Chronology

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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. 1903–1919
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Charles T. Woollen becomes the first director of the university band

   Charles T. Woollen, a university administrator, became the first director of the university band in 1903 and led it until 1919. The band first performed at a university baseball game in 1904 and was giving concerts on the Alumni Building steps by 1906.

3. Spring 1918
   Protest or organizing · UNC, Chapel Hill University janitors organize with the Industrial Workers of the World

   Black janitors at the university formed an affiliate of the IWW and weighed a strike for higher wages as the spring term closed. Business manager Charles T. Woollen answered that he would hire a new crew from Durham, and the effort faded. That fall all the campus help lost their jobs when the SATC took over the buildings.

4. September to December 1918
   Law, policy or court · UNC, Chapel Hill The Students' Army Training Corps takes over the campus

   Registration, put off to September 24 and 25, opened a year run by the army: dormitories became Barracks 1 through 8, Swain Hall the Mess Hall, and the year was cut into twelve-week quarters with classes grouped by age. About seven hundred enrolled, nearly all of them required to take a course on the issues of the war, and the commander worked from the Sigma Chi house.

5. June 1920
   Law, policy or court · UNC, Chapel Hill Trustees order a building plan for 3,000 students

   At commencement Chase told the trustees the University had hit its limit, with laboratories running three shifts and 500 teachers turned away from summer school, and the visiting committee called the dormitories unsafe and unsanitary. The board told Chase to list what an enrollment of 3,000 would need.

6. 1937
   Naming or commemoration · Woollen Gymnasium, UNC, Chapel Hill The university names its new gymnasium for Charles T. Woollen

   The university named its new gymnasium for Charles T. Woollen, its longtime registrar, business manager and comptroller, who had advocated for the building and helped oversee its construction. He died the following year.

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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.