Chronology

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1. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

2. April 1949
   Construction or physical change · 109 Stephens Street, Chapel Hill Railway Express agent Lonas Williams starts Chapel Hill's first Lustron house, on Stephens Street

   Lonas Williams and his wife began putting up a factory-made Lustron house of porcelain-enameled steel off Airport Road, the first of its kind in or near Chapel Hill. Mrs. Williams had read about the houses in Life, and the parts came by trailer from the Columbus, Ohio, plant through Taylor-Made Homes of Greensboro.

3. May 29 to June 5, 1949
   Publication, speech or performance · 109 Stephens Street, Chapel Hill The Chapel Hill Jaycees open the Williams Lustron house for public inspection

   For a week the Junior Chamber of Commerce showed Lonas Williams's new all-steel Lustron house, furnished by local stores, at 25 cents a visitor, expecting guests from Raleigh, Durham, Pittsboro and Hillsborough. The showing cleared $240 for the club's community projects.

4. Recent decades · 1976–2026

5. July 13, 1995
   Naming or commemoration · Lustron House, 109 Stephens Street, Chapel Hill A Lustron house on Stephens Street joins the Study List

   On July 13, 1995 the committee placed the Lustron house at 109 Stephens Street in Chapel Hill on the Study List. Discussion turned to how many intact Lustron houses survived in North Carolina and whether a statewide count was needed; staff noted that intact examples in other states had been nominated under the exception for buildings less than fifty years old.

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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.