Chronology

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1. Revolution and early republic · 1775–1799

2. 1789–1795
   Storyline · 48 events · Chapel Hill The founding of the university and Chapel Hill

   The General Assembly chartered the university on December 11, 1789. Meeting at Hillsborough in August 1792, the trustees voted to build within fifteen miles of Cyprett's Bridge, and that November their commissioners chose New Hope Chapel Hill. The Old East cornerstone was laid October 12, 1793, and the first student, Hinton James, arrived February 12, 1795.

3. August 4, 1792
   Law, policy or court · Chapel Hill Meeting in Hillsborough, UNC's trustees adopt the ordinance placing the university within fifteen miles of Cyprett's Bridge

   Twenty-five of the university's forty trustees gathered at Hillsborough on August 2, 1792. They balloted for Cyprett's Bridge as the center point on August 3 and on August 4 adopted the ordinance fixing a fifteen-mile radius and naming the site commissioners. In early November a commission chaired by Frederick Hargett toured the area and recommended New Hope Chapel Hill in southern Orange County.

4. January 10, 1794
   Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill The trustees elect David Ker presiding professor of the university

   Balloting on January 10, 1794, the trustees elected David Ker, who had come from Fayetteville, the university's first professor, with the title of presiding professor. He took charge at the opening in January 1795, lived in the house meant for a future president and held the post until July 1796.

5. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

6. 1801
   Violence or armed conflict · Chapel Hill Students stone steward Pleasant Henderson's house

   Complaints about the food at Steward's Hall under stewards John Taylor and Pleasant Henderson helped fuel the student uprising of 1799. In 1801 Henderson's house was stoned, and he did not reapply for the stewardship.

7. 1801
   Construction or physical change · Grand Avenue between Franklin and Rosemary streets, Chapel Hill The university builds a house for its Grammar School

   Six years after the trustees ordered it, a one-story frame schoolhouse for the university's preparatory Grammar School was built in 1801. John M. Goodloe was paid about $320 for the work; until then the boys had been taught in a rented building.

8. 1832
   Property or economic transaction · Grand Avenue between Franklin and Rosemary streets, Chapel Hill The university sells the old Grammar School house and grounds

   Thirteen years after the Grammar School closed, the university sold its empty schoolhouse and lot. In the meantime the house had been left vacant and then lived in by a hunter's family.

9. 1849–1856
   Founding or opening · Hillsborough The North Carolina Railroad is chartered and built

   The General Assembly chartered the North Carolina Railroad in 1849, after Senate speaker Calvin Graves cast the deciding vote. The state built the 223-mile line from Goldsboro to Charlotte between 1851 and 1856, running it through Hillsborough, and the first train ran its full length in January 1856.

10. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

11. May 6, 1969
    Appointment, election or service · Chapel Hill Rebecca Clark carries voters to the polls in Howard Lee's mayoral campaign

    Clark worked on Howard Lee's campaign for mayor, sending her son's Greyhound bus street to street to take voters to the polls, and helped count ballots by hand on election night. Lee won the May 6, 1969 election.

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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.