Chronology

Search and filters

Entries

1. Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899

2. 1882–1913
   Storyline · 79 events · Carrboro From West End to Carrboro: railroad, mills, and a new town

   In 1882 a university railroad spur ended a mile west of Chapel Hill, and the settlement of West End grew around its boxcar depot. Thomas Lloyd opened a gin and grist mill in 1883 and the Alberta Cotton Mill in 1899, which Julian Carr's Durham Hosiery bought in 1909. Incorporated as Venable in 1911, the town became Carrboro in 1913.

3. 1883
   Construction or physical change · Carrboro Thomas Lloyd and William Pritchard build a grist mill and cotton gin at the West End depot

   Thomas F. Lloyd, a Confederate veteran, and his partner William Pritchard built a steam-powered grist mill and cotton gin in a two-story frame building just north of the railroad depot at West End in 1883. Farmers from southern Orange County brought grain and cotton there, and Lloyd bought out Pritchard's share in 1886.

4. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

5. About 1913
   Construction or physical change · Carrboro A new wood-frame railroad station is built in Carrboro

   The depot that still stands east of the old Alberta mill (Carr Mill) was built about 1913 as an extension of a small frame depot of about 1900, which had itself replaced the boxcar that served as West End's first station. The older depot was later removed, and the 1913 building served as the passenger and freight depot.

6. 1916
   Construction or physical change · Carrboro The Lloyd grist mill burns and is rebuilt in brick

   The original wood-frame grist mill and cotton gin building burned in 1916 and was replaced by the brick mill that survives at 101 B Street. Around 1921 lightning struck the brick mill, and the fire burned its interior.

Suggest a correction to an entry →

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.