn map shows a smaller building on the lot at 109 West King Street; by 1900 the map shows a brick store much like the present one, labeled a drug store. It was a jeweler's in 1911.

  113. Construction or physical change · Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough John W. Graham builds the present house at Montrose

    After his 1893 fire, John W. Graham lived in the enlarged law office until 1899, when he let the contract for a new residence on his lot east of town: the two-story frame house that is the core of the present Montrose, the third house on the site. Work began in June and was to be finished by October.

  114. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

  115. 1900s
  116. Construction or physical change · B. B. Forrest House, 114 North Wake Street, Hillsborough Merchant B. B. Forrest has a Victorian cottage built on North Wake Street

    A one-story T-shaped cottage with shingled gables and bracketed porches was built for B. B. Forrest, partner in the O. J. and B. B. Forrest general store, about the year he married Mollie Belle Smith of Leasburg. The 2014 district update calls it a rare, intact example of a T-shaped Victorian cottage.

  117. Construction or physical change · 123 East Union Street (moved from the southeast corner of North Churton and East Union streets), Hillsborough The Bingham house is moved down East Union Street to clear the corner for Shepperd Strudwick's house

    The 1831 William J. Bingham House is moved half a block east on East Union Street so that Shepperd Strudwick can build on its lot at the corner of Churton and Union. Much of the old house's outside dates from the move.

  118. Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick builds a Churton Street house designed by Ralph Adams Cram

    Shepperd Strudwick built a Neoclassical Revival house on Churton Street to a design Ralph Adams Cram drew about 1904; Cram's wife Elizabeth was the sister of Strudwick's wife Susan. The site had been cleared in 1903 by moving the antebellum W. J. Bingham House down East Union Street, and the house was finished about 1908. It was later named Tamarind.

  119. Founding or opening · Cole Hotel, 132 West King Street, Hillsborough A West King Street house becomes the Cole Hotel

    The house at 132 West King Street, a one-story residence on the 1905 Sanborn map, is labeled the Cole Hotel by 1911. It was raised to two full stories with a wraparound porch by 1924 and was a private house again before 1943.

  120. Property or economic transaction · Nash-Hooper House, 118 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough The Graham family gives up the Nash-Hooper House

    The family of former governor William A. Graham, who bought the West Tryon Street house about 1870, owned it until 1906. After that it passed through a number of families.

  121. Construction or physical change · B. B. Forrest House, 176 West King Street, Hillsborough A Colonial Revival house is built on West King Street for merchant B. B. Forrest

    A large two-and-a-half-story Colonial Revival house was built around 1907 at 176 West King Street for B. B. Forrest, who ran a general store. It first appears on the 1911 Sanborn map.

  122. Property or economic transaction · 139 West King Street, Hillsborough Attorney Frank Nash inherits the old Strudwick office and makes it his office and home

    Frank Nash inherited the former Strudwick medical and law office at 139 West King Street and used it as both his law office and his home. It has been a private house since 1924.

  123. Property or economic transaction · James A. Cheek House, 219 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Allen J. and Annie Gray Ruffin buy the James A. Cheek House

    The Cheek family, owners since about 1875, sells the Italianate house at 219 North Churton Street to Allen J. and Annie Gray Ruffin in October 1907, for $5,000 with five acres. Annie Gray Ruffin, by then a widow, sold it to Houston J. Walker in 1919.

  124. Construction or physical change · 158 West King Street, Hillsborough A Queen Anne house is built on West King Street for Samuel Mallett Gattis

    The two-story house at 158 West King Street was built for lawyer Samuel Mallett Gattis, former clerk of superior court and Speaker of the state House in 1903. The Gattis family also rebuilt the lot's old wellhouse that year.

  125. 1910s
  126. Construction or physical change · Collins-Lynch House, 312 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Banker Paul Collins builds a Queen Anne house on North Churton Street

    Banker Paul Collins builds the house at 312 North Churton Street about 1910 as a family home and a summer residence for his aunt from Edenton. It was later the longtime home of Edwin Lynch, clerk of superior court.

  127. Founding or opening · 113 North Churton Street, Hillsborough A general store goes up at 113 North Churton Street, later a Chevrolet dealership

    The two-story brick building at 113 North Churton Street, shown on the 1911 Sanborn map, is built as a general store, later houses a Chevrolet dealership and is now a bank. Its Colonial Revival storefront was likely added in the 1930s.

  128. Construction or physical change · 203 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough An eighteenth-century house on West Margaret Lane is moved back from the street

    A two-story frame house at 203 West Margaret Lane, possibly one of the town's earliest, stood flush with the lane on Sanborn maps from 1894 and was likely moved back to its present spot around 1911, when its wraparound porch was built.

  129. Statistic or record · 118 West King Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough's post office occupies a brick building at 118 West King Street

    The 1911 Sanborn map shows the post office in the two-story brick building at 118 West King Street, with a barber on the second floor. The building was later cut down to one story and given a new front.

  130. Property or economic transaction · Block of North Churton, East Orange and East Union streets, Hillsborough The Turner-Strudwick block is cut into house lots as the J. A. Hogan subdivision

    The five-acre lot around the Turner-Strudwick House, bounded by Churton, Orange and Union streets, was divided into smaller lots as the J. A. Hogan subdivision, and houses later filled the land around it.

  131. Construction or physical change · Durham House, 110 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough merchant "Dr." Durham has a Craftsman bungalow built on West Tryon Street

    About 1912 a downtown general merchant named Durham, known in town as "Dr. Durham" though he was not a physician, had a large one-and-a-half-story bungalow built for himself at 110 West Tryon Street. Its wraparound porch has ogee-arched spans between the columns.

  132. Construction or physical change · Smith Furniture Store, 126 West King Street, Hillsborough The two-story brick building later the Smith Furniture Store is built at 126 West King Street

    A two-story brick commercial building with mousetooth corbelling at the parapet was built at 126 West King Street around 1912. The document calls it the Smith Furniture Store.

  133. Construction or physical change · Movie theater, 122 West King Street, Hillsborough A two-story brick movie theater is built at 122 West King Street

    A brick movie theater with a cable-hung marquee across its front and an upstairs projection booth was built at 122 West King Street around 1914. It is on the 1924 Sanborn map.

  134. Property or economic transaction · Ruffin-Hill House, 311 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough The Ruffin-Hill tract on St. Mary's Road is sold to A. S. Mitchell, who divides it

    In 1914 the 47 1/2-acre Ruffin-Hill tract, long the home of Mary Ruffin Hill and her husband Thomas Hill, was conveyed to A. S. Mitchell, who subdivided the land.

  135. Property or economic transaction · 219 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Houston J. Walker buys the James A. Cheek House from Annie Gray Ruffin

    Annie Gray Ruffin, widowed since she and Allen J. Ruffin bought the Cheek house in 1908, sold it to Houston J. Walker. Three years later Walker and his son Allen H. Walker Sr. opened Walker's Funeral Home in Hillsborough.

  136. Property or economic transaction · Webb-Patterson House (Mid-Lawn), 131 East Queen Street, Hillsborough James Webb Jr.'s house Mid-Lawn is sold to David and Elizabeth Patterson

    In 1919 Mid-Lawn, the Italianate house James Webb Jr. built in 1881 at East Queen and North Cameron streets, was sold to David and Elizabeth Patterson. It has since been known as the Webb-Patterson House.

  137. 1920s
  138. Construction or physical change · 100-108 South Churton Street, Hillsborough Three matching brick buildings for car sales and repair go up on South Churton Street

    In the early 1920s three two-story brick buildings with matching arched Craftsman transoms replace earlier buildings at 100, 106 and 108 South Churton Street. The 1924 Sanborn map marks 108 as auto repair and 106 as built from plans, and the 1943 map shows 106 as auto sales.

  139. Construction or physical change · 425-427 West King Street, Hillsborough A neighborhood grocery is built at 425-427 West King Street

    A one-story frame grocery was built around 1921 at 425-427 West King Street; the 1924 Sanborn map shows it as commercial, and by 1943 it had been made into a duplex. A small store facing South Nash Street was added at its rear after 1943.

  140. Construction or physical change · 212-218 South Occoneechee Street, Hillsborough Story-and-a-half houses, probably mill housing for the Newport Manufacturing Company, go up on South Occoneechee Street

    Three matching one-and-a-half-story houses at 212, 216 and 218 South Occoneechee Street, built around 1920-1921, may have been mill houses for the Newport Manufacturing Company, which the 1924 Sanborn map shows on nearby Calvin Street.

  141. Construction or physical change · 112 North Hassell Street, Hillsborough The O. E. Bivins House, a Craftsman bungalow, is built on North Hassell Street

    The 2014 National Register documentation for the Hillsborough Historic District names the hip-roofed Craftsman bungalow at 112 North Hassell Street the O. E. Bivins House and dates it about 1922. O. E. Bivins was a Hillsboro manufacturer who ran the town's tobacco basket factory with his brothers.

  142. Construction or physical change · 136-138 North Churton Street, Hillsborough A gas station and garage is built at 136-138 North Churton Street

    A low gas station and garage, with a front-gabled canopy that sheltered the pumps, is built at 136-138 North Churton Street in 1924. A concrete-block wing was added on the south side after 1943.

  143. Construction or physical change · First Baptist Church, 201 West King Street, Hillsborough First Baptist Church of Hillsborough replaces its steeple

    In 1924 the steeple of the First Baptist Church at West King and South Wake streets was replaced; the bell tower now carries a tall four-sided copper steeple.

  144. Statistic or record · 210 West Orange Street, Hillsborough The 1924 Sanborn map shows a school for Black children on West Orange Street

    The 1924 Sanborn map records a 'colored school' on the West Orange Street lot where a Prince Hall Masonic lodge was later built.

  145. Founding or opening · James Pharmacy, 111 North Churton Street, Hillsborough The building at 111 North Churton Street is in use as a drug store, later James Pharmacy

    The yellow-brick building at 111 North Churton Street appears as a drug store on the 1924 Sanborn map. It keeps a 1940s carrara glass sign reading James Pharmacy and much of its original drug store fittings inside.

  146. Statistic or record · William Courtney's Yellow House, 141 East King Street, Hillsborough William Courtney's Yellow House serves as Hillsborough's telephone exchange

    The 1924 Sanborn map shows the old Courtney house at 141 East King Street in use as a telephone exchange.

  147. Property or economic transaction · Northeast corner of Churton and Tryon streets (200 North Churton Street), Hillsborough The Esso company buys the Lockhart house at Churton and Tryon and moves its front half next door

    About 1927 the Esso company bought the eighteenth-century Catherine Lockhart house at the northeast corner of Churton and Tryon streets. The front half was moved to the lot next door on East Tryon Street, and the corner became the site of a filling station.

  148. Construction or physical change · 101-107 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Three brick stores are built at 101-107 North Churton Street after a fire

    After fire destroyed the Berry Building on North Churton Street, three brick stores went up on the site together. Plaques saved from the old building, crediting Captain John Berry in 1869, were set between the new storefronts with one reading 'Rebuilt 1927.'

  149. Property or economic transaction · Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough Alexander H. Graham inherits Montrose on the death of his father, John W. Graham

    When John W. Graham died in 1928, Montrose passed to his son Alexander H. 'Sandy' Graham, later lieutenant governor.

  150. Construction or physical change · Cates House, 108 South Hillsborough Avenue, Hillsborough H. Scott and Alice Cates build a stone house on South Hillsborough Avenue

    A Colonial Revival house faced in rough-coursed stone was built for H. Scott and Alice Cates at South Hillsborough Avenue and West Margaret Lane. It is one of only two stone houses in Hillsborough.

  151. 1930s
  152. Construction or physical change · 118 South Churton Street, Hillsborough A brick building that housed the post office goes up at 118 South Churton Street

    A one-story beige brick commercial building is put up about 1930 at 118 South Churton Street and is labeled post office on the 1943 Sanborn map. The post office moved to a new building farther down South Churton Street in 1958.

  153. Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Manufacturing Company buildings, 503-513 North Churton Street, Hillsborough The Hillsborough Manufacturing Company builds a warehouse and woodworking shop on North Churton Street

    Around 1930 the Hillsborough Manufacturing Company puts up a building supply warehouse at 503-505 North Churton Street and a woodworking shop next door at 507-513, both on the 1943 Sanborn map. The warehouse was made into two apartments in the 1950s and the shop into five apartments by the 1960s.

  154. Construction or physical change · The Mercantile Center, 121 North Churton Street, Hillsborough The Mercantile Center building on North Churton Street is remodeled in the Spanish Mission style as a dime store

    The two-story brick building at 121 North Churton Street, put up soon after 1911, is remodeled in the 1930s with a tiled pent roof on large brackets, apparently when it became the dime store. Its storefront dates from 1988.

  155. Construction or physical change · 201 South Occoneechee Street, Hillsborough A bungalow goes up on the old Bivins Basket Factory lot on South Occoneechee Street

    By 1931 the Bivins Basket Factory, shown at South Occoneechee Street and West Margaret Lane on the 1924 Sanborn map, had left the site, and a bungalow was built there. The factory's small office may have been moved next door when the house went up.

  156. Construction or physical change · 115 West King Street, Hillsborough A second storefront is built beside the old general store at 115 West King Street

    A new brick store went up on the west side of an 1880s general store building, the two were joined inside, and the older store got a new front. The pair later housed the Dual Supply hardware store.

  157. Closing or ending · Margaret Lane Cemetery, 200 South Occoneechee Street, Hillsborough The last known burials are made at Margaret Lane Cemetery

    Margaret Lane Cemetery, begun as a burial ground for enslaved people before 1852, was used until 1931, according to the plaques placed in 1987. The oldest legible stone is for George W. Hill (1844-1900).

  158. Naming or commemoration · Eagle Lodge, 142 West King Street, Hillsborough Eagle Lodge gets back its original number, 19

    In 1932 the Hillsborough Masonic lodge, chartered as No. 19 in 1791 and revived in 1819 as No. 71, had its original number 19 reinstated. The lodge still owns and meets in its 1823 hall.

  159. Construction or physical change · Strum's Gas Station, 200 South Churton Street, Hillsborough Strum's Gas Station, a Spanish Mission-style filling station, is built on South Churton Street

    The stuccoed Spanish Mission-style gas station at 200 South Churton Street, with a green tile pent roof, is built in 1932 and appears as a filling station on the 1943 Sanborn map.

  160. Construction or physical change · Cates House, 112 West Union Street, Hillsborough Curry Roberts builds a brick house for the Cates family on West Union Street

    A two-story brick Colonial Revival house was built for the Cates family at 112 West Union Street, set far back on a lot running the depth of the block. Curry Roberts built it and the Black brickmason Roosevelt Warner laid the brick; it replaced an earlier house on the lot.

  161. Construction or physical change · Sinclair Gas Station, 105 West Corbin Street, Hillsborough A Mission Revival Sinclair gas station is built at Churton and Corbin streets

    A stuccoed Mission Revival gas station with a tiled porte-cochere is built in the late 1930s at 105 West Corbin Street, set at an angle to face the corner of North Churton and West Corbin. A large two-story addition went up behind it in 2003.

  162. Construction or physical change · 116 Warner Lane, Hillsborough A house marked as the PWA's Little River Teacherage stands on Warner Lane

    The frame house at 116 Warner Lane carries a Public Works Administration sign naming it the Little River Teacherage, project N.C. 1127-F. Warner Lane and its houses are not on the 1924 Sanborn map; the house is on the 1943 map.

  163. Construction or physical change · Roulhac-Hamilton House, 143 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Dr. Bryan Roberts buys the Roulhac-Hamilton House and remakes it as a brick Colonial Revival house

    In 1936 the Hamilton heirs sold the old Laburnum Cottage on West Tryon Street to Dr. Bryan Roberts and his wife. About 1940 they covered it in brick veneer and added a new Colonial Revival entrance and a two-story rear wing, leaving little of the 1840s house visible.

  164. Property or economic transaction · Over-the-River (Norwood-Webb-Cheshire House), 210 US 70A, Hillsborough Mr. and Mrs. James Webb Cheshire buy Over-the-River

    The Norwood house across the Eno, which James Webb Jr. and his wife had bought in 1848, was sold in 1936 to Mr. and Mrs. James Webb Cheshire.

  165. Property or economic transaction · Berry Brick House, 208 West Queen Street, Hillsborough The Berry Brick House leaves the Berry family after 131 years

    The Berry family sold the West Queen Street brick house in 1936 to Mr. and Mrs. F. S. McLarty, who added rear dormers and perhaps the front ones. The McLartys sold it in 1943 to Mr. and Mrs. F. Ross Porter.

  166. Construction or physical change · 117 West Corbin Street, Hillsborough Brickmason Roosevelt Warner builds his own house on West Corbin Street

    Roosevelt Warner, a Black brickmason, built himself a two-story brick Colonial Revival house at 117 West Corbin Street, with a garage apartment of brick and glazed tile behind it. He also laid brick for other Hillsborough houses and in 1963 became the first Black town commissioner.

  167. Property or economic transaction · Parks-Richmond House, 175 West King Street, Hillsborough The Parks family sells the Parks-Richmond House to J. W. and Marguerite Richmond

    The house at 175 West King Street, which D. C. Parks had used as the office, reception room and dining room of his hotel, stayed in the Parks family until 1937, when it was sold to J. W. and Marguerite Richmond. It now operates as the Inn at Teardrops.

  168. Construction or physical change · Parks-Richmond Kitchen, South Wake Street, Hillsborough The Parks-Richmond kitchen is moved west to face South Wake Street

    The kitchen of the Parks-Richmond House, built about 1870, is moved west around 1937 and becomes a house fronting South Wake Street.

  169. Construction or physical change · Dr. Efland Forrest House, 202 West King Street, Hillsborough The Dr. Efland Forrest House is built at West King and North Wake streets

    A two-story Neoclassical Revival house with a full-height Corinthian portico, one of few in Hillsborough, was built around 1938 at 202 West King Street; a sign in the yard names it the Dr. Efland Forrest House.

  170. 1940s
  171. Construction or physical change · Hillsborough United Methodist Church, 130 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough Methodist Church builds an educational wing

    The congregation added a two-story educational wing behind its 1859 church in the 1940s. Another addition and a covered breezeway followed in 1985.

  172. Construction or physical change · Agricultural Services Building, 110 East King Street (109 Court Street), Hillsborough The Agricultural Services Building is built on East King Street in two stages

    A thirteen-bay, two-story brick Colonial Revival office building at 110 East King Street, running through to Court Street, was built in two parts: the left side before World War II and the right side after the war.

  173. Closing or ending · Burnside grounds, South Cameron Street, Hillsborough The James Hogg House on the Burnside grounds is torn down

    The house associated with James Hogg, the Revolutionary-era merchant, was demolished in the 1940s. The remains of one chimney still stand northeast of Burnside.

  174. Founding or opening · William Whitted House, 306 North Churton Street / 103 East Queen Street, Hillsborough The William Whitted House becomes Hillsborough's American Legion post

    In the 1940s the William Whitted House at 306 North Churton Street becomes the home of the local American Legion post. It has since become a private residence again.

  175. Statistic or record · Eno Cotton Mill, West Hillsborough Wartime orders push the Eno Cotton Mill to about 600 workers

    Military demand for cloth during World War II enlarged the Eno Cotton Mill, which by the 1940s employed as many as 600 workers on three shifts.

  176. Construction or physical change · 212 North Churton Street, Hillsborough A filling station is built at 212 North Churton Street

    A parapet-roofed filling station with garage bays goes up at 212 North Churton Street about 1942. Around 1980 it lost its tiled pent roof, was stuccoed and enlarged, and became the John Couch Oil Company.

  177. Founding or opening · 219 South Nash Street, Hillsborough A Freewill Baptist church meets in a former store on South Nash Street

    A small frame building at 219 South Nash Street, shown as a store on the 1911 and 1924 Sanborn maps and later a hot dog stand and a house, appears as the Freewill Baptist Church on the 1943 map. It keeps a small square steeple in its front gable.

  178. Construction or physical change · Hasell-Nash House, 116 West Queen Street, Hillsborough Dr. H. W. Moore restores the Hasell-Nash House with architect Archie Royal Davis

    Dr. H. W. Moore restored the Federal-style Hasell-Nash House on West Queen Street with the help of architect Archie Royal Davis, who extended the rear of the two side wings around 1943.

  179. Construction or physical change · Old Orange County Courthouse, 104 East King Street, Hillsborough The 1844 Orange County Courthouse is rehabilitated

    The county rehabilitated its courthouse of about 1844 in 1943 and later added an annex, but the building stayed too small, and a new courthouse was finished just south of it in 1954.

  180. 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.

  181. Property or economic transaction · Berry Brick House, 208 West Queen Street, Hillsborough The McLartys sell the Berry Brick House to Mr. and Mrs. F. Ross Porter

    In 1943 F. S. McLarty and his wife, who had bought the Berry Brick House in 1936 and added dormers, sold it to Mr. and Mrs. F. Ross Porter.

  182. Construction or physical change · 109 East King Street, Hillsborough A one-story brick store is built at 109 East King Street

    A three-bay brick commercial building with a central entrance between large multi-light display windows was put up at 109 East King Street around 1944.

  183. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

  184. Construction or physical change · 115 East King Street, Hillsborough A brick Colonial Revival office building is built at 115 East King Street

    A one-story Flemish-bond brick office building with a slate roof and a large central display window was built at 115 East King Street around 1945.

  185. 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.

  186. Construction or physical change · 132 North Churton Street, Hillsborough A wartime Army garage from Camp Butner is moved to North Churton Street

    A one-story garage of concrete block and weatherboard, built at Camp Butner in 1942, was moved to 132 North Churton Street in Hillsborough in 1947. It still has five of its original wooden overhead doors.

  187. Construction or physical change · Dickerson Chapel A.M.E. Church (old Orange County Courthouse), 102 East Queen Street, Hillsborough Dickerson Chapel's old courthouse frame is encased in brick

    In 1947 the frame building that began as the third Orange County courthouse was covered in brick, giving Dickerson Chapel A.M.E. Church its present look with pointed-arch stained-glass windows and an entrance tower and steeple.

  188. Construction or physical change · Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough Lt. Gov. Alexander Graham has Watts Carr remodel Montrose as a Colonial Revival house

    In 1948 Lt. Gov. Alexander Graham and his wife hired Durham architect Watts Carr to turn the Victorian house at Montrose into a Colonial Revival one, with a high hipped roof, side wings and a Georgian Revival entrance. Carr helped work in mantels, doors and trim from old Orange County houses, including double doors from the Burwell School.

  189. 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.

  190. 1950s
  191. Construction or physical change · Orange County Sheriff's Department, 144 East Margaret Lane, Hillsborough An office building for the Orange County Sheriff's Department goes up on East Margaret Lane

    A one-story Flemish-bond brick Colonial Revival office building, built to look like a house with a pedimented Corinthian portico, went up at 144 East Margaret Lane in the 1950s for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. It now holds the Orange County District Attorney's offices.

  192. Construction or physical change · Tuscarora Drive, Hillsborough Postwar houses begin to go up on Tuscarora Drive

    A Cape Cod at 110 Tuscarora Drive, built about 1950 south of the Eno, was among the first postwar houses on the street. The oldest house left there, at 418, dates to about 1941.

  193. Statistic or record · Hillsborough and West Hillsborough West Hillsborough outnumbers Hillsborough

    In 1950 the mill villages of West Hillsborough held 1,456 people, more than the 1,329 in the town itself, whose population barely moved from 1,311 in 1940 to 1,349 in 1960.

  194. Construction or physical change · Roseman House, 311 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough Service station operator Roseman builds a brick Ranch house on West Tryon Street

    Mr. Roseman, who ran a gas station downtown, built a brick Ranch house with an attached carport at 311 West Tryon Street in 1952, replacing an earlier frame house.

  195. Construction or physical change · Mt. Zion A.M.E. Parsonage, 211 West Corbin Street, Hillsborough Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church builds a parsonage on West Corbin Street

    Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church builds a brick parsonage at 211 West Corbin Street in 1953, under its pastor the Rev. J. R. Bridges. The church still owns the house.

  196. 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.

  197. 1960s
  198. Construction or physical change · 330 West Orange Street, Hillsborough A mill house is moved from South Wake Street to West Orange Street

    The small house at 330 West Orange Street, built around 1941, is a mill house moved in the 1960s from the 200 block of South Wake Street.

  199. Construction or physical change · Nursing Home, 401 North Churton Street, Hillsborough A nursing home is built at 401 North Churton Street

    A one-story brick nursing home, built in the form of the Ranch houses of its day, goes up about 1960 at 401 North Churton Street.

  200. Construction or physical change · Masonic Lodge, 210 West Orange Street, Hillsborough A two-story lodge for Prince Hall Masons and the Eastern Star is built on West Orange Street

    A concrete-block lodge was built in the 1960s at 210 West Orange Street for St. James Lodge No. 494 of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge and the St. Anita Maria chapter No. 622 of the Eastern Star. It stands on the site of a school for Black children shown on the 1924 Sanborn map and gained a rear wing in 1991.

  201. 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.

  202. Construction or physical change · Mallett House (Patterson-Palmer House), 173 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough Mrs. Erle G. Hill restores the Patterson-Palmer House with architect Archie Royal Davis

    Owner Mrs. Erle G. Hill restored the Federal house on West Margaret Lane with architect Archie Royal Davis, replacing the roof, dormers, front portico, shutters and siding and returning the rooms to their first plan. By 1963 it was shown on Hillsborough's spring pilgrimage.

  203. Construction or physical change · Haralson-Strudwick House site, 114 West Queen Street, Hillsborough The Haralson-Strudwick House on West Queen Street is torn down

    The antebellum house that Dr. Edmund Strudwick had enlarged was razed in 1960. Its brick kitchen was kept and enlarged as a residence, and a Dutch Colonial Revival house went up on the site in 1969.

  204. Construction or physical change · Piedmont Electric Company building, 129 East Tryon Street (205 North Cameron Street), Hillsborough The Piedmont Electric office on East Tryon Street is raised to two stories

    The flat-roofed brick office built for the Piedmont Electric Company around 1950 as a one-story building was enlarged to two stories in 1960.

  205. Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Governor Terry Sanford establishes the Historic Hillsborough Commission

    Interest stirred by the county and town bicentennials led to the commission, whose first projects included buying and restoring the Burwell School in 1965.

  206. Property or economic transaction · Ruffin-Hill House, 311 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough Col. and Mrs. Jacob Moon buy the Ruffin-Hill House

    In 1965 the Ruffin-Hill House on St. Mary's Road, with 2.96 acres, was conveyed to Col. and Mrs. Jacob Moon.

  207. Statistic or record · Berry Brick House, 208 West Queen Street, Hillsborough The Historic American Buildings Survey documents the Berry Brick House

    In 1965 the Historic American Buildings Survey recorded the Berry Brick House, the earliest surviving brick house in the original town, built about 1805 for Rhody Berry.

  208. 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.

  209. Construction or physical change · Eno River Railroad Bridge, near Gold Park, Hillsborough A new iron railroad bridge is built over the Eno at Hillsborough

    An iron railroad bridge on poured concrete piers, bearing a plaque of the Virginia Bridge Iron Company of Roanoke dated 1969, is built across the Eno at the south end of the district near Gold Park.

  210. 1970s
  211. Property or economic transaction · 143 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough The Hillsborough Historical Society buys the Nash Law Office

    After several private owners, the Hillsborough Historical Society bought the Nash Law Office on West Margaret Lane, the oldest law office in town. It had served as a music studio for the Nash and Kollock School until 1907.

  212. Appointment, election or service · Orange County Board of Commissioners, Hillsborough Richard E. Whitted becomes Orange County's first Black county commissioner

    Richard E. Whitted, born in Hillsborough, became the first Black member of the Orange County Board of Commissioners in 1972.

  213. Property or economic transaction · 101 East Orange Street, Hillsborough The Town of Hillsborough buys the Ruffin-Roulhac House for its town hall

    The Ruffin-Roulhac House and its outbuildings, empty since the 1920s, were sold to the Town of Hillsborough in 1972. The town rehabilitated them as its town hall complex by 1975.

  214. Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Hillsborough designates its local historic district

    In the same year the Hillsborough Historic District was nominated to the National Register, the town designated a local historic district.

  215. 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.

  216. Construction or physical change · Ruffin-Roulhac House, 101 East Orange Street, Hillsborough The Ruffin-Roulhac House and its outbuildings are fitted up as Hillsborough's town hall

    After the Town of Hillsborough buys the Ruffin-Roulhac House at 101 East Orange Street in 1972, it rehabilitates the house and its outbuildings, empty since the 1920s, as a town hall complex by 1975.

  217. Recent decades · 1976–2026

  218. Appointment, election or service · Orange County Board of Commissioners, Hillsborough Richard E. Whitted becomes the first Black chair of the Orange County commissioners

    Four years after joining the board, Richard E. Whitted became the first Black chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

  219. Construction or physical change · 144 East King Street, Hillsborough A new United States Post Office is completed on East King Street in Hillsborough

    The post office at 144 East King Street, a one-story Colonial Revival building, was finished in 1977. It was the first of the new government buildings that went up on the blocks south and east of the courthouse in the late twentieth century.

  220. Property or economic transaction · 148 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Clements Funeral Service moves into the old Presbyterian manse on North Churton Street

    Clements Funeral Service took over the house at 148 North Churton Street, which had served as a Presbyterian manse and a doctor's office, and built a chapel beside it in 1980.

  221. Founding or opening · Hillsborough The Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce holds its first Candlelight Tour

    The Chamber of Commerce organized the first Candlelight Tour of Hillsborough's historic houses as heritage tourism grew in importance to the town.

  222. Construction or physical change · Mount Bright Baptist Church, 211 West Union Street, Hillsborough Mount Bright Baptist Church builds its present brick church

    The congregation replaced its earlier church on West Union Street with a one-story brick church with a steeple, and added an education building at the rear in 1990.

  223. 1980s
  224. Construction or physical change · 310 North Hassell Street, Hillsborough A mill-style house is moved from Churton Street to North Hassell Street

    A one-story frame house of about 1910, built like the town's early twentieth-century mill housing, was moved in the 1980s from a lot facing Churton Street just south of the New Orange County Courthouse parking lot to 310 North Hassell Street.

  225. Construction or physical change · Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough An antebellum office from the Henderson Jones house is moved to Montrose

    A small frame office of about 1840, built for the Henderson Jones house north of Hillsborough, was moved to the Montrose grounds around 1980.

  226. Construction or physical change · Orange County Board of Education, 200 East King Street, Hillsborough An office building for the Orange County Board of Education goes up on East King Street

    A one-story brick Colonial Revival building with recessed side wings was built around 1980 at 200 East King Street as the Orange County Board of Education office.

  227. Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Historic District, Hillsborough Archaeological sites are added to the Hillsborough Historic District record

    Additional National Register documentation submitted in 1980 identified archaeological resources within the Hillsborough Historic District; more followed in 1984.

  228. Construction or physical change · North bank of the Eno River, east side of South Churton Street, Hillsborough Houses of African American families on the Eno flood plain off South Churton Street are removed

    A row of small houses occupied by African Americans on the north bank of the Eno, east of South Churton Street and just south of the new Orange County Courthouse, is torn down or moved in the 1980s. One is moved within the district to 310 North Hassell Street.

  229. Construction or physical change · 200-210 South Cameron Street and 200 East King Street, Hillsborough Orange County replaces houses on East Margaret Lane and South Cameron Street with a government complex

    A group of houses on East Margaret Lane and South Cameron Street is cleared for county buildings put up between 1980 and 1988: the Department of Education at 200 East King Street, the Government Services Building at 200 South Cameron, its annex at 208 South Cameron and the Orange Family Medical Group at 210 South Cameron.

  230. Closing or ending · 300 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough The 1922 Hillsborough Township School building closes as a school

    After Orange High School took the upper grades, the old school on West Tryon Street ran as an elementary school until 1980. It later housed the public library and then the Richard E. Whitted Human Services Center.

  231. Founding or opening · Parks-Richmond House, West King Street, Hillsborough The Parks-Richmond House opens as the Inn at Teardrops

    As visitors returned to downtown Hillsborough, the Parks-Richmond House on West King Street was opened as a bed-and-breakfast, the Inn at Teardrops.

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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 4, 2026.

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