Chronology

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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. About 1902
   Life event · Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick brings his family back to Hillsborough

   Shepperd Strudwick, a native of Hillsborough, returned to the town with his family when his son Clement, born in Tennessee in April 1900, was two.

3. 1903
   Construction or physical change · 123 East Union Street (moved from the southeast corner of North Churton and East Union streets), Hillsborough The Bingham house is moved down East Union Street to clear the corner for Shepperd Strudwick's house

   The 1831 William J. Bingham House is moved half a block east on East Union Street so that Shepperd Strudwick can build on its lot at the corner of Churton and Union. Much of the old house's outside dates from the move.

4. about 1904 to 1908
   Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick builds a Churton Street house designed by Ralph Adams Cram

   Shepperd Strudwick built a Neoclassical Revival house on Churton Street to a design Ralph Adams Cram drew about 1904; Cram's wife Elizabeth was the sister of Strudwick's wife Susan. The site had been cleared in 1903 by moving the antebellum W. J. Bingham House down East Union Street, and the house was finished about 1908. It was later named Tamarind.

5. 1904–1929
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick heads the new Bellevue Manufacturing Company in west Hillsborough

   The Bellevue Manufacturing Company, Hillsborough's cotton mill in the west of the town, was incorporated in 1904 with Shepperd Strudwick as its first president, and he remained president until 1929. By 1911 the mill ran 5,000 spindles and 200 looms making ginghams.

6. 1905
   Property or economic transaction · West Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick buys Allen Ruffin's land north of the future Bellevue mill

   Four years before the Bellevue mill was built, Strudwick acquired the tract north of the site from Ruffin, one of the Eno Cotton Mill's founders, probably to build company housing there.

7. 1909
   Construction or physical change · Bellevue Manufacturing Company, South Nash Street, West Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick builds the Bellevue cotton mill on South Nash Street

   The Bellevue Manufacturing Company's mill went up in 1909 west of South Nash Street, a short way beyond the town line of the day, backed by local investors and staffed by people leaving farm work. By 1912 it ran 5,000 spindles and 200 narrow looms.

8. by February 1909
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick is president of the Hillsboro Clay Manufacturing Company

   Besides the Bellevue mill and the Bank of Orange, Shepperd Strudwick headed the Hillsboro Clay Manufacturing Company, according to the Orange County Observer.

9. June 28, 1917
   Hillsborough J. Cheshire Webb is appointed chairman of the Orange County Council of Defense

   J. Cheshire Webb of Hillsborough was appointed chairman of the Orange County Council of Defense, with M. C. S. Noble, C. H. Robertson, Shepperd Strudwick, S. W. Andrews, John P. Hughes and P. C. Collins as members. He led the council through the war and the 1919 homecoming.

10. October 22, 1917
    Founding or opening · Hillsborough Hillsborough men enlist in a Home Guard detachment of the state militia

    Answering Gov. Bickett's call, the Council of Defense chose 25 men on October 20, 1917, and they enlisted for the duration at the Hillsborough court house on October 22 and 24, electing Shepperd Strudwick first lieutenant. The county bought their uniforms, and they drilled twice a week until the influenza ban on meetings.

11. June 23-28, 1918
    Property or economic transaction · Orange County Orange County pledges three-quarters of its War Savings quota in a June drive

    The county's War Savings Stamps quota was $331,400, about $20 a person. A drive June 23-28, 1918, pledged 75 percent of it, and a second drive September 9-14 sought the rest; the county finished with $272,956 pledged and $264,370 sold.

12. Mid-August 1918
    Health or relief action · Hillsborough A four-church committee raises $504 for Jewish war relief

    About the middle of August 1918 a campaign for the Jewish Relief Fund, run by men from the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches, raised $504.

13. September 2, 1918
    Founding or opening · Hillsborough The Hillsborough Community Chorus formally organizes

    Already singing at patriotic gatherings, the chorus organized at the Hillsborough Library on September 2, 1918, with Mrs. W. D. Benton as director, and gave the Red Cross $73 from an August concert. It later planned four concerts a year to help the Daughters of the Confederacy build a public library as a memorial to the county's Confederate soldiers.

14. 1929
    Appointment, election or service · Bellevue Manufacturing Company, South Nash Street at Eno Street, West Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick resigns as president of Bellevue, and L. E. Beard takes over

    After twenty-five years as president, Shepperd Strudwick stepped down in 1929, the year its stock value fell from $500,000 to $419,600. L. E. Beard succeeded him and his partner Norfleet Webb as president and treasurer.

15. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

16. between 1953 and 1960
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, Hillsborough Hillsborough Presbyterian Church adds Strudwick Hall, a fellowship hall named for Shepperd Strudwick

    In C. H. Reckard's pastorate the church built a fellowship hall to his drawings and named it for Shepperd Strudwick, elder, Sunday school superintendent and clerk of session.

17. 1957
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough Shepperd Strudwick carves the cross for the Hillsborough Methodist sanctuary

    Shepperd Strudwick, a Presbyterian elder who took up wood carving late in life, made the cross for the Methodist sanctuary as well as one for his own church.

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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.