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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 6,171 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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18 dated events match your filters.

Searched the full chronology of 6,171 dated events and 63 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–18.Back to highlights

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18 dated events
1917Early twentieth century
  1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
  2. Hillsborough residents meet at the Session House library to organize a Red Cross chapter

    Founding or opening · Session House, Hillsborough

    About thirty people met in the library at the old Session House on June 1, 1917, heard Sarah Cheshire of Raleigh explain Red Cross work with sample bandages, and joined the Red Cross. They chose J. C. Webb temporary chairman, Henrietta P. Collins secretary and Rev. T. M. Grant treasurer, and set a mass meeting for June 4.

    People: John W. Graham · Henrietta P. Collins · J. Cheshire Webb

  3. A Red Cross mass meeting at the Hillsborough court house enrolls new members

    Protest or organizing · Court House, Hillsborough

    On the eve of draft registration, J. C. Webb presided over a mass meeting at the court house where Edward Bond of Edenton, a soldier back from the Mexican border, and Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence spoke, and Frank Nash introduced Mrs. Palmer Jerman of Raleigh on the purpose of the Red Cross. Six young women then enrolled members.

    People: Alfred Stratton Lawrence · Frank Nash · J. Cheshire Webb

  4. J. Cheshire Webb is appointed chairman of the Orange County Council of Defense

    Hillsborough

    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.

    People: M. C. S. Noble · Shepperd Strudwick (1868-1961)

  5. Nurse Mrs. R. B. Hayes starts a surgical dressings class in the Hillsborough Red Cross room

    Founding or opening · John Norwood's old law office, east of the court house, Hillsborough

    Mrs. R. B. Hayes, a registered nurse, began a class in surgical dressings that met Tuesday and Friday mornings in the Red Cross room, John Norwood's old law office east of the court house, which J. Cheshire Webb lent for as long as the Red Cross needed it. Notice of the classes went to Cedar Grove.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb

  6. Black residents of Hillsborough organize a Red Cross auxiliary

    Founding or opening · Hillsborough

    The Orange County Red Cross heard at its August 1, 1917 meeting that Hillsborough's Black residents had organized an auxiliary, which was ready for instruction in surgical dressings and already knitting in cotton. J. Cheshire Webb lent separate Red Cross rooms for white and Black workers.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb

  7. J. Cheshire Webb is named Orange County's food administrator

    Appointment, election or service · Orange County

    On September 20, 1917, State Food Administrator Henry A. Page appointed J. Cheshire Webb of Hillsborough food administrator for Orange County, with R. A. Eubanks as administrator for Chapel Hill. The record says no mill in the county broke a Food Administration rule.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb · Eugene Cunningham Branson

  8. Eugene C. Branson urges county teachers to back the food conservation drive

    Hillsborough

    At a court house meeting of teachers and school committeemen called by J. C. Webb, Branson explained why food conservation mattered, and Mrs. Isaac Manning described her work in the south end of the county. Forty-two teachers attended, and the meeting laid the plan to register every woman at her school house on October 27.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb

    Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

  9. Hillsborough men enlist in a Home Guard detachment of the state militia

    Founding or opening · Hillsborough

    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.

    People: Shepperd Strudwick (1868-1961) · J. Cheshire Webb · Thomas W. Bickett

    Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

  10. Orange County women sign the food pledge at their school houses

    Protest or organizing · Orange County

    On Saturday, October 27, 1917, committees at every school house in the county registered the women of the district and asked each to sign the Food Administration pledge. A house-to-house canvass of every housewife followed from October 29 to November 4.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb · Eugene Cunningham Branson

  11. A Christmas membership drive signs the Orange County Red Cross's quota of 400 members

    Protest or organizing · Orange Trust Company, Hillsborough

    J. Cheshire Webb led a membership drive in the week before Christmas 1917, run from an office in the Orange Trust Company room, and reported on January 5, 1918 that the chapter had reached its quota of 400 members. Half the drive's receipts stayed with the chapter and let it pay its bills.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb

  12. Farmers' Union delegates at Schley ask that no wheat be threshed before July 15

    Law, policy or court · Schley

    At J. Cheshire Webb's request, the county's Farmers' Union, in convention at Schley on March 30, 1918, resolved to favor a Food Administration rule that no threshing machine start before July 15, to protect crop cultivation. Webb issued the order, and only two farmers broke it; both paid to the Red Cross.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb

  13. The Council of Defense extends into township community councils

    Protest or organizing · Orange County

    At a court house meeting on June 15, 1918, J. Cheshire Webb organized community councils of defense for each of the seven townships, choosing the township over the school district as the unit. Their charge was to support every war activity without forming new organizations.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb · Eugene Cunningham Branson

    Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

  14. Orange County holds a Fourth of July war rally on the UNC campus

    Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill

    At the Governor's request the UNC Summer School invited the county to its July 4, 1918 celebration, and at least 3,000 people came for a parade, a flag raising and S. M. Gattis's address in Memorial Hall. The county Council of Defense met in Gerrard Hall, and Adolph Vermont's pageant on French-American friendship played in Battle's Park.

    People: M. C. S. Noble · Adolph Vermont · J. Cheshire Webb · Samuel Mallett Gattis

    Subject: Gerrard Hall · Memorial Hall · University Summer School · Battle Park

  15. A War Savings rally in Hillsborough welcomes home wounded volunteer Jim Cheshire

    Publication, speech or performance · Hillsborough

    On the night of Registration Day, September 12, 1918, a crowd packed the court house for a War Savings rally to hear two of Pershing's soldiers. One was Jim Cheshire, the first man to volunteer from the town and the first to come home, sent back wounded to train troops. That day 1,727 county men registered for the draft.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb · Samuel Mallett Gattis

    Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

  16. Orange County raises $2,075.84 for Armenian relief

    Health or relief action · Orange County

    An Armenian Relief campaign led by Dr. E. C. Branson ran from February 21 to March 6, 1919, and raised $2,075.84. Much of it came through the county's white and Black schools; Nellie Russell led Hillsborough Township.

    People: J. Cheshire Webb · Eugene Cunningham Branson

  17. Hillsborough holds the county homecoming celebration for returned soldiers

    Naming or commemoration · Hillsborough

    On July 16, 1919, about 15,000 people came to Hillsborough to welcome home Orange County's soldiers and sailors, with a parade, Gov. Bickett's address at the court house and a dinner for about a thousand guests in Cameron Park. J. Cheshire Webb chaired the celebration, and the county Red Cross voted $300 toward its cost, money the celebration fund turned out not to need.

    People: Frank Nash · Julian S. Carr · John W. Graham · J. Cheshire Webb · Samuel Mallett Gattis · Thomas W. Bickett

    Subject: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough

  18. J. Cheshire Webb becomes president of the Eno Cotton Mills

    Hillsborough

    Webb, a director of the Eno Cotton Mills since early manhood, was made president of the Hillsborough mill in 1921. He ran it until his death in 1932 and was also a director of the Rocky Mount Mills and the Bank of Orange.

    Subject: Eno Mill

  19. J. Cheshire Webb takes options on the Hillsborough quarry farm that supplied stone for Duke

    Hillsborough

    Webb showed geologist Jasper L. Stuckey the old quarry near Hillsborough that had supplied flagstones, and at the request of Duke's business manager Frank Brown he took purchase options on the quarry farm, signed January 31, 1925. The land was bought under the option for Duke University on March 31.

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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.

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Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026