Chronology

Search and filters

Entries

1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. 1907
   Construction or physical change · 115 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill The Archer family builds a house on South Columbia Street that becomes a student boarding house

   The Archer House went up on South Columbia Street in 1907, and Mrs. Joseph Archer ran it as a boarding house for University students. The University bought the house in the 1920s.

3. 1935
   Construction or physical change · 115 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill The University again makes Archer House a residence for women students

   Archer House, the old boardinghouse also called the Battle house or Russell Inn, had housed the University's women students from about 1921 until fire gutted it in January 1925. From 1926 Mrs. Victor Humphreys ran it as lodging and a dining room for men students; in 1935 the University made it a women's residence again, with Mrs. Humphreys in charge until 1937.

4. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

5. August to September 1954
   Construction or physical change · 115 South Columbia Street, Chapel Hill The University tears down Archer House to make room for the Ackland Art Museum

   Demolition of the 47-year-old Archer House on South Columbia Street began in August 1954 and was still under way in late September. Its lot and the Roberson lot next door became the site of the Ackland museum.

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 1, 2026.