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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 6,368 dated events and 63 storylines, each connected to the index. A storyline gathers many dated events into one history, such as the Regulator crisis.

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6 dated events match your filters.

Searched the full chronology of 6,368 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–6.Back to highlights

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6 dated events
1880Reconstruction and the New South
  1. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899
  2. Alphonso J. McDade builds the first brick building in the business district

    Construction or physical change · McDade brick building, southwest corner of Franklin and Columbia streets, Chapel Hill

    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.

    People: Alphonso J. McDade

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

    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.

    People: John H. Watson

  4. Alphonso J. McDade returns as mayor of Chapel Hill

    Chapel Hill

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

    People: John H. Watson

  5. Alphonso and Anne McDade buy the house later called the McDade House

    Property or economic transaction · McDade House, West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    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.

    People: Alphonso J. McDade

  6. The old Nunn tavern building reopens as the Patterson Hotel

    Founding or opening · Patterson Hotel (former Nunn tavern), southwest corner of Franklin and Columbia streets, Chapel Hill

    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.

    People: Abner Benton Roberson · Alphonso J. McDade

  7. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
  8. Alphonso McDade sells the McDade House to his daughter and son-in-law

    Property or economic transaction · McDade House, West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

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

    People: Alphonso J. McDade

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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.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026