Chronology

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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. Late 1914
   Construction or physical change · Franklin Street and Battle Park, Chapel Hill Students improve Franklin Street and Battle Park during Community Service Week

   During Graham's first statewide Community Service Week, about a hundred students worked on Chapel Hill: one crew graded Franklin Street under Joseph Hyde Pratt with teams paid for by merchants and bankers, others cleared the grounds around Swain Hall, cleaned the Battle Park trails under the Rev. W. D. Moss and gathered trash from the alleys.

3. July 4, 1918
   Publication, speech or performance · Chapel Hill Orange County holds a Fourth of July war rally on the UNC campus

   At the Governor's request the UNC Summer School invited the county to its July 4, 1918 celebration, and at least 3,000 people came for a parade, a flag raising and S. M. Gattis's address in Memorial Hall. The county Council of Defense met in Gerrard Hall, and Adolph Vermont's pageant on French-American friendship played in Battle's Park.

4. 1919
   Founding or opening · Forest Theatre, Battle Park, Chapel Hill The Forest Theatre, an outdoor amphitheatre, is built at the edge of Battle Park

   The university's open-air theatre on the western edge of Battle Park dates from 1919. It now carries the name of drama professor Frederick Koch.

5. fall 1921
   Construction or physical change · Battle Park, along Battle Branch, Chapel Hill UNC completes a sewage disposal plant in Battle Park for the Park Place faculty houses

   Built with convict labor under T. C. Atwood, the plant on Battle Branch treated waste from the new Park Place faculty houses and nearby homes the town mains did not reach. It was reported complete and in service by October 12, 1921.

6. about 1923
   Disaster or outbreak · Gimghoul development on the edge of Battle Park, Chapel Hill "Judge" Brockwell's cabin at the edge of Battle Park burns

   The cabin known as "Judge" Brockwell's, on the edge of Battle Park, burns down. Early in 1924 coach Bill Fetzer bought the plot in the new Gimghoul development and planned a Colonial house there.

7. July 1928
   Closing or ending · Battle Park, Chapel Hill A new pipe line to the town plant ends the Battle Park sewage plant

   Under an agreement among the university, the town and the Gimghouls, a pipe line to the municipal plant in Strowd's lowgrounds was finished, and the park's disposal plant was abandoned so the woods could be restored.

8. April 10, 1931
   Protest or organizing · Battle Park, Chapel Hill Townspeople and faculty form the Battle Park Association at Joseph Hyde Pratt's home

   A meeting at Colonel Pratt's home launched a volunteer group to restore Kemp Battle's paths and bridges in Battle Park. By the end of 1931 it had cleared old walks, opened about three miles of trail and rebuilt the bridges.

9. 1940
   Construction or physical change · Forest Theatre, Battle Park, Chapel Hill The WPA rebuilds the Forest Theatre in stone

   Works Progress Administration crews remade the amphitheatre in local stone: a screen wall along Country Club Road, curved seating following the hillside, towers for lights and sound, and a rough stone stage. The present structure dates from this rebuilding.

10. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

11. 1960s
    Founding or opening · Glendale, Chapel Hill The Glendale subdivision is developed north of Battle Park

    During the 1960s the Glendale subdivision was built on the hilly ground north of Battle Park, with houses by Cogswell/Hausler and other modernist firms.

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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 1, 2026.