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Searched the full chronology of 6,171 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–8.Back to highlights
Entries
Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899
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Alumni build the university's first gymnasium off university land
After the dancing ban, a chartered Gymnasium Association sold $10 shares to alumni and built a hall 110 by 45 feet on its own land, rented to the university for exercise and used for the 1885 commencement ball. The building later became Commons Hall, the student dining hall.
Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
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Judge W. P. Bynum gives the university a gymnasium
Judge William Preston Bynum paid for a gymnasium on the campus in memory of his grandson and namesake, a student who died before graduating, and presented it to the trustees by letter in May 1905. Dr. Richard H. Lewis accepted it at commencement.
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The campus YMCA building is dedicated
The new Young Men's Christian Association building was formally dedicated on the evening of June 2, 1907, after the YMCA sermon. Professor J. W. Gore presented it for the building committee and Dr. Richard H. Lewis accepted it for the trustees.
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The medical building, Caldwell Hall, is dedicated
On May 8, 1912, the university opened its new medical building and named it Caldwell Hall for its first president. Dr. Richard H. Lewis presented it for the trustees, and Venable and Dean Isaac H. Manning accepted it.
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Trustees split the secretary-treasurer office after Richard H. Battle's death
After Richard H. Battle, secretary and treasurer of the university, died on May 12, 1912, the trustees divided his office, required the treasurer to live in Chapel Hill, and abolished the office of bursar. Julius A. Warren became treasurer.
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Francis P. Venable resigns the presidency from London
Writing to the trustees from London, Venable resigned on his doctor's warning against another breakdown and asked to return to teaching chemistry. His letter reached board secretary Richard H. Lewis about the same time Graham got a personal note, which Graham called a great shock.
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Richard H. Lewis chairs the trustees' search for a new university president
After Edward Kidder Graham's death, the trustees named a search committee chaired by Dr. Richard H. Lewis of Raleigh, which met students and faculty on the campus in mid-February. In mid-May it put forward Frank L. McVey, Robert J. Aley and Harry W. Chase, with McVey its favorite.
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Trustees vote to ask for a 200-bed teaching hospital in Chapel Hill
A June 1 report by Dean Isaac H. Manning, Chase and Dr. Richard H. Lewis found the state 45th in hospital beds and short of doctors. Twelve days later the full board voted to ask the legislature for a 200-bed teaching hospital at Chapel Hill, a memorial to the World War dead, so the two-year medical school could grow to four years.
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A dated event is a fact, filed on the page of the subject it belongs to: a person, a place, a theme, or a named event or history. Pages are subjects, with their own works and sources; the Place, community, or institution filter also gathers the institutions that recur in the entries without a page of their own. The page opens on the highlights; a search or any filter looks through every dated event and storyline, and each filter’s counts say how many entries choosing it would show alongside the others. A storyline is a longer history that gathers related dated events, and each storyline’s page lists its own. Counts give dated events and storylines separately. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. The correction link under the entries opens the contact form; name the entry and its date and the Friends will check the source. Suggest an event →
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.
