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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. April 1, 1918
   Founding or opening · Orange County The county agrees to pay for a home demonstration agent

   The commissioners ordered two-thirds of an $800 salary paid for a home demonstration agent, with the school board paying the rest. The work stopped after the war and did not resume until 1935.

3. October 1918
   Health or relief action · Hillsborough Eno Mill opens an influenza diet kitchen at West Hill school

   When influenza reached the Eno Mill district, the mill opened and paid for a diet kitchen at the West Hill school for about seven weeks, run by home demonstration agent Elizabeth Cornelius. It fed as many as 150 people a day, and the mill hired nurses for the sick.

4. September 1935
   Founding or opening · Orange County Grace E. Holcombe revives home demonstration work in Orange County

   Hired jointly by Orange and Chatham counties, Holcombe organized four home demonstration clubs and nine 4-H clubs within a year. By 1941, under her successor Woodward Byars, the county had 17 home demonstration clubs.

5. September 11, 1937
   Founding or opening · Carrboro Farm women open the Orange County curb market in Carrboro

   A curb market run by Orange County farm women opened in the former McCauley store in Carrboro, selling vegetables, fruit, chickens, eggs, sausage, preserves and canned goods. It was organized with the county home demonstration agent, with thirteen women signed on as sellers before opening.

6. 1941
   Appointment, election or service · Orange County Ruby Crews becomes the county's first home demonstration agent for Black women

   An assistant agent was added in 1941 to work only with Black farm women, and Crews, later Mrs. Ruby Carraway, was the first to hold the job.

7. September 1, 1944
   Competition or sporting achievement · Hillsborough Orange County's Black home demonstration clubs hold their first dress contest in Hillsboro

   Women from every Black home demonstration club in the county modeled thirty-six dresses, suits and accessories they had made at the Hillsboro high school auditorium. By 1946 the clubs met monthly in rural communities including White Oak Grove, Jordan Grove, Cool Springs, Cedar Grove, Harmony, Ridge Road, St. Mary's, Sartin and Carr.

8. November 30, 1944
   Statistic or record · Hillsborough Home demonstration clubs report the year's work at Achievement Day in Hillsboro

   At the county home demonstration clubs' Achievement Day at the courthouse, the home agent reported that women had canned an average of 350 quarts and that 94 percent made their own clothes, and that the women's curb market in Chapel Hill had taken in $30,280.68 over the past year. Clubs from Caldwell, Carr, Cedar Grove, Efland, New Hope, Orange Grove, St. Mary's, Schley and Murphy had made 699 garments and 744 other articles for the Red Cross.

9. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

10. May 1951
    Statistic or record · Orange County Orange County's seventeen home demonstration clubs count 443 members

    During National Home Demonstration Week the county reported 443 women in 17 home demonstration clubs, served by two white agents and one Black agent, with 80 volunteer leaders who had held 62 meetings attended by 1,459 people the year before. Clubs made 38 United Nations flags for schools, churches and Grange halls as part of a citizenship study.

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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.