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Local figure

John William Canada

John William Canada took his A.B. at the University of North Carolina in 1896 and that fall opened a preparatory school in Chapel Hill, which the student paper welcomed as the village's high school. As enrollment grew he moved the school into Dr. Abner B. Roberson's Patterson Hotel building at Franklin and Columbia streets, and by September 1897 it had eight teachers and 124 pupils. The school closed in 1901.

Source: The Tar Heel, September 19, 1896

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to John William Canada. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about John William Canada’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.

Research sources

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →

  1. John W. Canada starts the Canada School in Chapel Hill Soon after graduating from the university in 1896, John W. Canada organized a private school in Chapel Hill that prepared students for college. He ran it with his brother Charles, Sallie Wilson and a Miss Hendon until he left for Texas soon after 1900. People: Louis Graves, Charles Edward Maddry, John William CanadaSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 143
  2. The Canada School takes over Dr. Roberson's Patterson Hotel building The Canada School had outgrown its rooms behind the post office, so in 1896 John W. Canada hired more teachers and moved into the Patterson Hotel building, which Dr. Abner Benton Roberson owned. The building's run as a hotel was short. People: John William CanadaSearch the index · Internet Archive: Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 169
  3. John W. Canada's school closes and its building becomes a rooming house The John W. Canada School closed, and the old building on the southwest corner of Franklin and Columbia streets where it had met became a rooming house. The brick building beside it was used as a Masonic hall. People: John William CanadaSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 179

Named with them in the chronology

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Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for John William Canada Library card An advanced search of the state’s shared databases already scoped to Orange County’s places and this subject; edit it freely, and sign in through your North Carolina library to read
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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