Chronology

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1. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

2. 1879–1880
   Chapel Hill Charles B. Aycock edits the Ledger in Chapel Hill

   Aycock, then a university student, took over as editor of the weekly Chapel Hill Ledger in 1879, succeeding Cornelia Phillips Spencer. The paper ran until 1880.

3. 1879
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Cornelia Phillips Spencer edits the Chapel Hill Weekly Ledger

   For some months in 1879 Cornelia Phillips Spencer edited the Chapel Hill Weekly Ledger, with students R. P. Pell and Francis D. Winston as assistants. The book calls her the county's only woman editor; Charles B. Aycock took over from her.

4. spring 1880
   Naming or commemoration · Chapel Hill Seniors begin the class tree and Class Day custom

   The class of 1880, led by its president Thomas H. Battle, planted a sugar maple at the edge of the Forbidden Ground after Class Day speeches that included one by Charles B. Aycock. Later classes kept the custom, planting a water oak in 1882 and a white pine in 1883.

5. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

6. 1924
   Cedar Grove Aycock School is built at Cedar Grove and named for the governor

   The county built the original eight-room Aycock School at Cedar Grove on land bought from Carl C. McDade and named it for former governor Charles B. Aycock.

7. 1924
   Chapel Hill, Aycock Residence Hall UNC opens a residence hall named for Charles B. Aycock

   The university occupied Aycock Residence Hall on the Lower Quad in 1924. The name stood until the trustees removed it in July 2020, citing his racist views and actions.

8. Recent decades · 1976–2026

9. July 29, 2020
   Naming or commemoration · Chapel Hill UNC trustees vote to remove Josephus Daniels’s name from the student stores building

   On July 29, 2020 the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees voted 11 to 2 to remove four names from campus buildings, among them Josephus Daniels. The Daniels Building became UNC Student Stores, and the names of Charles Brantley Aycock, Julian Shakespeare Carr and Thomas Ruffin Sr. were removed at the same meeting.

10. December 3, 2021
    Naming or commemoration · Hortense McClinton Residence Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill UNC renames Aycock Residence Hall for Hortense McClinton

    On the chancellor's recommendation the trustees voted to put McClinton's name on the residence hall that had carried Governor Charles B. Aycock's name until it was removed in July 2020. The Carr Building became the Henry Owl Building the same day.

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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.