John Simcox Holmes

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 13 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1914 State Forester John S. Holmes builds a shingled house on Glenburnie Street John Holmes's wood-shingled house at 204 Glenburnie Street, with bargeboards and diamond-pane sash, is the only example in Chapel Hill of the Shingle Style that McKim, Mead and White developed for Newport summer cottages. People: John Simcox Holmes Place: 204 Glenburnie Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 49
2. 1915 Nearly three-fifths of Orange County is in forest State forester J. S. Holmes reported that white and post oak on the poorer land yielded many railroad cross-ties each year, while second-growth pine on abandoned fields supplied most saw timber. Woods fires, mostly from carelessness, killed young trees every year. People: John Simcox Holmes Place: Orange CountySearch the index · M. C. S. Noble (University of North Carolina Bureau of Extension), The Teaching of County Geography (1915), scan p. 21
3. September 1915 The university publishes M. C. S. Noble's county geography bulletin built on Orange County The UNC Bureau of Extension issued The Teaching of County Geography as Extension Series No. 12, an outline for teachers that used Orange County as its worked example, from soils and crops to town histories and school statistics. Education dean M. C. S. Noble wrote it with help from botanist W. C. Coker, state forester J. S. Holmes and historian J. G. de R. Hamilton. People: M. C. S. Noble, William Chambers Coker, John Simcox Holmes, J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · M. C. S. Noble (University of North Carolina Bureau of Extension), The Teaching of County Geography (1915), scan p. 7
4. May 1918 Chapel Hill more than doubles its Red Cross War Fund quota Assessed $500 in the Red Cross War Fund drive of May 1918, the Chapel Hill chapter raised it within a few days and turned in $1,156.60 by the drive's close, under Dr. J. M. Bell with J. S. Holmes. People: James Munsie Bell, John Simcox Holmes Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 16
5. December 1918 The Chapel Hill Red Cross signs 550 members in its 1918 Christmas Roll Call J. S. Holmes chaired the chapter's Christmas Roll Call of 1918, which secured 550 members. The school's Junior Red Cross auxiliary enrolled 310 in the same roll call, with every grade of the graded school at full membership. People: John Simcox Holmes Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · State Archives of North Carolina, Military Collection, WWI Papers, Box 2, Folder 37: Orange County Red Cross History (typescripts, 1918-1919), scan 21
6. February 21 to March 6, 1919 Orange County raises $2,075.84 for Armenian relief An Armenian Relief campaign led by Dr. E. C. Branson ran from February 21 to March 6, 1919, and raised $2,075.84. Much of it came through the county's white and Black schools; Nellie Russell led Hillsborough Township. People: J. Cheshire Webb, Eugene Cunningham Branson, John Simcox Holmes Place: Orange County · Also named: Nellie RussellSearch the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 73
7. February 19, 1923 Chapel Hill opens its Near East Relief drive Chapel Hill's 1923 Near East Relief campaign began on Monday, February 19, with an address in Gerrard Hall by Dr. Yonan of Richmond, an Assyrian who had headed the Presbyterian mission college at Tabriz, Persia, and Armenian songs by Dr. Emurian of Norfolk. County chairman R. H. Claytor was raising Orange County's quota of $1,020 to support 17 orphans in the North Carolina orphanages at Trebizond, and J. S. Holmes led the work in Chapel Hill. People: R. H. Claytor, John Simcox Holmes Place: Gerrard Hall, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), February 22, 1923, p. 5
8. by April 12, 1923 A six-acre site is bought for the Orange County Training School's new building With the Training School's building lost to fire, its committee (M. C. S. Noble, Dr. Charles S. Mangum and J. S. Holmes), helped by Black and white citizens, sold the old lot and used the proceeds and the insurance to buy six acres at the end of Church Street beyond Pottersfield, with room for farming and gardening. Construction was to start that summer for about 400 pupils; meanwhile classes met in makeshift quarters, including the Odd Fellows' hall lent free. People: M. C. S. Noble, Charles Staples Mangum, John Simcox Holmes, Bruce L. Bozeman Place: End of Church Street beyond Pottersfield, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, April 12, 1923, p. 3
9. by December 13, 1923 Black Chapel Hill raises money to clear ground for a new Orange County Training School At a meeting called by the Black parent-teacher association in the interest of the Orange County Training School, Black residents took up 'How We Can Build a School' and reported $241 raised among themselves in about a week to start clearing the site for a new building at the end of Church Street. M. C. S. Noble, E. W. Knight, J. S. Holmes and Dr. C. S. Mangum spoke for the white townspeople. People: M. C. S. Noble, Edgar Wallace Knight, John Simcox Holmes, Charles Staples Mangum Place: Orange County Training School, end of Church Street, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1923, p. 4
10. by July 3, 1924 The contract is let for the new Orange County Training School building After two rounds of bids came in too high, the contract for the Orange County Training School's new building went to F. M. Williams of Durham at $17,550, of which the county board of education gave $15,000 and the General Education Board $2,550. The one-story brick and tile building, with nine classrooms and an auditorium for 400 pupils, was to stand on six and a half acres at the north end of Church Street and be done by October 1. People: M. C. S. Noble, Charles Staples Mangum, John Simcox Holmes Place: North end of Church Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: F. M. WilliamsThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 3, 1924, p. 1
11. By September 4, 1924 The state forester's and state geological survey offices move from Chapel Hill to Raleigh The News reported that State Forester J. S. Holmes and his wife were leaving Chapel Hill because his offices and the State Geological offices had been moved to Raleigh. The paper said the couple had been leaders in church work and every good cause in town. People: John Simcox Holmes Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), September 4, 1924, p. 5
12. week of December 8, 1924 Orange County Training School pupils celebrate their new building with a $105 gift To celebrate the opening of the new Orange County Training School building at the north end of Church Street, the Black school children held a rally, had their photograph taken, played a football game and made up a gift of $105 for the school, more than 70 of them giving a dollar each. The faculty thanked the white school committee of M. C. S. Noble, Charles S. Mangum and J. S. Holmes and the Black and white donors who had helped build it. People: M. C. S. Noble, Charles Staples Mangum, John Simcox Holmes Place: Orange County Training School, Church Street, Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 18, 1924, p. 1