Chronology

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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. 1923
   Construction or physical change · Old Highway 10 Murphey School is built in brick on the Durham-Hillsboro road

   Murphey School, a hip-roofed brick consolidated school for white children named for Archibald D. Murphey, was built in 1923 on the Durham-Hillsboro road (Old NC 10). H. C. Linthicum drew the plans and W. H. Woods of Durham built it for $8,995. The school closed in 1959; the road nearby is spelled Murphy School Road.

3. about 1923
   Construction or physical change · Murphey School teacherage, Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity The county school board builds a teachers' home at Murphey School from the unfinished Mount Hope School

   Instead of finishing a new Mount Hope School that was to be merged into Murphey, the county board had the partly built schoolhouse taken apart and its materials carried to the Murphey site for a seven-room teachers' home. W. H. Woods built it for $800 in labor, paid with money from the sale of the old University School; the frame bungalow is the only teacherage left standing in Orange County.

4. 1925
   Statistic or record · Orange County A UNC study counts forty-seven rural schools and ninety teachers in Orange County

   Nita Andrews's 1925 master's study of the county schools found forty-seven rural schools with ninety teachers, about half of them holding only elementary certificates, and five school trucks that cost $1,680.70 a year to run plus $783 for drivers.

5. 1930
   Appointment, election or service · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity The county board approves H. F. Pickett as principal of Murphey School

   The Orange County board approved H. F. Pickett as principal of Murphey School, which taught grades one through seven with three or four teachers, one of them doubling as principal. He is the first principal the record names.

6. 1934-35 school year
   Statistic or record · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity Murphey School enrolls 182 pupils

   In the 1934-35 school year Murphey School had 182 pupils. It was one of nine county schools, with Hillsboro, Orange Grove, St. Mary's, Caldwell, Efland, Aycock, Carrboro and White Cross, apart from the Chapel Hill city schools.

7. 1936
   Construction or physical change · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity A WPA-funded auditorium wing is added to Murphey School

   A 30-by-80-foot brick auditorium with a Doric portico was built onto the west end of the school with federal WPA money, together with a water tank, a new sewer and plumbing system, and repairs to the teacherage, for $16,365. George W. Kane was the general contractor, and the county board inspected and accepted the auditorium on June 1, 1936.

8. 1936
   Construction or physical change · Orange County A federal WPA grant pays for ten Orange County school building projects

   A federal grant of $155,454 to the county school board in 1936 paid for new buildings at West Hillsboro School, Hillsboro Negro School and Chapel Hill High School, and for additions and updated equipment at Murphey, Carrboro, Aycock, St. Mary's, Orange Grove, Chapel Hill Negro School and Hillsboro schools.

9. 1936
   Construction or physical change · St. Mary's School, east side of SR 1548 north of SR 1002, Orange County St. Mary's School gets a WPA brick auditorium

   St. Mary's School, a Colonial Revival brick school built in 1931 near Murphey School to replace a log schoolhouse, received a Neoclassical brick auditorium in 1936 through the same WPA program, plainer than the one at Murphey.

10. 1943
    Closing or ending · St. Mary's School, east side of SR 1548 north of SR 1002, Orange County St. Mary's School closes as its pupils are merged into the Hillsborough schools

    Consolidation with the Hillsborough schools closed St. Mary's School in 1943.

11. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

12. 1946
    Appointment, election or service · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity Principal J. M. Harris refits the Murphey School lunchroom

    Mrs. J. M. Harris, principal and teacher of the fifth and sixth grades, reported new chairs, tables, curtains and cooking equipment for the lunchroom in 1946. Her teachers were Myrtle Walker, Erna Link, Mrs. Chas F. Hudson and Florence Roat, and the school had a 4-H club, a chorus and a parent-teacher association.

13. 1948
    Law, policy or court · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity The county board moves Murphey School's seventh grade to Hillsboro

    Many Murphey-district families had been sending children to Hillsboro, some riding the bus against the rules, and in 1947 the board agreed to keep the seventh grade at Murphey only until numbers justified a move. In 1948, with about seventy pupils left, it sent the seventh grade to the Hillsboro school.

14. 1959
    Property or economic transaction · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity Mount Herman Baptist Church leases the closed Murphey School

    Once the school closed, the county board leased the empty building to Mt. Herman Baptist Church for one year at $25 a month.

15. 1959
    Closing or ending · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity Murphey School closes and its pupils go to Hillsborough

    After years of falling attendance the county closed Murphey School in 1959 and moved its pupils to the elementary schools in Hillsborough.

16. 1963
    Property or economic transaction · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity The Underwood family buys Murphey School at public auction

    The school property was sold at public auction in 1963 to the Underwood family.

17. early 1970s to mid-1980s
    Founding or opening · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity The former Murphey School becomes a nightclub

    From some time in the early 1970s until the mid-1980s the old school was run as a nightclub. It stood empty from 1986.

18. 1970
    Founding or opening · St. Mary's School, east side of SR 1548 north of SR 1002, Orange County The old St. Mary's School reopens as a private college preparatory school

    The St. Mary's School building, closed since 1943, reopened in 1970 as a private college preparatory school.

19. Recent decades · 1976–2026

20. March 2008
    Property or economic transaction · Murphey School, Old NC 10 at Murphy School Road, Hillsborough vicinity Jay Miller buys the empty Murphey School and begins restoring it

    Jay Miller bought the school, vacant since 1986, in March 2008 and began restoring it with the State Historic Preservation Office for use as a retreat center for nonprofit groups and a rental site for events.

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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.