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Orange County Indexed

Chronology

Key events from Orange County history: 100 highlights to start, then the full chronology of 9,006 dated events and 77 storylines, each connected to the index. A storyline gathers many dated events into one history, such as the Regulator crisis. Browse all 77 storylines. Every entry names its source. See all 667 sources.

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Hillsborough Historic District, National Register additional documentation (2014).Open the sourceAll sources

Searched the full chronology of 9,006 dated events and 77 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 201–232 of 232, 200 to a page.Back to highlights

Entries

  1. Recent decades · 1976–2026

  2. 1980s
  3. Founding or opening · Phillips-Hill-Webb House (BelleVue), 209 East Tryon Street, Hillsborough The Phillips-Hill-Webb House opens as the Hillsborough House Inn

    BelleVue, the Phillips-Hill-Webb House on East Tryon Street, began operating as a bed-and-breakfast called the Hillsborough House Inn.

  4. Construction or physical change · Poplar Hill, Burnside Drive, Hillsborough James J. Freeland moves Poplar Hill across the Eno to South Cameron Street

    Freeland, who had moved the Gatewood House in 1978, had the Poplar Hill house hauled over the Eno River from Tuscarora Drive to a new lot at 203 South Cameron Street, just south of Burnside, on the north side of the river.

  5. Publication, speech or performance · Hillsborough Shanklin's Press prints Irene Oliver Pender's History of Orange County Schools

    Shanklin's Press of Hillsborough, the Black-owned print shop run by the family of Thomas Shanklin, published Irene Oliver Pender's A History of Orange County Schools: 1752-1983. The shop began in the family home in the 1960s and later moved to Cornelius Street.

  6. Construction or physical change · 150 East King Street, Hillsborough The Alexander Dickson House is moved into Hillsborough to East King Street

    The late-Georgian house that Alexander Dickson owned from about 1839 was moved from its farm site near Interstate 85 and NC 86 to a lot at East King and South Cameron streets. Restored, it became the Chamber of Commerce and visitors center.

  7. Founding or opening · 108 South Churton Street, Hillsborough The Saratoga Grill opens at 108 South Churton Street

    The Saratoga Grill, among the first businesses to come back downtown as interest in the town's history grew, opened in the commercial building at 108 South Churton Street.

  8. Founding or opening · Hillsborough Hillsborough's preservation groups form the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough

    By the late 1980s Hillsborough had so many preservation organizations that the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough was created to coordinate them.

  9. Construction or physical change · Winnawa Walk and Saponi Drive, south of the Eno River, Hillsborough Houses begin going up on Winnawa Walk and Saponi Drive south of the Eno

    After Poplar Hill is moved off its old site south of the Eno in 1981, the land is divided into lots along two new streets, Winnawa Walk and Saponi Drive, and houses are built there from 1985.

  10. Construction or physical change · 103-117 West King Street, Hillsborough Shingled pent roofs and Colonial Revival storefronts are added along West King Street

    Around 1985 several stores on the first block of West King Street, at 103-105, 107, 109, 115 and 117, were given asphalt-shingled pent roofs, and some got replacement Colonial Revival storefronts. The 2014 survey counts these changes against most of them.

  11. Property or economic transaction · Montrose, 320 St. Mary's Road, Hillsborough Nancy and Craufurd Goodwin acquire Montrose

    Nancy and Craufurd Goodwin have owned and lived at Montrose since 1986. A greenhouse, lath house and pineapple-topped entrance gate on St. Mary's Road date from about 1987, and the gardens behind the house are theirs.

  12. Construction or physical change · Berry Gordon House, 410 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough The Berry Gordon House is moved to 410 West Margaret Lane

    The Berry Gordon House, built about 1899 at the northwest corner of South Wake Street and West Margaret Lane, is moved down the street to 410 West Margaret Lane in 1987. The nomination still counts it as contributing.

  13. Construction or physical change · 110 East Orange Street, Hillsborough The East Orange Street house built around Edmund Strudwick's old office is raised to two stories

    The house at 110 East Orange Street grew out of Dr. Edmund Strudwick's one-story office, moved there in 1889. Enlarged by 1943, it was remodeled again in 1987 with a second story, and no trace of the office remains visible.

  14. Construction or physical change · 137 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Orange Federal Savings and Loan builds an office on the old service station lot at 137 North Churton Street

    Orange Federal Savings and Loan Association acquired the former gas station property at 137 North Churton Street and put up a one-story brick office building with a cupola. The building later became county offices.

  15. Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Historic District, Hillsborough Additional documentation extends the Hillsborough Historic District's period of significance into the 1920s and

    A 1989 amendment to the 1973 Hillsborough Historic District nomination records changes to the commercial buildings, extends the period of significance to take in the town's growth in the 1920s and 1930s, and counts forty more commercial buildings as contributing.

  16. Construction or physical change · Holman-Gates House, 207 South Cameron Street, Hillsborough The Holman-Gates House is moved from Person County to South Cameron Street

    The Holman-Gates House, a Quaker-plan farmhouse built about 1785 in Person County just north of the Orange line, is moved to 207 South Cameron Street, beside the relocated Poplar Hill. It was enlarged in 1998.

  17. 1990s
  18. Construction or physical change · 110 South Churton Street, Hillsborough The early twentieth-century building at 110 South Churton Street is torn down

    The building that had stood at 110 South Churton Street since the early 1900s is demolished in 1990, and a two-story brick building replaces it in 1991.

  19. Disaster or outbreak · Hamlett House site, 423 West King Street, Hillsborough The Hamlett House at 423 West King Street burns

    Fire destroys the Hamlett House at 423 West King Street in 1993, and a new house is later built on the lot.

  20. Construction or physical change · Long House site, 112 North Nash Street, Hillsborough The Long House at 112 North Nash Street is torn down

    The deteriorated Long House at 112 North Nash Street is demolished in 1993, and a new house is built on the lot in 1998.

  21. Construction or physical change · Hughes Academy building, 200 East King Street, Hillsborough (moved from near Lake Orange) The Hughes Academy schoolhouse is moved from near Lake Orange to Hillsborough

    The small two-room frame schoolhouse of the Hughes Academy, built around 1862 near Lake Orange in northern Orange County, was moved in 1994 to the grounds at 200 East King Street in Hillsborough and restored.

  22. Founding or opening · A. L. Stanback Middle School, south of Hillsborough A new A. L. Stanback Middle School opens south of Hillsborough

    Orange County opened a new A. L. Stanback Middle School just south of town, carrying the name of the old Central High principal to a new building.

  23. Construction or physical change · 219 South Hillsborough Avenue, Hillsborough An old frame store on South Hillsborough Avenue is torn down

    An earlier frame store building at 219 South Hillsborough Avenue was demolished in 1995, and a one-and-a-half-story house was built on the site the next year.

  24. Construction or physical change · Police Station, 127 North Churton Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough builds a new police station on North Churton Street

    The Hillsborough Police Department moves into a new two-story brick building at 127 North Churton Street in 1995; it was going up during the 1994 survey.

  25. Founding or opening · Hillsborough Elementary School (former Central High School), 402 North Nash Street, Hillsborough Hillsborough Elementary School opens in the old Central High buildings as the county's first year-round school

    After standing closed for several years, the former Central High campus on North Nash Street reopened in 1996 as Hillsborough Elementary School, the first year-round school in Orange County.

  26. Construction or physical change · Orange County Jail, 125-131 Court Street, Hillsborough The 1920s Orange County Jail on Court Street is greatly enlarged

    The Neoclassical Orange County Jail at 125-131 Court Street, built in 1926 facing the courthouse with the deputy's apartment upstairs, is enlarged in 1996 with a series of flat-roofed wings reaching back to East Margaret Lane.

  27. 2000s
  28. Construction or physical change · Watson-Whisnant House, 209 South Occoneechee Street, Hillsborough The Watson-Whisnant House is moved from Burnsville to South Occoneechee Street

    The Queen Anne house built about 1898 in Burnsville by banker and lawyer Frank Watson was moved across the state and set on a new brick foundation at 209 South Occoneechee Street, replacing a mobile home.

  29. Construction or physical change · 116 North Nash Street, Hillsborough A house already moved once from Occoneechee Mountain is moved to 116 North Nash Street

    The house at 116 North Nash Street, built about 1910 on Occoneechee Mountain and moved to Collins Avenue in the 1950s, is moved again in 2005 to its present lot in the district.

  30. Construction or physical change · 109 West King Street, Hillsborough The storefront at 109 West King Street is restored and its pent roof removed

    In 2005 the storefront of 109 West King Street was restored, with a recessed entrance between copper-framed plate-glass windows, and the shingled pent roof added in the 1980s was taken off.

  31. Founding or opening · Turnip Patch Park, 333 West King Street, Hillsborough Turnip Patch Park is made on a deep lot between West King Street and West Margaret Lane

    A small park with a playground and a footbridge over a ravine was made around 2005 on the lot at 333 West King Street, which runs through to West Margaret Lane along South Occoneechee Street. A small building stood there on the 1924 and 1943 Sanborn maps.

  32. Founding or opening · Gold Park, 415 Dimmocks Mill Road, Hillsborough Gold Park opens on Dimmocks Mill Road

    The twenty-acre Gold Park, with walking paths, footbridges, a dog park, a soccer field and three picnic shelters, opens on Dimmocks Mill Road in 2007. It takes in the baseball field long tied to the Eno Mill.

  33. Construction or physical change · Parking deck, 104-106 Nash and Kollock streets, Hillsborough A four-story brick parking deck is built at Nash and Kollock streets

    A four-story parking deck with a brick veneer and a corner stair and elevator tower was built in 2008 at 104-106 Nash and Kollock streets, with pilasters copying those on the Gateway Center on South Churton Street.

  34. Construction or physical change · Gateway Center, 228-230 South Churton Street, Hillsborough The Gateway Center replaces the old post office building at 228 South Churton Street

    The commercial building put up at 228 South Churton Street to house the post office is torn down around 2007, and the three-story Gateway Center, with shops on the ground floor and government offices above, is built on the site in 2008.

  35. Construction or physical change · Orange County Government Offices, 131 West Margaret Lane, Hillsborough Orange County builds a three-story office building on West Margaret Lane

    The three-story brick Orange County Government Offices building at 131 West Margaret Lane, fifteen bays wide, went up behind the site of the new main library; it was under construction in 2008 aerial photographs and is dated 2009.

  36. 2010s
  37. Construction or physical change · Coachman's Quarters, 209 South Cameron Street, Hillsborough The Cameron coachman's quarters on South Cameron Street are restored

    The one-room brick coachman's quarters built about 1830 for Paul Cameron's Burnside estate, which had lost its roof and chimney, is carefully restored around 2010 at 209 South Cameron Street.

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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 4, 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