William L. Saunders

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 10 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1868 Dialectic and Philanthropic societies hide their books and papers Believing the societies would not be run under their constitutions after the university changed hands, their last officers gave the Dialectic records to Alexander McIver and the Philanthropic records to William L. Saunders. The property lay safe until the societies revived in 1875. People: Alexander McIver, William L. SaundersDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 785
2. 1871 William L. Saunders of Chapel Hill refuses to answer the congressional Klan committee Called before the joint committee on affairs in the insurrectionary states, Saunders, whom the book names as head of the Invisible Empire in North Carolina, declined to answer 53 questions about the Ku Klux. People: William L. SaundersLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 117-118
3. January 28 to February 18, 1874 The General Assembly elects sixty-four trustees, who organize under William A. Graham with Kemp Battle as secretary and treasurer By an act of January 28, 1874, the legislature elected sixty-four university trustees by joint ballot, only two of them from the Reconstruction board, and fourteen of them men removed in 1868. The new board first met on February 18, 1874, in the Citizens National Bank in Raleigh, elected William A. Graham of Hillsborough its president and Kemp P. Battle its secretary and treasurer, named an executive committee, and the next day sent a committee to inspect Chapel Hill, after Governor Tod R. Caldwell declined to preside because he held the legislature had no power to elect trustees. People: William A. Graham, Kemp Plummer Battle, Paul C. Cameron, John Manning, Tod Robinson Caldwell, William L. SaundersInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
4. April 3 to 9, 1874 Walter Steele and Paul Cameron inspect the derelict campus and Solomon Pool refuses to surrender the keys On April 3, 1874, trustees Walter L. Steele and Paul C. Cameron came to Chapel Hill for the new board. Solomon Pool declined their written request for the keys and possession of the buildings, since the governor had not recognized the board, but let them inspect as visitors. Their report to the trustees on April 9 described broken doors and fallen plaster, the lower passage of Old West fouled by cattle and horses, rotted gates and axe-scarred oaks, 7,490 books in the Dialectic library and 6,901 in the Philanthropic, and recommended an immediate suit against Pool for possession. People: Paul C. Cameron, Solomon Pool, William L. SaundersInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
5. September 15, 1875 The Dialectic and Philanthropic societies meet again On the evening of the reopening celebration the two literary societies were revived, the Dialectic called together by its last secretary, Thomas M. Argo, with Judge William H. Battle as temporary president. William L. Saunders, who had kept the Philanthropic Society's books since its last meeting in 1868, called that society together. People: William Horn Battle, William L. SaundersDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 98
6. 1878 to 1891 William L. Saunders becomes secretary of the university, and later its treasurer as well After Seaton Gales died in 1878, the trustees chose Saunders as the university's secretary; once President Battle gave up the treasurership, Saunders held both offices, which he kept until his death in 1891. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 125
7. 1891 commencement Trustees elect Richard H. Battle secretary and treasurer of the university At the 1891 commencement meeting the trustees elected Richard H. Battle of Raleigh, a trustee since 1879, secretary and treasurer of the university in place of the late William L. Saunders. He held the office until his death in 1912. People: William L. SaundersSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 461
8. 1922 UNC trustees name a new classroom building for William L. Saunders The trustees named one of the new buildings Saunders Hall to honor Saunders as a Confederate veteran, a university trustee and a leader of the state Ku Klux Klan. It was built for the history department.Search the index · UNC Libraries: A Guide to Researching Campus Monuments and Buildings: Carolina Hall (formerly Saunders Hall)
9. 2014 Students call for William L. Saunders's name to come off Saunders Hall The Real Silent Sam Coalition, a student group, began a campaign to remove Saunders's name from the building because of his leadership in the Ku Klux Klan. The trustees renamed it Carolina Hall in May 2015.Search the index · Carolina Story: Virtual Museum of University History: William L. Saunders (1835-1891)
10. 2015 Saunders Hall is renamed Carolina Hall UNC trustees approved the name change in May 2015; the building received its new name that August. People: William L. SaundersSearch the index · UNC A to Z — Carolina Hall