Chronology

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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. February 4, 1935
   Protest or organizing · Orange County Parents turn back a plan to merge the Aycock, Efland and Hillsboro schools

   A large crowd of parents appeared before the board to fight a plan that would have folded the Aycock, Efland and Hillsboro schools into one. The opposition was strong enough that the board dropped the plan, which returned in 1963 as Orange High School.

3. Civil rights era · 1945–1975

4. 1960-1962
   Property or economic transaction · Hillsborough The county board buys 100 acres from S. T. Latta for a new consolidated high school

   The board bought 100 acres from S. T. Latta in August 1960 for a new county high school, set aside $100,000 toward the building in July 1961 and accepted construction bids in May 1962. The school opened as Orange High School in 1963.

5. 1963
   Closing or ending · Cedar Grove Aycock and Hillsborough High schools are consolidated into Orange High School

   When Orange High School opened in 1963, the county consolidated the high school grades of Aycock School in Cedar Grove and Hillsborough High School into it, and the older buildings became junior high or elementary schools. Some Aycock seniors went to Eastern Alamance High School in Mebane, but most went to Orange High.

6. Fall 1963
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Orange High School begins desegregation

   Tonya and Narviar Cathcart entered Orange High School after their family’s transfer petition was approved.

7. 1963
   Founding or opening · Hillsborough Orange Junior High School opens in the old Hillsborough High School building

   When the county consolidated its white high schools into Orange High in 1963, it organized Orange Junior High School for grades six through nine in the old Hillsborough High School building, with Ted Shoaf as principal.

8. March 1963
   Closing or ending · Caldwell Orange County Board of Education closes Caldwell School

   In 1961 the county board weighed a proposal to close White Cross School at once and Caldwell School later. In March 1963, in the consolidation that came with the new Orange High School, it voted to close the white-only Caldwell School, built in 1925, and from that fall its pupils went to Aycock and Cameron Park. The county could not sell the building until 1973.

9. 1964-1969
   Award or honor · Hillsborough Orange High and Orange Junior High win accreditation from the state and the Southern Association

   Between about 1964 and 1969 Orange High School and Orange Junior High were accredited by the state and by the Southern Association, so every county pupil in grades 7 through 12 attended a regionally accredited school. A push to accredit the elementary schools was put off by integration.

10. 1968
    Protest or organizing · Hillsborough Central High students march and Orange County schools integrate

    In 1968 Black students at Central High School in Hillsborough walked out and marched to protest a plan for phased desegregation. After Central's last class graduated that spring, its high school students moved to Orange High, ending the county's dual school system in 1968–69.

11. 1968
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Stanford Junior High School is built near Hillsborough with two classroom buildings and a gymnasium

    Under Superintendent G. Paul Carr the county finished Stanford Junior High, a main classroom building for about 800 pupils, a second for about 225 and a gymnasium, on the 100-acre tract it shares with Orange High.

12. 1969-70
    Law, policy or court · Hillsborough Orange County Schools regroup pupils by grade across the Hillsborough schools to complete integration

    For 1969-70 the county put all its pupils outside the Efland area into Hillsborough schools, each serving set grades: kindergarten at Central Elementary, grades 1-2 at Cameron Park, 3-4 at Central, 5-6 at the old Orange Junior High, 7-9 at a new Orange Junior High and 10-12 at Orange High. Efland-Cheeks took kindergarten through third grade and Efland Elementary grades 4-6, and Aycock, Cedar Grove and West Hillsborough dropped out as separate schools.

13. 1969
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Orange High School is enlarged with new buildings

    Six years after it opened as the county's consolidated high school, Orange High near Hillsborough added buildings in 1969 under the new superintendent George F. Williams.

14. 1971
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Orange High School gets a gymnasium

    The Orange High gymnasium, the fourth building on the campus plan, is dated 1971 under Superintendent George F. Williams.

15. February 1, 1971
    Violence or armed conflict · Orange High School, Hillsborough Student Donnie Riddle is stabbed to death at Orange High School

    Donnie Riddle was killed in the Orange High bus parking lot while trying to shield the assistant principal from three former students who had dropped out. The school stayed closed until February 7, when enough officers were on hand to keep out anyone without business there.

16. October 22, 1973
    Naming or commemoration · Orange High School, Hillsborough The county board names Orange High's new football stadium for coach Glenn Auman

    The board named the new football stadium for Glenn Auman, who had coached for many years and taught high school classes.

17. Recent decades · 1976–2026

18. 1979
    Construction or physical change · Hillsborough Orange High School's Cultural Arts Building is fitted with a heat pump system

    A note to the Orange High plant table records a heat pump system in 1979 for the school's Cultural Arts Building, work that falls in Michael Simmons's term as superintendent.

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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 2, 2026.