Chronology

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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. Spring 1939
   Construction or physical change · Institute of Government building, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Construction begins on the Institute of Government building on Franklin Street

   A $10,000 gift from Will Reynolds, given after Congressman William Umstead won an IRS ruling that the Institute was a charity, paid for the land. Gifts from Gordon and Bowman Gray covered half of the $50,000 cost and Julian Price's Jefferson Standard Life lent the rest on Coates's signature, against more than half his salary, for a scaled-down Federal-style building of three floors over a raised basement.

3. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

4. 1948–1951
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill William Friday serves as assistant dean of students at UNC in Chapel Hill

   After receiving his law degree from UNC in 1948, William Friday was assistant dean of students and later acting dean of students on the Chapel Hill campus until 1951, when he became assistant to Consolidated University president Gordon Gray.

5. October 10, 1950
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Gordon Gray is installed as president of the University of North Carolina

   Gray, who had been secretary of the army, was installed as president of the three-campus University of North Carolina on October 10, 1950 at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, the last day of a program that moved from Greensboro to Chapel Hill to Raleigh. The board of trustees had approved his selection on February 6, 1950.

6. April 24, 1951
   Law, policy or court · UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill UNC admits Edward O. Diggs, its first Black medical student

   UNC mailed Edward O. Diggs of Winston-Salem, a pre-medical student at A&T College in Greensboro, his letter of admission to the School of Medicine under the trustees' April 4, 1951 policy. He enrolled in the fall of 1951.

7. May 22, 1951
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill Trustees make the campus heads chancellors and add a university vice-presidency

   On May 22, 1951, on President Gordon Gray's recommendation, the trustees made the controller a vice-president, created a second vice-presidency, and gave the heads of the branches the title of chancellor. Logan Wilson filled the new post that fall.

8. November 1952
   Property or economic transaction · Institute of Government, Chapel Hill The Knapp Foundation pledges $500,000 toward a new building for the Institute of Government

   University President Gordon Gray secured a commitment from the foundation of the late Joseph Palmer Knapp for a $500,000 grant, to be matched by the same sum from the state, to build the Institute a new home. Coates had wanted the money as an endowment beside a state-built building, but Gray followed the matching plan that Margaret Knapp favored.

9. May 1953
   Naming or commemoration · Morehead building, Chapel Hill Edmund Strudwick's portrait of C. T. Council is given to the School of Pharmacy

   University President Gordon Gray presented a portrait of Durham's C. T. Council, painted by Edmund Strudwick of Hillsborough, to the UNC School of Pharmacy, where Dean E. A. Brecht accepted it at a luncheon in the Morehead building.

10. March 1, 1956
    Appointment, election or service · South Building, Chapel Hill William Friday becomes acting president of the Consolidated University

    Named acting president at 35 while the trustees searched for Gordon Gray's successor, Friday began his duties on March 1, 1956. The board approved him as president on October 26, 1956, and at his first news conference he named moving the administrative offices from South Building on the Chapel Hill campus to the old Institute of Government building on Franklin Street as a first goal.

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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.