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Local figure

Thomas C. Atwood

Thomas C. Atwood (1874–1943), a Massachusetts engineer known for the Yale Bowl, took charge of the University of North Carolina's building campaign in Chapel Hill in 1921. With Arthur C. Nash and later H. Raymond Weeks he led the firms Atwood and Nash and Atwood and Weeks, which designed many university buildings.

Source: NCSU Libraries, North Carolina Architects and Builders: Atwood, Thomas C. (1874-1943)

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Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineBuilding University Lake, 1930–19321930–1932 · 13 events · In October 1930 the creeks supplying the University and Chapel Hill ran low, and J. S. Bennett warned of rationing. A year later laborers began clearing the site of the University's dam on Morgan Creek, a concrete dam designed by T. C. Atwood, 380 feet long and 30 feet high, to flood about 200 acres. H. D. Carter wrote that the work would end the last remains of the mill dam built on the creek by Matthew McCauley. About May 1932 the lake began supplying the University and Chapel Hill, and after a weekend deluge in October it filled for the first time and spilled over the dam. Carter put the dam's cost at $180,000. StorylineOld Memorial Hall condemned and replaced, 1929–19311929–1931 · 9 events · In 1929 University architect Thomas C. Atwood found the bases of Memorial Hall's wooden roof arches rotted to powder and warned that the building could fall at any minute. President Harry Woodburn Chase had closed it that fall over a bulge in its slate roof. In January 1930 the trustees voted to replace it on the same site, and the old hall was torn down in February. The new Colonial Revival hall stood by early 1931. Chase had found the money within University accounts, helped by a gift from John Sprunt Hill, but none was left to furnish it, and guests at the October 1931 dedication sat on scarred benches saved from the old hall. StorylineChapel Hill’s 1938 town hall and its later uses, 1938–19891938–1989 · 18 events · Chapel Hill built a new town hall in 1938 and 1939 with Public Works Administration money and town bonds, gaining a jail, fire and police quarters, offices and a courtroom under one roof. In June 1938 the PWA allotted $17,550, 45 per cent of the estimated cost, and the aldermen called a vote on up to $24,000 in bonds, which passed 211 to 27 in July. In August the general contract was let, and a few strokes of a pick met the PWA's starting deadline. The recorder's court first sat there in March 1939, Mayor John M. Foushee accepted the building at its April dedication, and the old firehouse and jail were torn down by July. Most of it went to the police when the town offices moved to a new Municipal Center in 1971. In 1981, as the town weighed selling or leasing the old police building, residents at a hearing agreed it should not be sold, and in 1989 it was leased to the Interfaith Council for a homeless shelter.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 18 dated events in the chronology →

  1. The university hires Aberthaw and McKim, Mead and White for its expansion For the postwar building program the university engaged the Aberthaw firm in 1919 to survey the campus and rework its plan, and by May 1920 it had retained the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White, led by William Kendall, as consulting architects for red brick Colonial Revival buildings. Local supervision came later, under Thomas C. Atwood from 1921, with H. P. Alan Montgomery and, from 1922, Arthur C. Nash. People: Arthur Cleveland Nash, Thomas C. Atwood Place: UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also named: William Kendall, H. Alan Montgomery, H. P. Alan MontgomerySearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 52 · Also: The Tar Heel, May 8, 1920, p. 3
  2. Memorial Hall is renovated with heat, electric light and sound padding Builders laid cork on the floors and padded the vaulted ceiling with felt and burlap to fix the acoustics, and added electric lights and heat so the hall could be used year-round. It reopened for the fall 1921 term. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), pp. 241-243
  3. The campus contractor builds separate quarters for white and Black workers The trustees made T. C. Thompson and Brothers of Charlotte sole contractor for the $1.1 million building program, a first in the state. Its first job was housing the initial 200 workers, in one dormitory for white men and another for African American men. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: T. C. ThompsonHoward E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 240
  4. The trustees' building committee names Durham engineer Thomas C. Atwood its executive agent Atwood ran the campus expansion on the ground, hiring engineers, draftsmen, an inspector, the architect H. P. Alan Montgomery and the Charlotte contractor T. C. Thompson. Nash replaced Montgomery the next year. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also named: H. P. Alan Montgomery, T. C. ThompsonSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Arthur C. and Mary S. A. Nash House, National Register nomination (OR2289), p. 16
  5. 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. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: Battle Park, along Battle Branch, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Park PlaceSearch the index · Valiunas, An Archaeological and Historical Investigation of the Battle Park Pavilion Site (31OR639), UNC Research Laboratories of Archaeology, Research Report 35 (2012)
  6. Arthur Cleveland Nash comes to Chapel Hill as the university's architect Nash moved to Chapel Hill in 1922 to serve as architect for the University of North Carolina during its major expansion, working with the builder Thomas C. Atwood and the consulting firm McKim, Mead and White of New York. People: Arthur Cleveland Nash, Thomas C. Atwood Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCSU Libraries, North Carolina Architects and Builders: Nash, Arthur C. (1871-1969)
  7. Murphey, Saunders and Manning halls are designed in the university's building office On the east side of the new south quadrangle, H. P. Alan Montgomery, architect in the university's building office under Thomas C. Atwood, laid out a smaller court of classroom buildings, with McKim, Mead and White as consulting architects: Murphey Hall for languages and literature, Saunders Hall (now Carolina Hall) for history and social science, and Manning Hall, with an Ionic portico and cupola, for the law school. People: Arthur Cleveland Nash, Thomas C. Atwood Place: Polk Place, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also named: H. P. Alan Montgomery · Also mentions: Manning Hall, Murphey Hall, Saunders HallSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 53 · Also: UNC Names in Brick and Stone: Grimes Residence Hall; NC State Historic Preservation Office: Arthur C. and Mary S. A. Nash House nomination
  8. Thomas C. Atwood and Arthur C. Nash form the firm Atwood and Nash, Architects and Engineers The firm served as the university's local architects and engineers through the 1920s building campaign, working under McKim, Mead and White's William Kendall. It kept its office in the Alumni Building and another in Durham. People: Arthur Cleveland Nash, Thomas C. Atwood Place: Alumni Building, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also named: William KendallSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Arthur C. and Mary S. A. Nash House, National Register nomination (OR2289), p. 16
  9. University architect Thomas C. Atwood builds a duplex on Ridge Lane for his firm's workers Thomas C. Atwood, supervising architect for the 1920s campus building program, built a one-story frame duplex in the Gimghoul subdivision to house employees of Atwood and Nash. It stayed a duplex until the 1970s, when it became a single-family house. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: 106 Ridge Lane, Gimghoul, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: GimghoulSearch the index · National Register: Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District nomination (OR0709, 1993), section 7 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 31, 1924, p. 1
  10. Chi Psi announces a Norman-style house for West Cameron Avenue Chi Psi announced plans for a $50,000 Norman-style stone house by the university architects Atwood and Nash on the old McCauley place on Cameron Avenue. The design broke with the campus's Colonial theme: steep slate roof, casement windows with stone trim, an arched entrance and a stone terrace. The old McCauley house, the chapter's home, burned on Christmas night 1929, and in November 1930 the chapter was still without a new house. People: William Chambers Coker, Arthur Cleveland Nash, Thomas C. Atwood Place: 321 West Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Cameron AvenueSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 62 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, November 16, 1930, p. 4; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 14, 1928, p. 1
  11. Thomas C. Atwood reports that Memorial Hall could collapse After President Chase closed Memorial Hall over a bulge in its slate roof, university architect Thomas C. Atwood found the bases of the wooden roof arches rotted to powder. In a late November report to the building committee he warned that the building could fall at any minute and endanger passersby. People: Harry Woodburn Chase Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Memorial HallSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 401 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, November 8, 1929, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1929, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1929, p. 1
  12. Thomas Atwood's new firm, Atwood and Weeks, moves from Chapel Hill to Durham With campus building stopped by the 1929 crash and Nash retiring, Atwood took H. Raymond Weeks as his partner and moved the practice to Durham. Weeks succeeded Nash as university architect, with Nash advising him until 1953. People: Howard Raymond Weeks, Thomas C. Atwood Place: Chapel Hill and DurhamSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Arthur C. and Mary S. A. Nash House, National Register nomination (OR2289), p. 18
Show all 18 dated events
  1. The new Memorial Hall opens with a recital by Carola Goya The University's new Memorial Hall, built on the old hall's site for about $190,000 from state and University emergency funds and seating 1,850, opened to the public with Spanish dances by Carola Goya, the first event of the entertainment committee's season. There was no money for chairs, so the old wooden benches from the condemned hall were cut to fit the sloping floor; the tablets to the University's Confederate dead were set beside the stage. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Carola GoyaThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 6, 1931, p. 2
  2. Work begins on the University's dam and reservoir on Morgan Creek About 30 laborers for the contractors T. C. Thompson & Bros. began clearing the site of the University's dam on Morgan Creek, about three miles west of Chapel Hill, near the old weir and pumping station. Designed by T. C. Atwood, the concrete dam was to be 380 feet long and 30 feet high and to flood about 200 acres; with land and clearing it was expected to cost about $130,000 from the 1929 legislature's appropriation. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: Morgan Creek, about three miles west of Chapel Hill · Also named: T. C. ThompsonThe Chapel Hill Weekly, October 16, 1931, p. 1
  3. Harry Stern moves his Carolina Grill into a new building on East Franklin Street Harry Stern moved his Carolina Grill, a restaurant and delicatessen, into a larger new building that T. C. Atwood put up on the lot next to the Model Market. The Weekly counted it among the year's new business buildings. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: East Franklin Street next to the Model Market, Chapel Hill · Also named: Harry Stern · Also mentions: Carolina GrillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 18, 1936, p. 4 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 26, 1936, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 18, 1936, p. 1
  4. Chapel Hill builds a new town hall with PWA help The town hall at 100 West Rosemary Street, on the site of the town's first town hall, was a joint federal and town project: the Public Works Administration paid 45 per cent of the cost (46 per cent, the Weekly said at the dedication), where Little credits the WPA with about half. The contract went to H. F. Mitchell Jr. of Burlington on August 18, 1938, and work began that day to meet the federal deadline. The building went into use in late March 1939 and was dedicated at an open house on April 10, 1939. University architects Atwood and Weeks designed the two-story brick building in a Williamsburg-inspired Colonial style with a hipped slate roof, cupola and swan's-neck pediment. People: Thomas C. Atwood, Howard Raymond Weeks Place: 100 West Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: H. F. Mitchell Jr.Search the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 66 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 31, 1939, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 19, 1938, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 14, 1939, p. 1
  5. Lenoir Hall is built as the new campus dining hall Atwood and Weeks designed Lenoir Hall, a red brick dining hall with large windows near Wilson Library, at the west end of Emerson Field. The general contract went to a Charlotte company on April 11, 1939, with 180 days to finish, but a strike at the limestone quarries held up the work, and in December 1939 the Weekly listed the $265,400 dining hall among University buildings to be finished in 1940, to open with the winter quarter in January. It served its first meal at noon on January 2, 1940. Little dates its completion to 1939. People: Thomas C. Atwood, Howard Raymond Weeks Place: Lenoir Hall, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Emerson Field, Wilson LibrarySearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 56 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, April 14, 1939, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 3, 1939, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 8, 1939, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, January 5, 1940, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, April 29, 1982, p. 5
  6. Engineer Thomas C. Atwood dies, ending the firm of Atwood and Weeks Atwood died at Duke Hospital on February 2, 1943, at the age of 68. His death closed the partnership that had carried out much of the university's building since the 1920s; the Weekly recalled his earlier firm, Atwood and Nash, which built Kenan Stadium to his partner Arthur C. Nash's design. People: Thomas C. Atwood Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Arthur C. Nash · Also mentions: Duke Hospital, Kenan StadiumSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Chapel Hill Town Hall, National Register nomination (OR0327), p. 9 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, February 5, 1943, p. 6

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 11 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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  • Nash, Arthur C. (1871-1969)North Carolina Architects & Builders Architects, builders, and their work
  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Thomas C. Atwood Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
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