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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 6,998 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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8 dated events match your filters.

Searched the full chronology of 6,998 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–8.Back to highlights

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8 dated events
1869Reconstruction and the New South
  1. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899
  2. Dr. Abner B. Roberson opens a general store that specializes in drugs

    Founding or opening · Roberson's general store, south side of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    With Saunders gone, the village's new druggist, Dr. Abner Benton Roberson, opened a general store on the south side of Franklin Street that dealt mainly in drugs and medical supplies. It stood on the property of his father-in-law, Haywood Stone.

    People: Abner Benton Roberson

  3. Adam A. Kluttz takes over management of Dr. Roberson's general store

    Appointment, election or service · Roberson's general store, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    Adam Alexander Kluttz became the active manager of Dr. Abner Benton Roberson's general store. He later opened stores of his own and built a brick store on East Franklin in 1893 and 1894.

    People: Abner Benton Roberson · Adam Alexander Kluttz

  4. Dr. Abner B. Roberson buys the Central Hotel and moves his drugstore into it

    Property or economic transaction · Central Hotel, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    After the hotel's owner, Jones Watson, died, Dr. Roberson bought the Central Hotel, moved his drugstore into it with Clyde Eubanks as druggist, and leased the hotel's management to 'Bunn' Patterson. Adam A. Kluttz opened a store called the Glass Front in the many-windowed west end of the building.

    People: Jones Watson · Abner Benton Roberson · Clyde Eubanks · Adam Alexander Kluttz

    Subject: Central Hotel (Chapel Hill)

  5. Dr. Roberson adds a ten-room annex to the Central Hotel

    Construction or physical change · Central Hotel, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    Roberson enlarged the Central Hotel with a ten-room wing facing the campus. After his death in 1897 Kluttz ran the hotel for a short time before 'Bunn' Patterson took back its management.

    People: Abner Benton Roberson

    Subject: Central Hotel (Chapel Hill)

  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. The Canada School takes over Dr. Roberson's Patterson Hotel building

    Chapel Hill

    The Canada School had outgrown its rooms behind the post office, so in 1896 John W. Canada hired more teachers and moved into the Patterson Hotel building, which Dr. Abner Benton Roberson owned. The building's run as a hotel was short.

    People: John William Canada

  8. Clyde Eubanks buys Dr. Roberson's drugstore

    Property or economic transaction · Central Hotel, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    When Dr. Roberson died, his druggist Clyde Eubanks bought the drugstore and kept it in the Central Hotel until 1901.

    People: Abner Benton Roberson · Clyde Eubanks

    Subject: Central Hotel (Chapel Hill)

  9. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
  10. The university razes the old Central Hotel to build dormitories

    Construction or physical change · Central Hotel site (now Vance, Battle and Pettigrew halls), Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

    The university bought the old Central Hotel from Dr. Roberson's estate, tore it down in 1912, and built the Vance, Battle and Pettigrew dormitories on the site.

    People: Abner Benton Roberson

    Subject: Central Hotel (Chapel Hill)

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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 3, 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