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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 6,171 dated events and 63 storylines, each connected to the index. A storyline gathers many dated events into one history, such as the Regulator crisis.

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8 dated events match your filters.

Searched the full chronology of 6,171 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–8.Back to highlights

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8 dated events
1886Reconstruction and the New South
  1. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899
  2. Eben Alexander comes to Chapel Hill as professor of Greek

    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill

    Eben Alexander, who had taught ancient languages at East Tennessee University for thirteen years, accepted the professorship of Greek at the University of North Carolina in 1886 and moved to Chapel Hill.

  3. Professor John DeBerniere Hooper dies

    Life event · Chapel Hill

    Hooper, a first-honor graduate of 1831 who taught French, Latin and then Greek at Chapel Hill before and after the war, died soon after resigning in 1885 because of failing health. Student Solomon C. Weill taught his Greek classes until Eben Alexander arrived.

    People: Eben Alexander

  4. Cornelia Phillips Spencer compiles a catalogue of every student since

    Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill

    For the 1889 centennial the university issued a general catalogue of students from 1795 to 1889, prepared by Cornelia Phillips Spencer after long correspondence and checked by Eben Alexander. It held 5,422 names, with Battle's sketches of the university's history.

    People: Eben Alexander · Kemp Plummer Battle

  5. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
  6. Eben Alexander becomes the university's first dean of the faculty

    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill

    Back from diplomatic service in Greece, Eben Alexander was named the first dean of the faculty under President Francis P. Venable in 1900, heading the College of Liberal Arts and graduate studies and supervising the library until poor health forced a leave in 1909.

    People: Francis Preston Venable

  7. Eben Alexander has the first telephone in Chapel Hill

    Statistic or record · Old Tom Taylor house, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    Bryant lists Professor Eben Alexander, who lived in the old Tom Taylor house on East Franklin Street, as the first in town to have a telephone; in 1901 his number was 1.

  8. A Phi Beta Kappa chapter is established at the university

    Founding or opening · Chapel Hill

    As dean of the faculty, Eben Alexander, himself a Phi Beta Kappa member from Yale, helped establish a chapter of the honor society at the University of North Carolina in 1904.

  9. Venable names Edward Kidder Graham dean of the College of Liberal Arts

    Appointment, election or service · UNC, Chapel Hill

    At 32 the youngest of the senior faculty, Graham took over the English department and replaced Eben Alexander, who was given a year's leave, as dean, with first responsibility for student discipline.

    People: Francis Preston Venable · Eben Alexander

  10. Alexander Residence Hall is built and named for Eben Alexander

    Naming or commemoration · Alexander Residence Hall, Chapel Hill

    A men's dormitory built at the university in 1939 with funds from the New Deal's Public Works Administration was named for Eben Alexander, the former professor of Greek and first dean of the faculty.

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A dated event is a fact, filed on the page of the subject it belongs to: a person, a place, a theme, or a named event or history. Pages are subjects, with their own works and sources; the Place, community, or institution filter also gathers the institutions that recur in the entries without a page of their own. The page opens on the highlights; a search or any filter looks through every dated event and storyline, and each filter’s counts say how many entries choosing it would show alongside the others. A storyline is a longer history that gathers related dated events, and each storyline’s page lists its own. Counts give dated events and storylines separately. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. The correction link under the entries opens the contact form; name the entry and its date and the Friends will check the source. Suggest an event →

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.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026