Skip to content

Local figure

H. D. Carter

H. D. Carter was an architect who practiced in Chapel Hill from the 1920s into the 1940s and designed many of the town's houses. He directed Civil Works Administration improvements around the Hillsborough courthouse in 1933 and 1934, when the old stone jail was torn down. In August 1934 he became supervisor of Orange County's federal relief projects, and in 1935 he designed Public Works Administration school buildings for the county.

Source: The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 22, 1933

2 works about H. D. Carter are indexed here.

Life and Orange County connections

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

StorylineThe University’s building program, 1923–19251923–1925 · 23 events · The 1923 legislature gave the University $1,650,000 for buildings, and the trustees divided it among men's dormitories, a chemistry building, the remodeling of old buildings, a water supply and a women's building. Old West was gutted and rebuilt as a modern dormitory, and Old East, found unsafe, was saved inside a concrete frame. The Weekly called 1923 by far the greatest building year in the town's history. Three dormitories went up across the old Raleigh road, the metal-walled Tin Can athletic building opened, and Swain Hall was rebuilt after a fire in 1924. The chemistry department moved into the new Venable Hall in 1925, and the women's building opened that fall. 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. StorylineThe old Methodist church at Henderson Street and Rosemary Lane, 1926–19381926–1938 · 3 events · The long-closed 1853 Methodist church at Rosemary and Henderson streets in Chapel Hill found a series of new uses after 1926. That July it became an automobile repair station, the Club Service Motor Co., with a platform built from the rear door to Henderson Street for cars. In December 1934 the American Legion post announced a bargain with Lueco Lloyd to buy the building, once the church of the Rev. Adolphus W. Mangum, and make it a memorial hut, but by March 1935 the post gave up the plan as more than it could pay for. In January 1938 the Orange County Women's Market, a farm women's market, reopened there on Saturdays. StorylineWhite Cross School burns and is rebuilt, 19331933 · 3 events · When fire destroyed the White Cross school building in April 1933, the county replaced it within months with a one-story brick school built from plans the state obtained from the Tennessee office of the Julius Rosenwald Fund. The board authorized a new building for $10,859, and by July the contract had gone to the Home Construction Company of Durham for $9,400; the fire insurance had paid $11,400. The finished school had four large classrooms split by an auditorium, and they were in use by late September 1933. A later documentation form named White Cross one of the county's two best examples of the larger central schools that replaced one- and two-room schools during consolidation. StorylinePerson Hall becomes the University’s art museum, 1933–19371933–1937 · 5 events · Turning old Person Hall, once a chapel and later the home of medicine, chemistry, pharmacy and music, into the University's art gallery depended on relief money that started and stopped. Work began in early 1934 with a federal allotment to be matched by friends of the University led by Katherine Pendleton Arrington, then halted for months with the building a roofless shell. A special relief grant let the University resume that September, and by December the Weekly already spoke of the hall as an art museum, though it was not finished. Emergency Relief Administration money closed it in during 1935, work went on through 1936, and the Person Hall Art Gallery opened on January 15, 1937. StorylineThe American Legion's hut, 1934–19441934–1944 · 5 events · The Chapel Hill post of the American Legion first planned to make the old Methodist church into its memorial hut, then built a log hut on Rosemary Lane. In December 1934 the post announced a bargain to buy the church for $3,750, but by March 1935 it had given up the plan, finding the work would cost more than it could raise. It then planned a log hut on a Rosemary Lane lot from trees given by country members. Legionnaires did much of the building, and a crew of Black masons filled the cracks between the logs. The first meeting in the hut came on March 19, 1937, and in 1944 the post burned the mortgage.
Show all 7 storylines

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 43 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Building in Chapel Hill and at the University tops $2.5 million in a year An estimate by H. D. Carter of the T. C. Atwood Organization put the year's building in town and at the University, finished, under way or about to begin, at about $2.56 million, including about $480,000 of town work finished and nearly $1.5 million of University work. The Weekly called it by far the greatest building year in the town's history. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill and the UNC campusSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 1, 1923, p. 1
  2. Building under way in Chapel Hill is put at $1,345,000 H. D. Carter of the Atwood and Nash staff put the value of buildings just finished, going up or planned in Chapel Hill at about $1,345,000: $660,000 in University work (the chemistry hall, three men's dormitories, the women's building and the Playmakers' theatre), about $225,000 for the Carolina Inn and $150,000 for the Episcopal church and parish house. The rest was stores, a garage and a run of faculty houses in the Gimghoul tract and along Pittsboro Street. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Carolina Inn, Gimghoul, Pittsboro StreetSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 31, 1924, p. 1
  3. Bruce Strowd starts a two-story garage at Franklin and Columbia streets Construction began on Bruce Strowd's new garage on the old Carr place at the corner of Franklin and Columbia streets, a $30,000 building by contractor Brodie Thompson to plans by H. D. Carter, with 60 feet on Franklin Street, 120 on Columbia, elevators to the second floor and twice the floor space of his old garage. Thompson expected to finish by the end of the year. People: Bruce Strowd, Brodie Thompson, H. D. Carter Place: Franklin and Columbia streets, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Franklin StreetThe Chapel Hill Weekly, August 21, 1924, p. 4
  4. Chapel Hill building in 1927 is tallied at $792,500 H. D. Carter estimated building in Chapel Hill during 1927 at about $792,500: $303,000 for the Kenan stadium, $170,000 for other University work, $90,000 for public and business buildings including the Carolina Theatre, the Sutton building and an African Methodist Episcopal church, $51,000 for fraternity houses and $178,500 for dwellings, not counting paving and sewers. He forecast about $900,000 for 1928, including the library and a dormitory. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Carolina TheatreSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 18, 1927, p. 5
  5. Chapel Hill's building in 1929 is put at three quarters of a million dollars H. D. Carter estimated that more than $750,000 went into building in Chapel Hill in 1929: the new library and Bingham Hall, the refitting of the old library for music, nine fraternity houses for 280 students at about $320,000, some $85,000 in new homes, tavern buildings on the Durham road, filling stations, and the grading and walling of the cemetery addition. He advised anyone planning to build to start at once, since builders were out of work and materials cheap. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Bingham HallSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1929, p. 1
  6. Chapel Hill building for 1930 totals about $484,000 Builder H. D. Carter put the year's construction at about $484,000, against $750,000 in 1929: about $364,000 by the University for the new Memorial Hall, the music building and its auditorium, Peabody Hall alterations and a concrete railroad trestle, and $120,000 elsewhere, with only one new fraternity house. He found building costs 15 to 20 per cent lower. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Memorial Hall, Peabody HallSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 12, 1930, p. 4
  7. Work on the University dam ends the last remains of Matthew McCauley's mill dam on Morgan Creek H. D. Carter of Atwood and Weeks wrote that the building of the University's dam and reservoir would put into tradition the last remains of the earth dam and corn mill built on Morgan Creek by Matthew McCauley, one of the donors of the University's land. The Weekly headed the item as the destruction of the last vestiges of the historic structure. People: H. D. Carter, Matthew McCauley Place: Morgan Creek, west of Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 6, 1931, p. 4
  8. Builders put a cofferdam across Morgan Creek for the University's new dam A temporary dam of log crib-work filled with stone was built across Morgan Creek above the site of the University's water-supply dam, with a timber flume to carry the stream. It backed water nearly to the Damascus road and served as a road for hauling out wood cleared from the reservoir site. People: H. D. Carter Place: Morgan Creek, west of CarrboroThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 4, 1931, p. 2
  9. Chapel Hill's 1931 building is put at $427,000 H. D. Carter estimated the year's building in Chapel Hill at $427,000, against $484,000 in 1930: $310,000 by the University for Graham Memorial, the bell tower and the Morgan Creek dam, $26,000 for the town's sewage plant, and about $92,000 in private houses and farm buildings. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Graham MemorialSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 11, 1931, p. 1
  10. Orange County Republicans meet in Hillsboro and endorse Hoover The county convention endorsed Herbert Hoover for re-election and Jake F. Newell, who spoke, for the United States Senate, backed the 'national plan of organization' for the party, and chose delegates to the state and district conventions. The Carrboro boys' band, trained by George Lawrence, played on the court house lawn and in the court room. People: H. D. Carter, George H. Lawrence Place: Court house, Hillsboro · Also named: Jake F. Newell, George LawrenceSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 1, 1932, p. 1
  11. Orange County Republicans name H. D. Carter for the legislature and a full county ticket The county convention in Hillsboro nominated H. D. Carter of Chapel Hill for the house of representatives, Frank Strowd for register of deeds, Lueco Lloyd and William T. Roberts among the candidates for commissioner, J. Ralph Weaver for surveyor and Dr. B. B. Lloyd for coroner, along with constables, school board members and justices of the peace. People: H. D. Carter, Braxton Bynum Lloyd, Lueco Lloyd Place: Hillsboro · Also named: Frank Strowd, J. Ralph WeaverSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 27, 1932, p. 1
  12. Fifteen building jobs keep Chapel Hill builders at work through the summer slump By late August 1932 Chapel Hill had fifteen building operations just finished or under way, worth $65,000 to $70,000, which architect H. D. Carter said supported at least 320 people that summer. Costs had fallen since 1929: lumber from $26 to $12.50 a thousand feet and skilled labor from 55 to 40 cents an hour. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 26, 1932, p. 1
Show all 43 dated events
  1. Chapel Hill building for 1932 is put at $205,000, most of it the University Lake dam H. D. Carter's year-end survey put building in and around Chapel Hill in 1932 at $205,000, of which $180,000 went into the University's dam west of Carrboro, built largely by Chapel Hill men. New houses went up for D. D. Carroll, Mary Graves Rees and six others; the totals for 1929, 1930 and 1931 had been $750,000, $484,000 and $297,000. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill and University Lake · Also named: D. D. Carroll, Mary Graves ReesSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 16, 1932, p. 1
  2. Chapel Hill's building for 1933 comes to about $212,000 Architect H. D. Carter's yearly summary put Chapel Hill's building in 1933 at about $212,000, most of it outdoor University work paid by the Civil Works Administration (about $81,000 for labor and $22,000 for materials), against $750,000 in 1929, $484,000 in 1930, $297,000 in 1931 and $205,000 in 1932. New houses included several in Davie Woods and Westwood, and the Acacia house on East Franklin was being made into apartments. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 22, 1933, p. 4
  3. The county lets the contract for a new brick White Cross School The contract for a new White Cross School, replacing the building lost to fire, went to the Home Construction Company of Durham for $9,400, with plumbing and heating to Paschall Brothers of Durham for $1,459; the fire insurance had paid $11,400. The one-story solid brick building, on plans the state obtained from the Tennessee office of the Julius Rosenwald Fund, was to have four classrooms, an office and library, an auditorium, its own electric plant and a well, with H. D. Carter as supervising inspector and local men doing the work. People: H. D. Carter Place: White Cross School, White CrossSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 14, 1933, p. 5
  4. Civil Works crews begin rebuilding Hillsborough's courthouse square About 20 long-unemployed men started Civil Works project 38016 at the Orange County courthouse on December 1, a week after the county commissioners chose it, and some 65 were at work by late January. The project took in repairs and a new cellar at the courthouse, a remodeled board of education building with an office for the mayor, a garage for 25 school buses, grading of the court house lot, and curb, gutter and flagstone walks laid with stone from the old jail. People: H. D. Carter Place: Courthouse square, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 26, 1934, p. 5
  5. Civil Works crews tear down the old stone jail on Hillsborough's courthouse square As part of a Civil Works Administration project around the courthouse, relief workers demolished the old jail, and flagstones from its walls were used for sidewalks around the square. The work was nearly done in late December and complete by late January. People: George H. Lawrence, H. D. Carter Place: Courthouse square, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 22, 1933, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, January 26, 1934, p. 5
  6. Architect H. D. Carter becomes supervisor of Orange County relief projects Chapel Hill architect H. D. Carter replaced J. A. Page as supervisor of Orange County's Federal Emergency Relief Administration projects, which included painting and repairing schools. The next year he designed Public Works Administration buildings and additions for nine county schools. People: H. D. Carter Place: Orange County · Also named: J. A. PageSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ridge Road School, National Register nomination (OR1104), p. 15 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, August 17, 1934, p. 1
  7. A federal grant restarts the rebuilding of Person Hall as an art museum A special $3,000 relief grant, obtained through the state relief director, Mrs. Thomas O'Berry, and limited to skilled labor, let the University resume rebuilding Person Hall, the ante-bellum building that had housed chemistry, pharmacy and music, as an art museum. H. D. Carter, the FERA construction supervisor for Orange, planned to roof it and put in windows and doors within five weeks; the work, begun as a CWA project the winter before, had stopped for months with the building a roofless shell. People: H. D. Carter Place: Person Hall, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also named: Mrs. Thomas O'BerrySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 14, 1934, p. 1
  8. H. D. Carter completes a property map of Chapel Hill and its outskirts H. D. Carter finished a map of Chapel Hill and the developed land within a mile or so of it, Carrboro excepted, six by three and a half feet at one inch to 200 feet, showing streets, buildings, lot lines and dimensions, and owners' names. He built it over eight months from 54 earlier maps dating back to 1911 and the town and county records; the Weekly called it the first adequate map of the village, and the American Association of University Women sold copies at $3 to help pay for a scholarship. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 12, 1934, p. 1
  9. H. D. Carter finds 1934 Chapel Hill's leanest building year in fifteen years Reviewing the year for the Weekly, H. D. Carter wrote that 1934 saw less building in Chapel Hill than any of the last fifteen years: the Chi Psi fraternity house, the Barr bungalow and a tenant bungalow for W. C. Coker were finished and C. Kenan Strowd's house was half built, about $45,000 in housing plus $5,000 in repairs, many caused by termites. He credited CWA and ERA work on campus drives, tennis courts, the intramural field, rechanneling Bolin Creek, school repairs, Person Hall and the village streets with keeping local men employed. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: W. C. Coker · Also mentions: Bolin Creek, Person HallSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1934, p. 2
  10. The American Legion agrees to buy the old Methodist church for its Memorial Hut The Chapel Hill post of the American Legion announced in December 1934 that it had closed a bargain with Lueco Lloyd to buy the old Methodist church at Henderson Street and Rosemary Lane for $3,750, to be rebuilt as the American Legion Memorial Hut at a further cost that H. D. Carter estimated at $1,250. The brick building, lately the MacMillan Motor Company's garage, had been the church of Rev. Adolphus W. Mangum in the years after 1875; the post planned an assembly room, kitchen and lounge and meant it to serve as a community center. In February 1935 the Weekly still spoke of the building as bought, but in March the post dropped the plan as too costly, and a member later said it had only negotiated for the purchase. The post put up a log hut on Rosemary Lane instead. People: Luther James Phipps, H. D. Carter, Lueco Lloyd, Paul H. Robertson Place: Old Methodist church, Henderson Street and Rosemary Lane, Chapel Hill · Also named: Adolphus W. Mangum · Also mentions: Henderson Street, Rosemary LaneSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1934, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, February 22, 1935, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 8, 1935, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 29, 1935, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 19, 1935, p. 1
  11. Chapel Hill builds 15 new houses and four business buildings in 1935 H. D. Carter counted 15 new dwellings, four new business buildings and a dozen major alterations in Chapel Hill in 1935, at a total cost of $120,315. The work included T. R. Harwood's dairy building on the Durham road, Moody Durham's Franklin Street store, the conversion of the Archer House into the Co-ed Graduate Club, and repairs to the Black Methodist church on Rosemary Lane. People: H. D. Carter, Moody W. Durham Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Moody Durham, T. R. Harwood · Also mentions: Archer House, Rosemary LaneSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 3, 1936, p. 1
  12. Emergency relief money lets work go forward on Person Hall The Emergency Relief Administration allotted enough money to finish closing in Person Hall, the old chapel being made into the University's art museum, and the work was going forward in June 1935. People: H. D. Carter Place: Person Hall, UNC, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, June 21, 1935, p. 5
  13. Orange County applies for federal aid to build new schools in Chapel Hill, Hillsboro and Carrboro The county commissioners filed a $471,000 application with the Public Works Administration for school buildings designed by H. D. Carter: a $180,500 enlargement of Chapel Hill's white school and a $54,000 school for Chapel Hill's Black children, white and Black schools in Hillsboro costing $213,000 together, and a two-room addition to the Carrboro school. The government would grant 45 per cent of the cost and lend the rest at 4 per cent. People: H. D. Carter, Herman G. Baity, Gilbert W. Ray Place: Chapel Hill, Hillsboro and Carrboro · Also mentions: Carrboro schoolSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 5, 1935, p. 1
  14. The Orange Printshop and the Chapel Hill Weekly finish a brick addition on Rosemary Lane A 60-by-32-foot brick addition with a fireproof roof, designed by H. D. Carter and built by Brodie Thompson, went up in front of the old building of the Orange Printshop and the Chapel Hill Weekly on Rosemary Lane, giving room for offices, paper stock and student editors. The shop held an open house on September 13 with its presses and linotypes running. People: H. D. Carter, Brodie Thompson, Louis Graves Place: Orange Printshop, Rosemary Lane, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Rosemary LaneSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 23, 1935, p. 3
  15. The county board hires builders for White Oak Grove, Sartin, Piney Mountain and New Branch schools After architect H. D. Carter ran the bidding, the board chose the contractors Forrest and Roberts to build a two-room White Oak Grove School and add second rooms to Sartin and Piney Mountain schools, all for Black children, and W. H. Woods to build a one-room New Branch School. People: H. D. Carter Place: Orange County · Also named: W. H. Woods · Also mentions: Piney MountainSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Ridge Road School, National Register nomination (OR1104), p. 22 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, August 23, 1935, p. 5
  16. The county board of education buys five acres beside the Orange County Training School Planning a $20,000 brick addition of eight classrooms for Chapel Hill's Black school, the first of the county's PWA projects to get under way, the county board of education bought a five-acre plot adjoining the school grounds on the east for playgrounds. Building was expected to start by mid-November. People: H. D. Carter Place: Orange County Training School, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, September 20, 1935, p. 1
  17. The county board of education divides the PWA school money among nine schools The Orange County board of education approved allotments of $205,000 from the $272,000 program: $75,000 for the Chapel Hill white school and $20,000 for its Black school, $50,000 and $25,000 for the white and Black schools in Hillsboro, $15,000 for West Hillsboro, and $6,000 each for Carrboro, Aycock, Murphey and St. Mary's. The remaining $67,000 was left for the commissioners and the board to divide. People: H. D. Carter Place: Orange County schoolsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 20, 1935, p. 1
  18. The county board of education asks for bids on seven PWA school jobs The Orange County board of education advertised for bids, due November 1, on a 10-room addition to the Chapel Hill Black school, a 12-room Black school with an auditorium in Hillsboro, two-room additions at Carrboro and Aycock, auditoriums at Murphey and St. Mary's, and toilets and sewage disposal at Orange Grove. A second call followed for the Hillsboro white school addition and a new West Hillsboro school, with bids due November 8. People: H. D. Carter Place: Board of education office, Hillsborough · Also mentions: West Hillsboro schoolSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 18, 1935, p. 1
  19. The University gives land on the Pittsboro road for a new Chapel Hill High School The University gave Orange County a wooded three-acre plot on the west side of the Pittsboro road, between the Phi Delta Theta lot and University Drive, for a new $100,000 brick high school to be built with PWA help. In return the school board widened its teacher-training partnership with the University's education department; the elementary grades were to stay in the old Franklin Street building. People: R. E. Coker, H. D. Carter Place: West side of the Pittsboro road at University Drive, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 11, 1935, p. 1
  20. Orange County approves contracts for seven PWA school buildings and additions The county approved contracts for new buildings or additions at Aycock, Carrboro, St. Mary's, Orange Grove, West Hillsboro, Hillsboro and Murphey schools, all for white pupils, and expected work to start before the end of November. H. D. Carter, associate of the architects, said the haste was to give jobs to the unemployed, since most of the new rooms would not be used until the next fall. People: H. D. Carter Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 15, 1935, p. 1
  21. Chapel Hill lays the cornerstone of its new high school On Monday afternoon, May 11, 1936 the school children marched across the village to the new high school building on the Pittsboro road, where school board chairman Robert E. Coker placed a box of records in the cornerstone, among them a memorial to former board members W. S. Roberson, Nathan W. Walker and Dr. Eric A. Abernethy. The building, costing about $106,000 on a site the University gave the county, was paid for 45 per cent by a PWA grant and 55 per cent by county borrowing. People: R. E. Coker, H. D. Carter Place: New Chapel Hill High School, Pittsboro road, Chapel Hill · Also named: Eric A. Abernethy, W. S. Roberson, Nathan W. WalkerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 15, 1936, p. 2
  22. Orange Grove School gets new toilets, water, sewage disposal and steam heat By May 22, 1936 work was under way at Orange Grove School on new toilet rooms, a water supply system, sewage disposal and a steam-heating plant, contract price $5,921, with completion expected in about a month, as part of the county's PWA school program. People: H. D. Carter Place: Orange Grove School, Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 22, 1936, p. 6
  23. The Orange County Training School gets a $24,000 addition H. D. Carter's review of 1936 building in and around Chapel Hill listed a $24,000 addition to the Orange County Training School, the county's school for Black students. A WPA plan to grade its grounds, sought in October along with the grounds of the new white high school, was set aside in December because the WPA found no relief labor available in Chapel Hill. People: H. D. Carter Place: Orange County Training School, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 18, 1936, p. 1
  24. Building in Chapel Hill reaches $443,000 in 1936, the most since 1930 H. D. Carter's yearly review put the cost of construction and grading in and around Chapel Hill in 1936 at $443,000, the most since 1930 and up from $60,000 in 1934. The largest jobs were the new high school ($109,000) and the Village Apartments; University work came to about $60,000, the Orange County Training School addition to $24,000, and the year's 25 new dwellings averaged $6,400. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel Hill, Forest Hills, Davie Woods and Buttons · Also mentions: Orange County Training School, Village ApartmentsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 18, 1936, p. 1
  25. Building in Chapel Hill reaches $1,072,000, its biggest year H. D. Carter's annual review counted $1,072,000 in construction in and around the village, against $443,000 in 1936 and $50,000 in 1934. The new gymnasium ($650,000), the new women's dormitory ($109,000) and the north half of the new post office led the list, with new houses worth $164,000; the town extended Kenan Street and Battle Lane, laid larger water mains and extended sewers. People: H. D. Carter Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 17, 1937, p. 1
  26. The county school board pulls down a century-old house opposite the Hillsboro school An old house across from the Hillsboro school, given to the school board by former resident Edward Harris, collapsed from dry rot and termites when the board tried to move it, and the board tore it down to use its sound timber for a janitor's cottage. On September 24 H. D. Carter auctioned its five mantels, thought to be 100 to 125 years old, and some doors in the high school gym for $101.16. People: H. D. Carter Place: Opposite Hillsboro High School, Hillsborough · Also named: Edward HarrisSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 17, 1937, p. 1
  27. H. D. Carter's annual review counts $826,300 of building in and around Chapel Hill in 1938 Architect H. D. Carter's fifteenth yearly review put 1938 construction in the area of his Map of Chapel Hill and Vicinity at $826,300, below 1937's $1,072,000 but far above the $50,000 of 1934, with the new medical building making up 58 per cent and the second half of the post office 9 per cent. He listed 28 new dwellings worth about $187,000, the new town hall ($40,000), the rebuilt Playmakers Theatre and an Infirmary addition, and business work at the Pick and Carolina theatres and the new bowling alleys. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Playmakers TheatreSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 2, 1938, p. 1
  28. H. D. Carter's annual review puts 1939 building around Chapel Hill at $1,367,376 H. D. Carter's sixteenth annual review counted $1,367,376 in construction in the Chapel Hill map area in 1939, the most in his eleven-year table, three-quarters of it University work: dormitories, a women's dormitory, the Gerrard Hall, Bynum Gymnasium and Caldwell Hall renovations and Carolina Inn additions. Private building included new houses worth $242,000, the Institute of Government building and Joe Durham's store. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Bynum Gymnasium, Caldwell Hall, Carolina Inn, Gerrard Hall, Institute of Government buildingSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 8, 1939, p. 1
  29. Architect H. D. Carter puts new home building around Chapel Hill at about $315,000 Carter estimated that homes recently finished or under way in Chapel Hill and its suburbs cost about $223,000 and that houses planned but not yet begun would add about $92,000, not counting business buildings or alterations. Among the larger houses going up south of the village were those of H. G. Baity, W. D. Carmichael Jr. and Arthur Womrath. Place: Chapel Hill and suburbs · Also named: H. G. Baity, W. D. Carmichael Jr.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 19, 1940, p. 1
  30. H. D. Carter's annual review puts Chapel Hill's 1940 building at $1,930,850 H. D. Carter's yearly review counted $1,930,850 of building in and around Chapel Hill in 1940, of which $1,375,000 was University work (the power plant, dining hall, zoology building and Forest Theatre) and $555,850 the rest of the community. Most new homes went up in the suburbs, among them houses for William Hargraves and Ed Murchison near the Orange County Training School. Place: Chapel Hill and suburbs · Also mentions: Forest Theatre, Orange County Training SchoolSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1940, p. 1
  31. Architect H. D. Carter, designer of some 200 Chapel Hill buildings, dies Harry Dennis Carter, who came from New England for the University's postwar building program as assistant to architect Arthur C. Nash and then practiced on his own for more than fifteen years, died at the Veterans' Hospital in Roanoke, Virginia, and his funeral was held in the Chapel Hill Episcopal church. Louis Graves wrote that Carter had designed about 200 Chapel Hill buildings, perhaps 175 of them homes, and Nash credited his steady use of the Colonial style with giving the village its architectural unity. People: Arthur Cleveland Nash, Louis Graves Place: Chapel Hill (died at Roanoke, Virginia)Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 17, 1941, p. 2

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as H. D. Carter, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Show 1 more

Indexed works

Works about or by H. D. Carter. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Map of Chapel Hill As It Was In 1875 to 1885

Carter, H. D. · 1934

Map of Chapel Hill as the town looked from 1875 to 1885, drawn by H. D. Carter in 1934 from details that longtime residents gave Mary L. Thornton. A legend on the reverse identifies the landmarks and buildings shown, the business district among them.

Included because: Listed as its creator.

Map of Chapel Hill As It Was in 1875 to 1885

Thornton, Mary L. · 1934

Chapel Hill as it looked between 1875 and 1885, mapped in 1934 by H.D. Carter from what longtime residents told Mary L. Thornton. Scale 1:500.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

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.

Show 1 more

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

National Register files

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for H. D. Carter 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.
  • 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

Local help

Search further

Search other catalogs and collections for this name. Results may include other people with the same name and have not been reviewed by the Friends.

Books about H. D. Carter

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

These searches use H. D. Carter’s name without birth or death dates, so results may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.

Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026