Chronology

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1. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

2. about 1830
   Founding or opening · Davis School House Orange Methodist Church is organized at the Davis School House

   Alexander Gattis and neighbors organized Orange Methodist Church in the Davis School House near the Wash Fowler home. The congregation built its first church about 1838.

3. 1833
   Founding or opening · Collier & Watson cabinet shop, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (site unknown) Isaac J. Collier and Jones Watson open a cabinetmaking business

   The two men started making furniture on Franklin Street in 1833. After the partnership dissolved in the later 1830s, Collier kept the business going.

4. 1847
   Property or economic transaction · Watson drugstore, Hogg property, south side of East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Jones Watson buys Barbee's old store and house for a drugstore

   Jones Watson acquired Sidney Barbee's former house and store on the south side of the street, the old James Hogg property, and probably ran his drugstore from the store before remodeling both buildings. By 1858 they had become his Central Hotel.

5. January 29, 1851
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill The General Assembly passes an act incorporating Chapel Hill under five commissioners

   Chapter 330 of the 1850-51 session laws, ratified January 29, 1851, made Manuel Fetter, Jesse Hargrave, Patterson H. McDade, Elisha Mitchell and Jones Watson the commissioners of Chapel Hill, with five commissioners to be elected each February after. They were to choose a magistrate of police, treasurer, constable and clerk and fix the town's bounds.

6. by 1858
   Founding or opening · Central Hotel, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Jones Watson opens the Central Hotel

   Watson remodeled and enlarged the old James Hogg house and the Barbee store beside it into the Central Hotel, which had several shops on the ground. It appears on the maps through 1868.

7. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

8. August 5, 1868
   Appointment, election or service · Hillsborough Orange County's first elected board of commissioners takes office

   Elected in April 1868 at the election that ratified the new constitution, five commissioners qualified at the courthouse and chose Lemuel Lynch chairman, replacing the old county court of justices. Within days the newly elected sheriff, treasurer, register of deeds and clerk of superior court gave their bonds.

9. August 5, 1869
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Township Orange County holds its first township elections

   Voters in each township chose magistrates, a clerk, a constable and school committeemen for the first time. In Chapel Hill Township 540 of 565 registered voters cast ballots.

10. 1872
    Appointment, election or service · Orange County Orange County names a three-man Board of Education and a panel of teacher examiners

    Under the Reconstruction school law the county had a Board of Education of W. N. Patterson, J. T. Hogan and Jones Watson in 1872. Samuel W. Hughes and Charles Curtis were among the county examiners who licensed teachers that year.

11. August 1872
    Orange County Jones Watson and Pride Jones are elected to the state House for Orange County

    Running as Conservative (Democratic) candidates, Jones Watson and Dr. Pride Jones won Orange County's two seats in the state House of Representatives in the August 1872 election.

12. 1882
    Chapel Hill Jones Watson serves as mayor of Chapel Hill

    Jones Watson, one of the five commissioners named in the town's 1851 charter, was mayor of Chapel Hill in 1882, an office the town's charter had created in 1879. His brother John H. Watson followed him in 1883.

13. about 1891
    Property or economic transaction · Central Hotel, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Dr. Abner B. Roberson buys the Central Hotel and moves his drugstore into it

    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.

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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.