Chronology

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1. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

2. 1880
   Construction or physical change · McDade brick building, southwest corner of Franklin and Columbia streets, Chapel Hill Alphonso J. McDade builds the first brick building in the business district

   McDade put up the first brick building in Chapel Hill's business district, on the southwest corner of Franklin and Columbia streets. F. P. Booth rented it for a dry goods store in 1883, and Junius D. Webb later kept a grocery there.

3. 1884
   Chapel Hill Alphonso J. McDade serves as mayor of Chapel Hill

   A. J. McDade was mayor of Chapel Hill in 1884, an office the town charter had created in 1879. John H. Watson held it the year before and the two years after.

4. 1888 to 1890
   Chapel Hill Alphonso J. McDade returns as mayor of Chapel Hill

   McDade served a second stretch as mayor from 1888 through 1890, following W. N. Pritchard. John H. Watson succeeded him in 1891.

5. 1894
   Property or economic transaction · McDade House, West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Alphonso and Anne McDade buy the house later called the McDade House

   The heirs of Isaac Hudson sold the western half of the original Lot 5 on West Franklin Street to Alphonso J. McDade and his wife Anne. The McDades never lived there and rented the house to their daughter Minnie and her husband, J. E. Merritt.

6. late 1894
   Founding or opening · Patterson Hotel (former Nunn tavern), southwest corner of Franklin and Columbia streets, Chapel Hill The old Nunn tavern building reopens as the Patterson Hotel

   Dr. Abner Benton Roberson bought from McDade the old building on the eastern half of Lot 5, once Nunn's tavern and inn and for some years the McDades' home. 'Bunn' Patterson remodeled it and added four or five rooms, and it opened as the Patterson Hotel, which did not last long as a hotel.

7. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

8. 1912
   Property or economic transaction · McDade House, West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Alphonso McDade sells the McDade House to his daughter and son-in-law

   McDade sold J. E. Merritt and his wife Minnie, McDade's daughter, the West Franklin Street house they had been renting for 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.