George Watts Hill

Life and Orange County connections

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

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 14 dated events in the chronology →

1. by February 17, 1933 Watts Hill gives the University the Ashe herbarium George Watts Hill gave the University the herbarium of the late William Willard Ashe, some 20,000 dried plants, which the Weekly said made the University's herbarium the largest in the South. W. C. Coker, Ashe's friend, arranged the gift, and the plants were to be mounted and shown in the botany building. People: W. W. (William Willard) Ashe, William Chambers Coker Place: Botany building, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 17, 1933, p. 2
2. June 1, 1939 The Durham Bank and Trust Company takes over the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Hillsborough The Durham bank took over Hillsborough's second bank, the Farmers and Merchants Bank, consolidating it with its own Hillsborough branch on June 1, 1939, and bought the Farmers and Merchants banking quarters. From then on it ran a single Hillsborough branch, with the Farmers and Merchants cashier S. A. Johnson in charge as vice-president. People: S. A. Johnson, George Watts Hill Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 274-275 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 2, 1939, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, June 2, 1939, p. 8
3. 1940 Archie Royal Davis becomes architect for the University of North Carolina The Durham architect Archie Royal Davis took the post of university architect at Chapel Hill in 1940. He then helped give Franklin Street's business district its Colonial Revival look, designing several store buildings and painting watercolor views to persuade owners to rebuild in that style, with backing from George Watts Hill and town leaders. People: George Watts Hill, Archie Royal Davis Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Cedar Grove School, National Register nomination (OR3044), p. 18
4. February 16, 1940 Chapel Hill organizes a branch of Fighting Funds for Finland At a meeting at the Carolina Inn on February 16, state chairman George Watts Hill appointed William T. Couch to lead a Chapel Hill drive for Fighting Funds for Finland, which bought arms, ammunition and airplanes for the Finns resisting the Russian invasion. Gifts reached $460 within a week and $750 by early March, and more than $200 was raised in Hillsboro. People: William T. Couch, George Watts Hill Place: Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill; HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 23, 1940, p. 1
5. March 22, 1940 Louis Graves's Weekly takes up J. L. Morehead's call to give Franklin Street a Williamsburg look Durham attorney J. L. Morehead, for years the attorney and financial adviser of the town government, urged the mayor, the aldermen and other citizens to make the Franklin Street business block as handsome as the campus and residential streets, pointing to the business street of Colonial Williamsburg as proof it could be done, and Louis Graves's Chapel Hill Weekly reported his plan favorably on March 22, 1940. Later accounts credit Graves's paper with the campaign. Joseph Hyde Pratt, John M. Booker, W. D. Carmichael Jr., Collier Cobb Jr. and George Watts Hill backed the plan, and architect Archie Davis gave the planning commission watercolors showing owners how to remodel. People: Louis Graves, Joseph Hyde Pratt, William D. Carmichael Jr., George Watts Hill, Archie Royal Davis, John M. Booker, Collier Cobb Jr., John Lindsay Morehead Place: Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Archie Davis, W. D. Carmichael Jr. · Also mentions: Franklin Street business blockSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 68 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 22, 1940, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 22, 1940, p. 2
6. week of June 3, 1940 A Chapel Hill chapter of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies is organized Frank Graham and Durham banker George Watts Hill were among the first North Carolinians to sign on with the national committee formed in 1940 under William Allen White. The Weekly reported that a Chapel Hill branch was organized in the first week of June 1940, with Archibald Henderson as chairman, L. C. MacKinney as vice-chairman and W. T. Couch as secretary, and held a meeting in Gerrard Hall on June 6; it said the movement in North Carolina began in Chapel Hill. A chapter was also organized in Asheville. Covington describes Chapel Hill as a center of support for the Allies while both of the state's senators opposed involvement. People: Frank Porter Graham, Archibald Henderson, William T. Couch Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Loren C. MacKinney, Frank Graham, L. C. MacKinney, William Allen White · Also mentions: Gerrard HallSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., The Good Government Man: Albert Coates and the Early Years of the Institute of Government (2018), p. 194 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 7, 1940, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, June 14, 1940, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1940, p. 5
7. May 24, 1960 The new Carrboro Chamber of Commerce holds its first banquet About 250 people attended the first banquet of the newly organized Carrboro Chamber of Commerce in the Carrboro School cafeteria, where temporary president Calvin Burch presided and a 15-point program of work was handed out. Speaker George Watts Hill said Carrboro could draw small plants or laboratories tied to the Research Triangle, though its limited water supply ruled out heavy industry, and he urged the town to annex its suburbs. People: George Watts Hill Place: Carrboro School cafeteria, Carrboro · Also named: Calvin BurchSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 26, 1960, p. 13
8. June 1, 1964 Orange, Durham and Wake commissioners approve a regional health planning council In separate meetings the three boards of county commissioners approved the Health Planning Council for Central North Carolina, which the News called the first areawide health planning council in the state. Orange's nominees, among them Commissioner Carl Smith and banker George Watts Hill, were approved with a $750 grant; the council was to plan hospital and nursing home needs and review major health building projects. People: George Watts Hill, Carl Smith (Chapel Hill businessman and county commissioner) Place: Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 4, 1964, p. 12
9. by July 1, 1971 Chapel Hill's flower ladies move into an alley beside the Varsity Theatre With street vending banned, the flower ladies, whose trade on Franklin Street went back about 50 years, moved together onto private property, an alley owned by George Watts Hill between the Varsity Theatre and the Intimate Bookshop, after turning down space at Kroger and in front of Ledbetter-Pickard so that they could stay together. One of them told the paper that a petition from 15 merchants, not the young peddlers, had pushed them off the street. People: George Watts Hill Place: Alley between the Varsity Theatre and the Intimate Bookshop, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Varsity Theatre, Franklin StreetThe Daily Tar Heel, July 1, 1971, p. 1
10. November 22, 1971 Consolidated University trustees elect their 16 members of the new Board of Governors At a five-hour special meeting in Chapel Hill, the Consolidated University trustees chose 16 of their members for the 32-member Board of Governors created by the General Assembly's restructuring of state higher education, which was to sit as a planning board from January 1, 1972, and take control of all 16 campuses on July 1. On a motion by Sen. Ralph H. Scott adopted 47-37, nominees needed a majority of 45; those elected included Ike F. Andrews, Victor S. Bryant and George Watts Hill. Student body president Joe Stallings protested that no student was considered. People: George Watts Hill Place: General Administration Building, Raleigh Road, Chapel Hill · Also named: Ralph H. Scott, Ike F. Andrews, Victor S. Bryant, Joe StallingsSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, November 23, 1971, p. 1
11. January 30 to February 5, 1973 Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County agree to study buying the University utilities together On the recommendation of Chapel Hill's citizens' task force, the Carrboro and Chapel Hill boards of aldermen agreed on January 30 to look into buying the University's utilities and running them on a non-profit basis, and on February 5 the county commissioners joined, pledging $22,000 toward a $66,000 study limited for the county to the water and sewer systems. The governments told Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor they needed 90 days to finish the study before bidding. People: George Watts Hill, Sandy McClamroch, N. Ferebee Taylor Place: Chapel Hill, Carrboro and HillsboroughThe Daily Tar Heel, February 7, 1973, p. 1
12. August 28, 1987 UNC trustees approve a site beside Kenan Stadium for the George Watts Hill Alumni Center The trustees approved moving the planned alumni center to the east side of Kenan Stadium between Stadium Drive, Ridge Road and the Ramshead parking lot, a site General Alumni Association director Douglas Dibbert called better than the first one near the Smith Center; the association's directors were to vote on September 5. The three-story, 43,000-square-foot building designed by O'Brien and Atkins was to be named for George Watts Hill, the association's treasurer for 35 years, whose $3.5 million challenge gift led an $8.5 million campaign that had raised $5.5 million. People: George Watts Hill Place: Kenan Stadium, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: Douglas Dibbert · Also mentions: Smith Center, Stadium DriveSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, September 3, 1987, p. 1