Chronology

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1. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

2. 1892
   Appointment, election or service · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Collier Cobb joins the UNC faculty to teach geology

   Cobb returned to Chapel Hill as assistant professor of geology and later headed the geology department. He taught at the university for forty years.

3. 1893
   Construction or physical change · 517 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Geology professor Collier Cobb builds a Queen Anne cottage on East Franklin Street

   Collier Cobb built his house at 517 East Franklin Street in 1893 and enlarged it later that decade. With its pedimented front wing, Palladian window and curving porch, it is one of the first Queen Anne houses in Chapel Hill.

4. 1894
   Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill The University Magazine issues its Golden Jubilee number

   In 1894 the University Magazine marked fifty years since its first issue with a Golden Jubilee number, prepared largely by faculty editor Collier Cobb and filled with articles on the university's history.

5. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

6. May 17, 1908
   Naming or commemoration · Gerrard Hall Chapel Hill holds a memorial service for Cornelia Phillips Spencer

   Cornelia Phillips Spencer died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1908. On May 17 the university held a service in her memory in Gerrard Hall, opening with the hymn she wrote for the 1875 reopening.

7. 1915–1927
   Construction or physical change · Cobb Terrace, Chapel Hill Collier Cobb develops Cobb Terrace, Chapel Hill's earliest planned development

   On gullied land he had bought, geology professor Collier Cobb brought in earth, laid out terraced lots and built eleven houses, several of them Aladdin mail-order kit houses, as rental housing for young professors. The development of just over 20 lots was complete by 1927.

8. 1917-1919
   Appointment, election or service · UNC campus, Chapel Hill President Edward K. Graham engages planner John Nolen to study the campus

   Urged by a faculty grounds committee of W. C. Coker, George Howe and Collier Cobb, formed in 1913, and after the trustees endorsed a full campus plan in spring 1916, Graham brought in the national planner John Nolen. Between 1917 and 1919 Nolen studied the campus and recommended building out the land south of South Building, the direction the 1920s expansion took.

9. 1926
   Publication, speech or performance · University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill Chase keeps the University Press from publishing Collier Cobb's book on evolution

   Geologist Collier Cobb had a manuscript on evolution in hand at the University of North Carolina Press. Chase wrote him that the book was good but that putting it out under the university's imprint would read to enemies as a challenge while the antievolution fight was still on. It was never published by the press.

10. 1934
    Life event · Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, South Road (NC 54) and Country Club Road, Chapel Hill Geologist Collier Cobb is buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery

    Collier Cobb Sr. (1862-1934), professor of geology at the university for forty-two years, was buried in the cemetery.

11. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

12. April to June 1946
    Property or economic transaction · Cobb Terrace, Henderson Street, Chapel Hill Mrs. Collier Cobb sells the Cobb Terrace bungalows to private owners

    Collier Cobb had kept the Aladdin kit bungalows at the north end of Henderson Street as rentals for young faculty. After his death in 1934 his widow kept them until April 1946, when she offered them for sale, first to the tenants and then to other faculty; by late June nine of the eleven had been sold.

13. April 28, 1948
    Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill The district board of health extends its ordinances to Lee County

    The District Board of Health for Orange, Person, Chatham and Lee counties met at the Bank of Chapel Hill and extended the district's milk and excreta disposal ordinances to Lee County, which had joined the district in September 1946. Collier Cobb Jr. chaired the board.

14. 1952
    Naming or commemoration · Cobb Residence Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill UNC names Cobb Dormitory for Collier Cobb

    The university named its new Cobb Dormitory in honor of the geologist Collier Cobb, who had taught at UNC for forty years.

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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.