Thomas West Harris

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 9 dated events in the chronology →

During their lifetime

1. about 1875 Solomon Pool sells his West Cameron Avenue house to Dr. Thomas W. Harris Solomon Pool owned the Greek Revival I-house at 206 West Cameron Avenue, built about 1870, until about 1875, when physician Thomas W. Harris bought it. Harris went on to found and lead the university's medical school. People: Solomon Pool, Thomas West Harris Place: 206 West Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: West Cameron AvenueSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: Chapel Hill Historic Sites Survey: Final Report (1992), p. 8
2. 1877 Dr. Thomas W. Harris opens a drugstore at Franklin and Henderson streets Dr. Thomas W. Harris, the first dean of the university's medical school, opened a drugstore on the northeast corner of Franklin and Henderson streets. He sold the business to Robert Strange MacRae in 1884. People: Thomas West Harris Place: Northeast corner of Franklin and Henderson streets, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert Strange MacRae · Also mentions: Franklin and Henderson streetsSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 135
3. 1878 Dr. T. W. Harris opens a private medical school in Chapel Hill In 1878 Dr. T. W. Harris moved from Chatham County to Chapel Hill and started a private medical school there. Within a year the university absorbed it and named him the first dean of its School of Medicine. People: Thomas West Harris Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: School of MedicineSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 163
4. May 6, 1879 The new Chapel Hill board elects Merritt Cheek mayor and William Creel constable After the old board handed over on election night and Mayor John H. Watson and the town attorney resigned, the new commissioners chose Merritt Cheek, a justice of the peace, as mayor and William Creel as town constable. At their meeting the next night Cheek was sworn in, Dr. T. W. Harris was made secretary and treasurer, and the weighmaster's duties went to the constable. People: John H. Watson, Thomas West Harris, Charles W. Johnston, Merritt Cheek Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: William CreelSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, May 10, 1879, p. 3
5. September 1879 The National Board of Health asks Dr. T. W. Harris to report on the university's sanitary condition The National Board of Health asked Dr. T. W. Harris of the University Medical School to correspond with it on the sanitary condition and regulations of the university. Harris had been at the university less than a year. Place: University, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, September 20, 1879, p. 3
6. 1884 Robert Strange MacRae buys Dr. Harris's drugstore and its building MacRae bought the drug business from Dr. Thomas W. Harris and the building it occupied, at Franklin and Henderson streets, from David McCauley. He sold the drugstore to Dr. R. H. Whitehead in 1893. People: David McCauley, Thomas West Harris Place: Northeast corner of Franklin and Henderson streets, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert Strange MacRae, R. H. Whitehead · Also mentions: Franklin and Henderson streetsSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 151
7. September 19, 1885 Chapel Hill Methodists vote to build a second church At the quarterly conference, pastor R. B. John moved that a five-member committee build a new church, and former pastor Adolphus W. Mangum spoke to the need. By June 1887 the walls were ready for the roof, and the building was finished early in 1889. People: Adolphus Williamson Mangum, Thomas West Harris, John Wesley Carr, John H. Watson Place: Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: R. B. JohnSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Methodist Church: A Centennial History, 1853-1953 (1954), scan p. 25
8. 1888 Thomas West Harris, first dean of UNC's medical school, is buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Thomas West Harris (1839-1888), the first dean of the university's medical school, was buried in the cemetery. People: Thomas West Harris Place: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, South Road (NC 54) and Country Club Road, Chapel HillSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Old Chapel Hill Cemetery, National Register nomination (OR0496), p. 22

After their death in 1888

Later events: estates and burials, and the buildings, honors and histories that remember them.

1. 1890 The university's medical school reopens under Richard H. Whitehead After Dean T. W. Harris left in 1886, the medical school closed for three years for lack of money. It reopened in 1890 as the Medical Department under Dr. Richard H. Whitehead. People: Thomas West Harris, Richard Henry Whitehead Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 163 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 9, 1979, p. 1