Skip to content
Orange County Public Library (opens the library’s website in a new tab)

Local figure

William Rand Kenan Jr.

As a UNC student in 1893, William Rand Kenan Jr. helped chemistry professor Francis Venable demonstrate calcium carbide in Person Hall. In 1926 he gave 275,000 dollars to build Kenan Memorial Stadium in honor of his parents, and the William Rand Kenan Jr. Laboratories of Chemistry were dedicated in 1973.

Source: UNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Chronological List of Events

Also found in catalogs as William Rand Kenan.

1872–1965 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

12 works about William Rand Kenan Jr. are indexed here.

Search these works Research sources View indexed works ↓
William Rand Kenan Jr., Yackety Yack, 1927
William Rand Kenan Jr., Yackety Yack, 1927

Life and Orange County connections

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

Kenan Memorial Stadium, 1926–19271926–1927 · 7 events · William R. Kenan Jr.'s 1926 gift of $275,000 built Kenan Memorial Stadium in the ravine southwest of the Tin Can, but blasting on the site drew protests. Residents of the south side of the village said the blasts were breaking windows and throwing stones as far as 1,600 feet, and in April 1927 the aldermen authorized the town manager to get expert advice and act to protect the community. Concrete seats went in at 500 a day toward 24,000, and Kenan added $28,000, bringing his gift to $303,000. After a first game against Davidson on November 12, the governor accepted the stadium for the state at the Thanksgiving Day game with Virginia, when the Weekly put the crowd at 28,000.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 7 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Venable and student William R. Kenan Jr. demonstrate calcium carbide in Person Hall Chemistry professor Francis P. Venable and student William R. Kenan Jr. demonstrated the industrial uses of calcium carbide, the source of acetylene gas, in Person Hall. People: Francis Preston VenableSearch the index · UNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Chronological List of Events
  2. William R. Kenan Jr. gives $275,000 for a football stadium Kenan announced a gift of 275,000 dollars to build Kenan Memorial Stadium in honor of his parents, William Rand and Mary Hargrave Kenan. Construction began in November 1926.Search the index · UNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Chronological List of Events · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, November 19, 1926, p. 4; Chapel Hill Weekly, September 30, 1927, p. 1
  3. William R. Kenan Jr. sees the stadium and adds $28,000 to his gift William Rand Kenan Jr. came to Chapel Hill on September 24 and saw for the first time the stadium he gave the University in memory of his parents. Before leaving he added $28,000 to his original $275,000 to pay for the field house at the south end and other features not in the first plan, bringing the gift to $303,000. People: Charles T. Woollen, Arthur Cleveland NashSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 30, 1927, p. 1
  4. Kenan Memorial Stadium opens Kenan Memorial Stadium, the gift of William Rand Kenan Jr., hosted its first event on November 12, 1927, when Carolina beat Davidson 27 to 0. It was formally dedicated before the Thanksgiving Day game against Virginia on November 24, when Governor Angus McLean accepted it for the state and the University. People: William Rand Kenan, William Rand Kenan Jr., John Sprunt HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 18, 1927, p. 1: First Game in the New Stadium
  5. Kenan Memorial Stadium is dedicated at the Thanksgiving Day game Before the Thanksgiving Day game with Virginia on November 24 the stadium was presented on behalf of William R. Kenan Jr. and accepted for the state and the University by Governor McLean, with the governor of Virginia and John Sprunt Hill also speaking. The Weekly put the crowd at 28,000, the largest it believed Chapel Hill had ever held, though few could hear the speeches; Carolina won 14 to 13. People: William Rand Kenan Jr., Angus W. McLean, John Sprunt HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 25, 1927, p. 1
  6. The William Rand Kenan Jr. Laboratories of Chemistry are dedicated The university dedicated the William Rand Kenan Jr. Laboratories of Chemistry, and the chemistry faculty marked the occasion with two days of short courses on their current research.Search the index · UNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Chronological List of Events
  7. UNC moves Kenan Stadium's honor from William R. Kenan Sr. to his son Chancellor Carol Folt announced that, after talking with the family, the university would change the stadium plaques to remove the honor to William R. Kenan Sr., who led a white supremacist unit in the 1898 Wilmington massacre, and focus instead on the donor, William R. Kenan Jr. People: Carol L. FoltSearch the index · Inside Higher Ed: UNC Changes Name of Stadium, Which Has Honored Racist

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as William Rand Kenan Jr., 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.

Indexed works

Works about or by William Rand Kenan Jr.. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Kenan Memorial Stadium : philanthropy from 1926 to 1962

Downs, Benjamin Joseph, 1985- · 2019 · Historical Research Office, Office of Archives and History

Benjamin Joseph Downs traces the money behind Kenan Memorial Stadium at Chapel Hill from 1926 to 1962, an article running pages 276 to 304, published in 2019 by the Historical Research Office of the state Office of Archives and History. Topics include William Rand Kenan Jr., university endowments and the finance of college sports. Illustrated with portraits.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Kenan, William Rand, Jr., 1872-1965.

UNC

A report to the William R. Kenan, Jr.-Charitable Trust on the William R. Kenan, Jr.-Chemistry Department endowment

William R. Kenan, Jr.-Chemistry Department Endowment Committee · 1974 · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Report from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Chemistry Department Endowment Committee to the Kenan Charitable Trust, accounting for the endowment that supports chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Recorded from 1974 and issued as a continuing series of 28 cm volumes.

Included because: Listed as its creator.

NC Cardinal UNC

Incidents by the way : more recollections.

Kenan, William Rand, Jr., 1872-1965 · 1952

Memoir by William Rand Kenan, Jr., 1872 to 1965, the donor of Kenan Memorial Stadium at Chapel Hill. Written at intervals between 1949 and 1951 and privately printed at Lockport, New York, in 1952, it follows first and second editions of 1946 and 1949. Eighty-five pages with illustrations, touching the Kenan family and Kenansville as well as the university.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Kenan, William Rand, Jr., 1872-1965.

UNC Library of Congress

Kenan Memorial Stadium.

1927 · University of North Carolina

Program of the exercises held in 1927 when Kenan Memorial Stadium was presented to the University of North Carolina, given by William Rand Kenan, Jr. in memory of his parents, William Rand Kenan and Mary Hargrave Kenan. Eighteen unnumbered pages with illustrations and a portrait, printed at Chapel Hill.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Kenan, William Rand, Jr., 1872-1965.

UNC

Roland Giduz photographic collection, 1947-1970.

Giduz, Roland · 1947

Photographs made by Roland Giduz between 1947 and 1970, about 19,000 items across eleven linear feet in the North Carolina Collection at UNC. Topics include university buildings, commencements, drama productions, faculty and alumni, and baseball, basketball and football, along with the Carolina Inn and Kenan Memorial Stadium, and named figures including Frank Porter Graham, Gordon Gray and John F. Kennedy.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Kenan, William Rand, Jr., 1872-1965.

UNC

Kenan Memorial Stadium, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C.

1929

Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill on a 1929 postcard from the university's Book Exchange. The caption describes the stadium sitting in a natural bowl ringed by pines, dedicated in 1927 as the gift of alumnus William Rand Kenan, Jr., of New York, in memory of his father.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DPLA
Show 6 more

Field House at Kenan Stadium, Chapel Hill, N. C.

Graycraft Card Co. (Danville, Va.) · 1915 · Danville, Va.: Graycraft Card Co

Graycraft Card Co. postcard of the field house at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. William R. Kenan Jr., an 1894 UNC graduate, gave the money for the stadium and its field house in 1926, so the card dates from after that gift. Black and white, divided back, from the Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library Postcard Collection.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DPLA

Russell Autograph Book

Russell, Daniel Lindsay, 1845-1908 · 1861

Autograph book kept by Daniel Lindsay Russell (1845 to 1908), governor of North Carolina from 1897 to 1901, as a member of the University of North Carolina class of 1863 to 1864. It carries the signatures of 70 schoolmates from the wartime classes at Chapel Hill, most of whom went to war, 1861 to 1863.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Kenan, William Rand, 1845-1903.

State Archives of NC

Passion into practice : the first fifty years of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

2018 · William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

A fiftieth anniversary history of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, published by the trust in North Carolina in 2018, with contributions from Bridget Booher, Walter E. Campbell and Joseph Garcia and a design by Richard Hendel. Topics include endowments and trusts in North Carolina and the United States, including the trust's endowments at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 94 pages.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

UNC NC Cardinal

Across fortune's tracks : a biography of William Rand Kenan, Jr.

Campbell, Walter E. · 1996

Walter E. Campbell wrote this biography of William Rand Kenan, Jr., 1872 to 1965, a businessman, dairy farmer and philanthropist and donor to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Published by UNC Press in 1996, the volume runs to xvi and 417 pages with illustrations and a map.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Library of Congress record: Kenan, William Rand, 1872-1965.

UNC CH Historical Society Library of Congress

A proposal to the trustees of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

1966 · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Proposal the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill put to the trustees of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust in 1966, the year after Kenan's death. Twenty-one unnumbered pages with illustrations in a large 35 cm format.

Included because: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Kenan, William Rand, Jr., 1872-1965.

NC Cardinal UNC

Frank H. Kenan papers, 1937-1996.

Kenan, Frank H. (Frank Hawkins) · 1937

Business and philanthropic papers of Frank Hawkins Kenan, 1937 to 1996, 33,500 items across 38.5 linear feet in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 5078. Subjects include Kenan companies in oil and transport, the Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust, the Duke Endowment and the North Carolina Global TransPark, with Kenan listed as a Chapel Hill alumnus and benefactor.

Included because: Listed as its creator.

UNC

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

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 them all.

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.

  • Kenan Stadium University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 6 events here
  • Person Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

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.

Background

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for William Rand Kenan Jr. 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 William Rand Kenan Jr.

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: Kenan, William Rand, Jr., 1872-1965. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and 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.

Picture: William Rand Kenan Jr., Yackety Yack, 1927. Public domain. Yackety Yack, 1927 (University of North Carolina yearbook); via the Internet Archive

More to discover

Keep Reading Local

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

Browse New Arrivals → Meet Local Authors → Explore Local Publishers →
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