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National Register: The Commandant's House nomination (1972).Open the sourceAll sources
Searched the full chronology of 9,006 dated events and 77 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–10.Back to highlights
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Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865
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Charles Tew buys land west of Hillsborough for a military academy
On December 18, 1858, Charles C. Tew of South Carolina bought from Cad Jones a 61 1/4-acre tract lying between the Greensborough road and the North Carolina Railroad, on what is now the west end of Hillsborough, for a military academy modeled on the Citadel. His advertisements, dated September 15, 1858, had already announced that the school would open at Hillsborough in January 1859.
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Hillsborough Military Academy opens
Charles C. Tew, then superintendent of the state military academy at Columbia, South Carolina, opened the Hillsborough Military Academy in January 1859, holding its first classes in the old Hillsborough Academy buildings. His advertisements had set the opening for January 12. In October 1860 the Hillsborough Recorder reported that the academy's barracks, built to house 125 cadets, had been erected at a cost of $30,000.
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The Hillsborough Military Academy's commandant's house is built
The academy's castellated brick superintendent's house, known locally as the Commandant's House, with a turret at each corner and crenellated battlements, was presumably built about the same time as the barracks, which were complete by 1860. It was the home of Charles C. Tew, his wife Elizabeth and their children. John Berry was its builder, to designs by the Columbia architect John A. Kay, and Henry Richards Sr. is credited as its brickmason.
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Hillsborough Military Academy closes for a time at the end of the Civil War
After Charles C. Tew left for the army in 1861, the academy stayed open through the war under Maj. William M. Gordon. Its 1865 term began in February, but that spring, with Sherman's army in the adjoining county, the school closed for a time. Gen. Raleigh E. Colston announced that it would resume under his direction on October 1, 1866, as a polytechnic school on a military basis.
Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899
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General Colston takes charge of the reopened Hillsborough Military Academy
After closing at the end of the war, the academy reopened with General R. C. Colston as superintendent. In 1868 he signed a lease with Col. Tew's widow to live in the superintendent's house, but his family later moved to Wilmington.
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Paul C. Cameron buys the Hillsborough Military Academy at public sale
Two years after Elizabeth Tew's death in 1870, the academy property was sold at public auction to Paul C. Cameron. His heirs sold it to the Farmers' State Alliance in 1891.
Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
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The Farmers' State Alliance auctions off its old academy headquarters
The Farmers' State Alliance had found the old Barracks property a burden since about 1901. On June 21, 1920 it was cut into lots and sold at auction, and John W. Hill got the parcel with the commandant's house.
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The Historic American Buildings Survey records the academy barracks
By the Depression the empty Barracks of the old military academy sheltered homeless families. In 1937 the Historic American Buildings Survey measured and photographed it, a year before it was torn down.
Civil rights era · 1945–1975
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Lucius and Nellie Cheshire buy and restore the Commandant's House
Eula Cole, who had bought the house from John W. Hill's estate in 1938, sold it in 1965 to Lucius and Nellie Cheshire. By 1972 they had restored it to excellent condition.
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The Commandant's House is listed in the National Register
The castellated brick house built for the Hillsborough Military Academy's commandant, the academy's only major surviving building, was entered in the National Register of Historic Places.
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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 4, 2026.
