Chronology

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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. about 1907
   Construction or physical change · Pickard Hotel, northwest corner of Franklin and Pine streets, Chapel Hill Walter W. Pickard builds a new Pickard Hotel at Franklin and Pine streets

   After the old hotel he had leased passed to the university, Pickard and his wife built a new seventy-five-room Pickard Hotel on the northwest corner of Franklin and Pine streets.

3. 1916
   Property or economic transaction · Pickard Hotel, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Walter W. Pickard sells the Pickard Hotel to William and Louisa Uzzel

   Walter W. Pickard sold his Franklin Street hotel to Major William Uzzel and his wife, Louisa. The maps carry the hotel under Uzzel's ownership until it burned.

4. January 7, 1928
   Disaster or outbreak · 223 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill Fire destroys the Pickard Hotel on Franklin Street

   A fire that started in the attic destroyed the old Pickard Hotel late on Saturday night, January 7, 1928, at a loss of about $20,000. Firemen thought they had put it out, but were called back to find the whole roof burning. The hotel, built by the Pickards, was then owned and run by Colonel Uzzell.

5. September 1938
   Construction or physical change · North side of East Franklin Street opposite Graham Memorial, Chapel Hill Coates clears the old Pickard Hotel and Ledbetter lots on Franklin Street for the Institute building

   With the campus site no longer available, Coates arranged to buy two lots on the north side of Franklin Street facing Graham Memorial, the university-controlled Ledbetter property and the privately owned old Pickard Hotel property, for $8,700. In late September he borrowed to clear them; the old buildings came down, and the excavation filled with water through a wet winter until town officials called it a nuisance.

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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.