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17 dated events and 2 storylines match your filters.
UNC A to Z.Open the sourceAll sources
Searched the full chronology of 9,006 dated events and 77 storylines, not only the highlights. Showing 1–19.Back to highlights
Entries
Reconstruction and the New South · 1866–1899
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Robert F. Hoke obtains a charter for the Chapel Hill Iron Mountain Railroad
While the university was closed, Robert F. Hoke, owner of an iron mine north of Chapel Hill, obtained a state charter for a railroad to carry ore from Iron Mountain to the North Carolina Railroad.
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UNC plays its first intercollegiate football season
Organized football began at UNC in 1888.
Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
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UNC trustees approve the United Daughters of the Confederacy's request to build a Confederate monument on the campus
The board of trustees approved a request from the North Carolina Division of the UDC for a monument on the campus. President Francis P. Venable took part in the planning and fund-raising and later committed university money when UDC and alumni contributions fell short.
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The Carolina Playmakers and the founding of UNC Press
Frederick Koch's Carolina Playmakers, organized in 1918, and the University of North Carolina Press, founded in 1922, made Chapel Hill a place where plays and books were made as well as read.
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The Carolina Playmakers are organized
Frederick H. Koch organized the Carolina Playmakers at UNC.
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Eric A. Abernethy becomes the university physician
UNC A to Z says the university hired its first campus physician, Dr. Eric A. Abernethy, in 1919, and that he brought modern ideas about sanitation and medical practice to the campus. The infirmary building was later named Abernethy Hall for him.
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Passenger trains stop running on the University Railroad
Mixed passenger service on the ten-mile line between University Station and Carrboro ended as car ownership spread and roads improved, leaving the line to freight.
Civil rights era · 1945–1975
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The old campus infirmary is renamed Abernethy Hall
The university renamed its 1907 infirmary building Abernethy Hall in honor of Dr. Eric A. Abernethy, the university physician from 1919 to 1933. The infirmary itself moved to a new building in 1946.
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Victory Village is built to house married veterans at UNC
As returning veterans pushed enrollment to about 6,800, the federal government put up the prefabricated metal houses of Victory Village on 65 acres of UNC's south campus in 1946. About 350 student families lived there, and the last units were torn down in the early 1970s for the expansion of UNC Hospitals.
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The Joseph Palmer Knapp Building opens for the Institute of Government
The Institute of Government got a new building in Chapel Hill, paid for by the Knapp Foundation and a legislative appropriation and named for Joseph Palmer Knapp, who had died in 1951. His widow, Margaret Rutledge Knapp, saw that the family foundation funded it.
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North Carolina Memorial Hospital admits its 100,000th patient
UNC A to Z records that the hospital welcomed its 100,000th patient in 1960, eight years after it opened.
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UNC foodworkers’ struggles
UNC cafeteria workers struck twice in 1969 over pay and working conditions.
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Chancellor Taylor spends a night in Winston Residence Hall
Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor and other administrators stayed overnight in Winston Residence Hall to draw attention to overcrowded student housing. The same year Winston became UNC's first room-by-room coed residence hall.
Recent decades · 1976–2026
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N.C. Neurosciences Hospital opens at UNC Hospitals
The N.C. Neurosciences Hospital opened in 1995 as a specialized hospital within the UNC Hospitals complex in Chapel Hill.
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A Knapp Foundation gift funds an addition, renamed the Knapp-Sanders Building
The Knapp Foundation contributed to a large addition to the Institute of Government building, and the name was extended to honor John Lassiter Sanders, the Institute's second director.
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General Assembly creates the UNC Health Care System
Legislation in 1998 created the UNC Health Care System, bringing UNC Hospitals and the clinical work of the School of Medicine under one entity.
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North Carolina Children's and Women's Hospitals open
UNC Hospitals opened freestanding women's and children's hospitals in 2001. The Women's Hospital houses labor and delivery, operating rooms and ambulatory clinics, and the Children's Hospital holds a 58-bed newborn intensive care nursery.
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Baity Hill graduate and family housing opens on former Baity land
UNC completed the Baity Hill housing complex in 2005 on land once owned by Herman G. and Elizabeth Chesley Baity, whose family home stands on the grounds. It replaced Odum Village.
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Saunders Hall is renamed Carolina Hall
UNC trustees approved the name change in May 2015; the building received its new name that August.
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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.
