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Local figure

Robert A. Eubanks

Robert Allen Eubanks kept a general store on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill from the early 1890s until 1933, when he closed it on becoming the town's postmaster. The Carolina Theatre was built on the site of his old store in 1942.

Source: Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 243

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

StorylineChapel Hill's town elections under Mayor Roberson, 1915–19271915–1927 · 8 events · From 1915 to 1925 Chapel Hill's town elections returned W. S. Roberson as mayor, usually with a citizens' ticket. He defeated W. H. Boger in 1915 and was elected again in 1917 and 1919. In 1923 he beat Carl Wiegand, a young lawyer, 314 to 76, in what the Weekly called the heaviest vote ever cast in the town. Under a 1925 charter amendment the town elected six aldermen instead of five, and only 76 voters came to re-elect Roberson. He refused to run again in 1927, and in a light vote Zeb P. Council of the University printery was elected mayor. The Weekly said none of the men elected had sought the office. StorylineRelief in Orange County as the Depression deepens, 1929–19331929–1933 · 47 events · When the Depression began, Orange County had no health department, no public health nurse and no hospital of its own, and welfare superintendent George H. Lawrence's list of families in dire need grew from 30 to about 60 by December 1929. The commissioners matched private gifts for an emergency health fund, and the Kiwanis Club, the King's Daughters and the Daily Tar Heel took up relief. In 1930 the county said its funds could not meet emergency relief, and Chapel Hill set up an unemployment committee under Howard W. Odum. In September 1932 the commissioners, short of money, cut off county relief to every family with an able-bodied man, and federal relief allotments began that October. StorylineChapel Hill’s Franklin Street post office, 1937–19841937–1984 · 16 events · Chapel Hill's new federal post office went up in two halves on its old site at Franklin and Henderson streets so that the post office could keep working. The Treasury let the contract to L. B. Gallimore of Greensboro in July 1937. A steam shovel dug the foundations, the big pecan tree at its rear was cut down, and the Weekly reported crowds watching at the edge of the hole. Postal workers moved into the new rear section early in 1938 while the front was built, and the finished building began full operation on July 5, 1938. In 1941 Dean Cornwell hung his mural of William R. Davie laying the cornerstone of Old East in the lobby. In 1979 the town bought the building for the district court, and the post office stayed on as its tenant. The district court moved in in 1981. In 1983 the town remodeled the front and approved a teen center in the basement, which volunteers began building in 1984.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 25 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Robert Allen Eubanks opens a general store on Franklin Street Robert Allen Eubanks opened a general store in the Franklin Street building that Dr. Abner B. Roberson had left when he moved his drugstore into the Central Hotel. He kept the store until 1933. Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Central Hotel, Franklin StreetSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 161
  2. A wind and rain storm blows out windows at the Alberta cotton mill A wind and rain storm on the night of October 30, 1899 blew out and smashed five large second-story windows of the Alberta cotton mill at West End and tore guttering from the mill's north side. In Chapel Hill it uprooted large trees, blew down signs and dropped a big oak onto the roof and porch of R. A. Eubanks's house. People: Robert A. Eubanks Place: Alberta cotton mill, West End (Carrboro), and Chapel Hill · Also mentions: West EndThe News (Chapel Hill), November 2, 1899, p. 1
  3. Chapel Hill re-elects Mayor Roberson over W. H. Boger and chooses a new board of aldermen Two tickets and a citizens' ticket named in convention contested the town election. Mayor Roberson, the convention nominee, defeated W. H. Boger, and the new board of aldermen was made up of Dr. Raper, I. W. Pritchard, R. A. Eubanks, E. M. Cheek and George C. Pickard. People: Robert A. Eubanks, George C. (George Clancy) Pickard, Isaac W. Pritchard Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: W. H. Boger, E. M. CheekSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), May 6, 1915, p. 3
  4. J. Cheshire Webb is named Orange County's food administrator On September 20, 1917, State Food Administrator Henry A. Page appointed J. Cheshire Webb of Hillsborough food administrator for Orange County, with R. A. Eubanks as administrator for Chapel Hill. The record says no mill in the county broke a Food Administration rule. People: Eugene Cunningham Branson, Robert A. Eubanks, J. Cheshire Webb Place: Orange County · Also named: Henry A. PageSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 52
  5. A Chapel Hill mass meeting backs concrete sidewalks but puts off paying for them Citizens meeting in the school auditorium agreed unanimously that the town should make a topographic map and fix sidewalk lines and grades, and that permanent walks should be of tinted concrete, five feet wide on Franklin and Columbia streets and Cameron Avenue and four feet elsewhere. They deferred any recommendation on paying for them, including a plan to charge half the cost to abutting owners, and added Town Manager E. M. Knox to the Town Club committee, which was also to study sewers, curbs and paving the main street. People: Edward M. Knox, Robert A. Eubanks, A. S. (Alvin Sawyer) Wheeler, Gustave M. Braune Place: School auditorium, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Franklin and Columbia streets, Cameron AvenueThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 7, 1924, p. 1
  6. Legislature authorizes a Chapel Hill school bond election In February 1929 the General Assembly ratified an act letting the Chapel Hill Graded School District issue bonds, and on March 4 the aldermen, at the school board's request, called an April 23 election on $15,000 in bonds: $7,500 for school buildings and land already bought and $7,500 to fund a deficit in running expenses. Representative A. H. Graham helped the bill through. People: Alexander H. "Sandy" Graham, Robert A. Eubanks Place: Chapel Hill Graded School, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 22, 1929, p. 1
  7. M. E. Hogan and R. E. Coker are elected to the Chapel Hill school board Meeting jointly with the hold-over school board members on June 24, 1929, the Chapel Hill aldermen elected banker M. E. Hogan and zoologist R. E. Coker to the town's school board, succeeding N. W. Walker and R. A. Eubanks. The board's next task was choosing a successor to superintendent B. A. Stevens. People: R. E. Coker, N. W. Walker, Robert A. Eubanks, Milton E. Hogan Place: Town Hall, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 28, 1929, p. 1
  8. A county committee studies replacing Orange County's run-down county home The commissioners named R. A. Eubanks of Chapel Hill, C. H. Robertson of Hillsborough and John P. Hughes of Cedar Grove to study a new county home, and they visited Vance County's $30,000 county hospital, which the Duke Endowment aided at $1 a day for each charity patient. The Weekly reported that the county would probably wait to learn whether the new Duke University hospital would take Orange charity patients before deciding. People: Robert A. Eubanks, Charles H. Robertson, George H. Lawrence Place: Orange County · Also named: John P. HughesSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 1, 1929, p. 1
  9. Orange County Democrats vote in the 1932 primary and put Eubanks first for county commissioner In the Democratic primary of June 4, 1932, Orange County gave Ehringhaus 1,321 votes for governor and Morrison 1,011 to Reynolds' 842 for the Senate. Robert A. Eubanks of Chapel Hill led the race for county commissioner with 1,800 votes, followed by Berry with 1,669 and Hanner with 1,603; Gattis beat Hinshaw for the legislature and Andrews won the race for register of deeds. People: Robert A. Eubanks Place: Orange County precinctsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 10, 1932, p. 1
  10. Chapel Hill Democrats organize a Roosevelt-Garner Club Citizens meeting at the school building on the evening of Friday, October 7, organized the Chapel Hill Roosevelt-Garner Club, with R. A. Eubanks as president and W. E. Thompson as vice-president, and called on all Democrats to join and roll up the party's majority in the precinct on November 8. People: Robert A. Eubanks, W. E. Thompson Place: Chapel Hill school buildingSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 14, 1932, p. 1
  11. Orange County gives Roosevelt and the Democratic county ticket large majorities In the November 8 election Orange County voted 2,845 for Roosevelt, 1,092 for Hoover and 160 for Norman Thomas, reversing its 1928 vote for Hoover, and elected Democrats R. A. Eubanks, W. P. Berry and J. H. Hanner county commissioners over Republicans Lueco Lloyd, W. T. Roberts and G. O. Reitzel. A. H. Graham of Hillsboro, running for lieutenant governor, drew more votes in the county than any other candidate, and in the Chapel Hill precinct Roosevelt led Hoover 737 to 221, with 116 for Thomas. People: Robert A. Eubanks, Alexander H. "Sandy" Graham, Samuel Weldon Andrews, Lueco Lloyd, Garland O. Reitzel, William T. Sloan, W. P. Berry, John Hodge Hanner Place: Orange County polling places · Also named: Norman ThomasSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 11, 1932, p. 1
  12. R. A. Eubanks serves on the Orange County Board of Commissioners R. A. Eubanks, a Democrat, led the field for the Orange County Board of Commissioners in the election of November 8, 1932, with 3,010 votes, and W. P. Berry and John H. Hanner were elected with him, the Chapel Hill Weekly reported. Lefler and Wager's list of Orange County commissioners gives Eubanks a term from 1932 to 1934. People: W. P. Berry Place: Orange County · Also named: John H. HannerSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 359 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, November 11, 1932, p. 1
Show all 25 dated events
  1. Orange County commissioners cut all tax valuations by 25 percent Meeting in Hillsborough, the county commissioners voted unanimously to mark down every property assessment by 25 percent rather than pay three or four thousand dollars for a revaluation. The Weekly noted that the cut would not lower anyone's taxes by itself, since rates would rise to meet the same budgets. People: Robert A. Eubanks, Gilbert W. Ray Place: Courthouse, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 7, 1933, p. 1
  2. Robert A. Eubanks takes over as Chapel Hill postmaster Robert A. Eubanks, a Democratic party leader, was named postmaster to succeed DeWitt Herndon and took charge of the office on April 7, resigning his seat on the county board of commissioners. The appointment, announced on April 4, took the village by surprise. Place: Post office, Chapel Hill · Also named: DeWitt HerndonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 7, 1933, p. 1
  3. Every Chapel Hill merchant signs on under the NRA E. C. Smith, chairman of the citizens' committee, reported that every merchant in town had signed the President's blanket agreement or a trade code of the National Recovery Administration, and that the few citizens who at first declined the consumers' pledge had since signed. Postmaster R. A. Eubanks was the government's representative for the campaign. People: Robert A. Eubanks, E. Carrington Smith Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 15, 1933, p. 1
  4. Robert A. Eubanks closes his store after becoming postmaster Eubanks closed his long-running store on the south side of East Franklin, a grocery the Weekly called the oldest business in the village, founded in 1890, about six months after he took over the Chapel Hill post office in April 1933; his son Robert Jr. had run it in the meantime. The building was razed in 1934. People: Robert A. Eubanks Place: R. A. Eubanks general store, south side of East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill post officeSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 243 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 29, 1933, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 7, 1933, p. 1
  5. Robert A. Eubanks's old general store is torn down In July 1934 the store on the south side of East Franklin, where R. A. Eubanks had kept his grocery until a year or so before, was being torn down, its timbers to be used in remodeling the old Roberson home as a boarding house for Mrs. Wallace Patterson. The new Carolina Theatre went up on the site in 1942. People: Robert A. Eubanks Place: R. A. Eubanks general store site, south side of East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Carolina TheatreSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 255 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 20, 1934, p. 2
  6. Chapel Hill post office has its biggest year and qualifies for first-class rank Postal receipts at Chapel Hill reached $50,589.37 in 1935, the most in the office's history and above the 1928 high of $49,993.20, enough to make it a first-class post office from the next July 1. Postmaster Eubanks handled the holiday rush mostly with overtime by his regular staff. People: Robert A. Eubanks Place: Chapel Hill post officeSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 3, 1936, p. 1
  7. Robert A. Eubanks receives his regular appointment as Chapel Hill postmaster Eubanks, acting postmaster since April 5, 1933, was given his regular appointment on January 16, 1935. He held the office until he resigned in 1939. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 366 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 1, 1935, p. 3
  8. The Post Office Department decides to build a new Chapel Hill post office Congressman William B. Umstead telegraphed Postmaster Robert A. Eubanks that the fourth assistant postmaster general had given definite assurance of a new building, after inspectors found the old office too small and damaged by termites. By August the allotment was tentatively set at $155,000, and in September the Treasury's supervising architect, Louis A. Simon, came to Chapel Hill and promised a Colonial design in keeping with the campus. People: William B. Umstead, Robert A. Eubanks Place: Post office, Franklin and Henderson streets, Chapel Hill · Also named: Louis A. SimonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 26, 1936, p. 1
  9. The Treasury lets the contract for Chapel Hill's new post office The contract for Chapel Hill's new federal post office went to L. B. Gallimore of Greensboro on his bid of $94,500, with digging for the foundations to begin the next Monday. The building was to go up in two halves on the old site at Franklin and Henderson streets so the post office could keep working, and Postmaster Robert A. Eubanks credited Congressman Umstead's efforts. People: Robert A. Eubanks Place: Post office site, Franklin and Henderson streets, Chapel Hill · Also named: L. B. Gallimore · Also mentions: Franklin and Henderson streetsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 23, 1937, p. 1
  10. The first air mail leaves Chapel Hill by plane Mayor Foushee, Postmaster Robert A. Eubanks, Assistant Postmaster William S. Hogan and other residents went to the airport to see off the first mail to leave Chapel Hill by plane. People: William S. Hogan, Robert A. Eubanks Place: Chapel Hill airportSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly via DigitalNC: First Despatch of Air Mail from Chapel Hill (October 15, 1937)
  11. The Chapel Hill post office moves into the rear section of its new building The post office force moved into the first finished part of the new federal building, which served on its own, with a public entrance on Henderson Street, while the old building was torn down and the front built. The whole post office was to be finished in May. People: Robert A. Eubanks, William S. Hogan Place: Post office, Franklin and Henderson streets, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Henderson StreetSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 11, 1938, p. 1
  12. William S. Hogan is appointed Chapel Hill postmaster President Roosevelt appointed Hogan, assistant postmaster, to succeed Robert A. Eubanks on the nomination of Congressman Carl Durham, and the Senate confirmed him. Durham waived an examination because Hogan had served in the office about twenty years. People: William S. Hogan, Robert A. Eubanks, Carl T. Durham Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly via DigitalNC: Appointment of Hogan Confirmed By U. S. Senate (August 11, 1939)
  13. Robert A. Eubanks, former Chapel Hill postmaster and merchant, dies Robert Allen Eubanks died in the afternoon at about 70. Born at White Cross, he ran a Chapel Hill grocery for about 40 years, then was postmaster from early in the Roosevelt administration until 1939; he had served as a county commissioner, on the town school board and on the board of aldermen, and was a charter member of the Chapel Hill Knights of Pythias lodge. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 3, 1940, p. 4

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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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