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1. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

2. October 1, 1948
   Appointment, election or service · Institute of Government building, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill George Esser and Alexander McMahon join the Institute of Government

   Recruited by Coates at Harvard Law School that spring, Esser and McMahon started the same day, joining new Carolina law graduates Donald McCoy and Dickson Phillips; Philip Green came a few months later. It was the largest group of assistant directors Coates had yet employed, and he put them to work on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg study.

3. November 1, 1949
   Publication, speech or performance · Charlotte and Mecklenburg County; Institute of Government, Chapel Hill The Institute of Government delivers its Charlotte-Mecklenburg consolidation study

   Asked in 1946 by Charlotte and Mecklenburg County leaders after a Charlotte News series, the Institute spent nearly three years inventorying every city and county department. Coates gave the first public report on November 1, 1949, staff members presented eight more over four months, and the study took no side on merger; the city and county schools were combined about a decade later.

4. 1952
   Publication, speech or performance · Institute of Government, Chapel Hill Philip Green's guidebook for zoning and planning boards is published

   Green, who had learned the field on the Charlotte study, wrote a 430-page guidebook that the Institute published in 1952, the first such work for local zoning and planning boards in North Carolina. He went on to a national reputation in zoning and planning law.

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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.