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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. 1920s
3. 1921
   Property or economic transaction · Hasell-Nash House, 116 West Queen Street, Hillsborough Alexander H. Graham acquires the Hasell-Nash House on West Queen Street

   After more than ninety years with the Nash family, the house passed in 1921 to lawyer Alexander H. Graham, later lieutenant governor and a grandson of Governor William A. Graham. The Grahams sold it on August 20, 1935, to Dr. H. W. Moore, who had it restored with architect Archie Royal Davis.

4. 1940s
5. 1940
   Appointment, election or service · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Archie Royal Davis becomes architect for the University of North Carolina

   The Durham architect Archie Royal Davis took the post of university architect at Chapel Hill in 1940. He then helped give Franklin Street's business district its Colonial Revival look, designing several store buildings and painting watercolor views to persuade owners to rebuild in that style, with backing from George Watts Hill and town leaders.

6. 1940
   Publication, speech or performance · Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Louis Graves starts a newspaper campaign to give Franklin Street a Williamsburg look

   Feeling the business district looked shabby beside the new campus, Chapel Hill Weekly editor Louis Graves began praising Colonial Williamsburg's shops in editorials. Joseph Hyde Pratt, John M. Booker, W. D. Carmichael Jr., Collier Cobb and George Watts Hill backed the plan, and architect Archie Davis gave the planning commission watercolors showing owners how to remodel.

7. 1942
   Construction or physical change · 108 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill The Carolina Theatre is built on East Franklin Street to a Williamsburg design by Archie Davis

   The new two-story brick theatre at 108 East Franklin Street, with a steep roof, dormers and brick pediments and arches, was the one building in the 100 block of East Franklin to follow the Williamsburg plan.

8. September 1942
   Construction or physical change · NROTC Naval Armory, 221 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill Archie Royal Davis's plans for the Naval Armory are settled and building begins

   After weeks of argument with consulting architect Arthur C. Nash, Durham architect Archie Royal Davis had his design for a Georgian Revival armory approved in mid-September 1942; R. K. Stewart and Son began building it late that year for about $41,000, meant as a temporary building to be replaced after the war.

9. October 1942
   Construction or physical change · Navy Pre-Flight Armory, near the tennis courts, UNC campus, Chapel Hill The Navy Pre-Flight School's armory is completed near the campus tennis courts

   A semi-prefabricated armory and rifle range designed by Archie Royal Davis for the Pre-Flight School was finished near the tennis courts, a short walk from Navy Hall. It was a separate building from the NROTC Armory.

10. about 1943
    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.

11. March 1943
    Founding or opening · Navy Hall (later Jackson Hall), UNC campus, Chapel Hill Navy Hall opens as the Pre-Flight School's visitors' entrance and cadet lounge

    Designed by Archie Royal Davis and first drawn as a temporary office and hostess building, Navy Hall opened in March 1943 with offices for the Pre-Flight School and recreation rooms for cadets; the public was invited in on March 21.

12. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

13. 1945-1948
    Construction or physical change · 300 and 400 blocks of West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill A row of Colonial-style stores fills the 300 and 400 blocks of West Franklin Street

    As downtown pushed west after the war, an unbroken row of Williamsburg-inspired shops went up along West Franklin Street, many designed by Archie Davis.

14. 1948
    Appointment, election or service · Orange County Archie Royal Davis becomes architect for the Orange County schools

    In 1948 the Durham architect Archie Royal Davis became architect for the Orange County school system. His work for the county included Cedar Grove and Efland-Cheeks schools for Black children, the first Cameron Park School building, Central High's 1959-60 main building and Central Elementary.

15. 1950s
16. May 1950
    Appointment, election or service · Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar Grove Archie Royal Davis replaces H. Raymond Weeks as architect of the Cedar Grove school

    When state school planners faulted H. Raymond Weeks's design in April 1950, the board sent him to W. F. Credle and Edward Waugh of the Division of Schoolhouse Planning, but Weeks would not rework it on short notice. By May the job had gone to Archie Royal Davis, who was also designing Lincoln High School in Chapel Hill; the board approved his preliminary plans in June.

17. November 3, 1950
    Construction or physical change · Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar Grove The county board accepts Archie Royal Davis's plans for Cedar Grove School

    The Orange County Board of Education approved Davis's final design for the Cedar Grove school for Black children: a low, flat-roofed brick building with long bands of classroom windows.

18. January 1951
    Construction or physical change · Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar Grove The board cuts the north wing and kitchen from the Cedar Grove School plans

    To lower costs, the county board struck the six-classroom north wing, the kitchen, floor tile, clocks, bells, sidewalks and other items from Davis's design. The gymnasium was to serve as a multipurpose room partitioned into four classrooms until money for more space could be found.

19. late 1953
    Construction or physical change · Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar Grove Cedar Grove School's six-classroom north wing is finished

    The north wing Archie Royal Davis had drawn in 1951 was finished late in 1953 and closely matches the original classroom wing. With the new rooms the multipurpose room became the gymnasium and auditorium. Davis and board members Harry Breeze and C. W. Stanford inspected the wing in January 1954.

20. May 1956
    Construction or physical change · 515 Dogwood Drive, Chapel Hill Dr. Sidney and Christine Chipman move into their new house on Dogwood Drive

    Dr. Sidney S. Chipman, who headed UNC's Department of Maternal and Child Health, and his wife Christine moved into a new house at 515 Dogwood Drive in May 1956. Archie Davis of Durham drew the plan and Parker and Elliot of Chapel Hill built it.

21. November 5, 1956
    Construction or physical change · Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar Grove The county board approves a cafeteria for Cedar Grove School

    After voting in September to study the need, the board approved a cafeteria for 150 pupils at Cedar Grove at no more than $40,000, while again putting off new classrooms. Archie Royal Davis's plans for it were approved and sent to the state in October 1957.

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

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

23. late 1958
    Construction or physical change · Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar Grove A kitchen and cafeteria are added to Cedar Grove School

    A one-story brick kitchen and cafeteria, 78 by 49 feet, was finished behind the gymnasium late in 1958 to Archie Royal Davis's plans. One open dining room filled two-thirds of it, with the kitchen, dishwashing and storage along the north side.

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

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

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

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

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

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

27. 1959-1960
    Construction or physical change · Central High School (now Hillsborough Elementary), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough Archie Royal Davis's new main building for Central High goes up

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

28. 1959
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Cameron Park School in Hillsborough gets its first addition

    Three years after it opened, the county enlarged Cameron Park School with a second section of building, raised under Superintendent G. Paul Carr to plans by the architect Archie Royal Davis.

29. 1959
    Construction or physical change · Efland-Cheeks School, Efland Efland-Cheeks School gets its first addition

    An addition went up in 1959 on the north side of the 1952 Efland-Cheeks School, which Archie Royal Davis had designed for Black children in western Orange County. A modern wing larger than the original school followed around 1980.

30. April 6, 1959
    Protest or organizing · Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar Grove Cedar Grove's advisory committee asks for two more classrooms

    Lonnie Thompson, Arthur Wells, Carter White, Wayne Compton and Oscar Beasley of the school's advisory committee asked the board for a two-classroom addition. The board agreed to consider it and in August approved Archie Royal Davis's plans with a $20,000 limit.

31. November 16, 1959
    Founding or opening · South Hamilton Road, Glen Lennox, Chapel Hill Chapel Hill opens its Glen Lennox fire station

    The town's second fire station, on South Hamilton Road in Glen Lennox, opened without ceremony when two pumper trucks moved in from the main station on Columbia Street. The aldermen had let contracts in February for the building, designed by Archie Davis of Durham and paid for from 1957 bonds.

32. 1960s
33. 1960-1961
    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.

34. September 1960
    Construction or physical change · Cedar Grove School, 5800 NC 86 North, Cedar Grove Two classrooms are added to the south wing of Cedar Grove School

    The two classrooms at the south end of the original wing, built to Archie Royal Davis's plans on bids taken in fall 1959, were finished by September 6, 1960, when the board inspected them with Davis and contractor Lindsay Fogelman.

35. March 1963
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Orange County completes a new Agricultural Building in Hillsborough

    The county's new Agricultural Building, designed by Archie Davis, passed final inspection and the county's agricultural offices moved in. A dedication and open house were set for April 1.

36. 1965
    Founding or opening · Central Elementary School, 154 Hayes Street, Hillsborough Central Elementary School is built north of West Hillsborough

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

37. 1969-1970
    Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill Two wings designed by Archie Royal Davis are added to the Carolina Inn

    The third major addition to the Carolina Inn, designed by Archie Royal Davis in 1969, was largely finished by commencement in May 1970. Two wings on the Pittsboro Street side held a new cafeteria, ballroom and larger kitchen and forty-five more guest rooms, and the main entrance moved from Cameron Avenue to Pittsboro Street.

38. 1970s
39. 1975
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Central Elementary School in Hillsborough gets a large addition

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

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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 1, 2026.