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Local figure

Bonner D. Sawyer

Bonner D. Sawyer, a lawyer, became the partner of A. H. Graham, a former speaker of the state House, in 1930, and the two had their offices in the one-story stone building Graham put up that year on Hillsborough's main business block.

Source: DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, July 25, 1930, p. 1 (Graham's New Building)

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Bonner D. Sawyer. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Bonner D. Sawyer’s life and work.

Search works on Occoneechee Speedway, Hillsborough Research sources View background reading ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Select a title to open its page or chronology entry.

Chapel Hill’s first town manager and its improvements, 1922–19311922–1931 · 16 events · Chapel Hill hired E. M. Knox as its first town manager in 1922, and the Weekly later credited him with paved streets, sewer extensions, a disposal plant, a health department and better fire protection, all without a higher tax rate. In June 1928 the aldermen adopted the town's first zoning ordinance, and Knox resigned to become city manager of High Point; his engineering assistant, John Foushee, succeeded him. In 1931 the aldermen sought a charter amendment letting them choose the mayor as town manager, amid talk of saving the manager's salary, but said they had no plan to drop the manager system. Chapel Hill's recorder's court, 1928–19641928–1964 · Chapel Hill's recorder's court, which voters approved 93 to 8 in 1929, tried the township's misdemeanors in town. At its first session, on June 3, 1929, with C. P. Hinshaw on the bench, six cases were tried, and by March 1931 it had tried 780, only five of them appealed, while Superior Court terms at Hillsboro shrank from about five days to three. From 1931 town voters elected the judge, and in 1937 more than 200 residents petitioned to keep that election. In 1947 it sentenced Joseph Felmet to the county roads on the bus seating charge. In 1964 L. J. Phipps, first its judge in 1933, returned to the bench.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 30 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Aldermen choose the officers of Chapel Hill's new recorder's court A week after voters approved a recorder's court 93 to 8, the board of aldermen named C. P. Hinshaw recorder, B. D. Sawyer prosecuting attorney and Ruby Ross clerk. The court was to sit in the upstairs room of the town hall and hold its first session on Monday, June 3. People: Bonner D. Sawyer, Clarence P. HinshawSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 17, 1929, p. 1
  2. Chapel Hill's town attorney finds the zoning ordinance's billboard ban invalid By early August 1929 the town attorney, B. D. Sawyer, had given the opinion that the zoning ordinance's ban on billboards was an invalid denial of property rights. Carolina Theatre manager E. Carrington Smith had asked the aldermen to withdraw the ban after the board of appeals set a deadline for the theatre's signs to come down. People: E. Carrington Smith, Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 2, 1929, p. 1
  3. Alexander H. Graham builds a stone law office on Churton Street Graham, a former speaker of the state House, tore down the small frame building that held his law office and began a one-story building of local stone with a columned front for himself and his new partner Bonner Sawyer. Its cornerstone reads "Graham Building 1930." People: Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 25, 1930, p. 1 · Also: Hillsborough Historic District Additional Documentation
  4. Chapel Hill aldermen ask the legislature to let them name the mayor town manager The board of aldermen voted to ask the legislature for a charter amendment allowing it to choose the mayor as town manager, after a report on economies by Alderman P. L. Burch and town attorney Bonner Sawyer. The Weekly reported talk that the aim was to save on the $2,700 manager's salary; at the next meeting, on February 11, about a dozen citizens questioned the change and the aldermen said they had no plan to drop the manager system. People: R. D. W. Connor, Bonner D. Sawyer, Peter L. Burch, John M. FousheeThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 30, 1931, p. 1
  5. Chapel Hill aldermen order levies on unpaid 1931 personal property taxes The aldermen told the town manager to warn everyone who had not paid 1931 personal property taxes by April 11 that their wages would be garnisheed or their goods seized and sold, a step aimed at people with no real estate, such as departing students. In May they also ordered the delinquents' real estate advertised for a tax sale on June 13, which the Weekly said they did reluctantly because the attorney general held it mandatory. People: Bonner D. Sawyer, John M. FousheeSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 18, 1932, p. 1
  6. A gravel-pit cave-in on the Durham road kills a Black relief worker A bank collapsed at the gravel pit on the Durham road east of Chapel Hill on December 8, killing Guy Snipes, a 17-year-old Black worker, and badly injuring George Davis, the town's street repair foreman. Snipes was paid in food and clothing from Orange County's federal relief allotment rather than on the town payroll, and neither the town attorney nor the county welfare officer could say who was legally responsible for his death. People: George H. Lawrence, Bonner D. SawyerThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 9, 1932, p. 1
  7. The National Re-Employment Service opens Orange County offices in Hillsborough and Chapel Hill The Orange County branch of the National Re-Employment Service was organized, with U. M. Rackley in charge of the main office in Hillsborough and Evelyn Page keeping a Chapel Hill office at Strowd's garage. Jobless men and women were asked to register so that contractors on the coming federal public works, who had to hire local labor where they could, would have a full list to draw on. People: Gilbert W. Ray, Bonner D. Sawyer, Moody W. DurhamSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 18, 1933, p. 1
  8. Bonner Sawyer resigns as prosecutor of Chapel Hill's recorder's court At the aldermen's meeting Bonner Sawyer resigned as prosecuting attorney of the recorder's court, a post he had held since the court opened in 1929, and Roy McGinnis was chosen to succeed him. The board also chose Paul Robertson as the court's clerk in place of Jack Andrews, who had resigned. People: Paul H. RobertsonSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 15, 1933, p. 1 (McGinnis Succeeds Sawyer)
  9. Chapel Hill aldermen vote down relief from West Franklin Street paving assessments The aldermen voted down a proposal to ask the legislature for a special act letting them remit paving and curb-and-gutter assessments on West Franklin Street, where many of the owners were Black families threatened with the loss of their homes. Fearing refund claims and charges of discrimination from other owners, they asked the town attorney instead to study extending the time for payment. People: Luther James Phipps, Bonner D. Sawyer, Peter L. BurchThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 12, 1937, p. 1
  10. The Orange County Council on Education organizes at Hillsboro An organization meeting at Hillsboro set up the Orange County Council on Education, electing Sydney Green chairman, Bonner Sawyer vice-chairman and Mrs. Marguerite Richmond secretary, all of Hillsboro. Russell Grumman of Chapel Hill, named chairman of ways and means, said the council's first big job was helping with the volunteer work of the county's literacy campaign. People: Russell M. (Russell Marvin) Grumman, Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, November 18, 1938, p. 5
  11. Hillsborough lawyer and former legislator Sam M. Gattis Jr. is killed in a car wreck Sam M. Gattis Jr., a Hillsborough lawyer, former member of the legislature and World War artillery officer, was killed about 8 o'clock on the evening of December 13, 1939, when his car left the road about three miles west of Hillsborough and struck an oak. He had practiced law in Hillsborough since 1914, for years with his father, the former district solicitor, and lately with Bonner D. Sawyer; his funeral was held at the Hillsborough Methodist church. People: Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 15, 1939, p. 1
  12. Eagle Lodge No. 19 gives the Hillsborough Boy Scouts a permanent meeting room The Masons of Eagle Lodge No. 19 gave the Hillsborough Boy Scout troop a permanent meeting room on the downstairs floor of their lodge, and the troop met there for the first time on Thursday night, February 17, 1944, under scoutmaster G. A. Munn. The troop committee had still been looking for a meeting place at its meeting of February 7. People: Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 24, 1944, p. 3
Show all 30 dated events
  1. Hillsborough Boy Scouts hold their first court of honor in almost 32 years A public court of honor in Hillsborough recognized 25 boys from two troops, and scoutmaster Rev. W. W. Abernethy, pastor of the First Baptist Church, received the Eagle Scout award. The new Hillsboro High School band played. People: Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 13, 1945, p. 1
  2. Orange County's March of Dimes raises nearly $5,000, well past its goal The county's 1947 polio fund drive, led by E. Carrington Smith of Chapel Hill and Bonner D. Sawyer of Hillsboro with the help of the schools, collected $4,991.81 against a goal of $3,500. The county polio chapter reported that in the past year it had spent $500 on direct aid and promised hospitals it would guarantee costs so polio patients could be admitted without delay. People: R. H. Claytor, Bonner D. Sawyer, E. Carrington SmithThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 6, 1947, p. 1
  3. The Hillsboro Building and Loan Association wins federal insurance for its accounts The Hillsboro Building and Loan Association, founded in 1913, won federal approval to insure its accounts up to $5,000, and its directors marked the approval and the association's growth, with assets over $370,000, at a dinner at the Masonic Lodge. On June 30 it paid $4,585 in dividends, over $600 more than six months before. People: Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 23, 1949, p. 1
  4. The Hillsboro Exchange Club gives the town a children's wading pool The Exchange Club dedicated the wading pool it had built beside the community building behind the Methodist Church and presented it to the town, with about 75 people, 40 of them children, at the ceremony. The club planned sand boxes, slides and swings for the spot. People: Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 21, 1949, p. 1
  5. A packed hearing airs the fight over the Hillsboro and Aycock high school districts The county Board of Education heard both sides of its plan to move the Caldwell and Efland areas from the Hillsboro High School district to Aycock High at Cedar Grove. Opponents presented petitions with 2,032 signatures and another signed by the whole Hillsboro student body, Aycock's backers argued the rural school needed the territory to survive, and chairman Kemp Cate closed the meeting without a decision. People: Bonner D. Sawyer, Kemp S. Cate, Charles S. HubbardThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 9, 1950, p. 1
  6. The county school board keeps the Hillsboro and Aycock high school lines nearly unchanged After hearing committees from each district, the Board of Education voted 2 to 1 to follow a state committee's advice, adding only a small area north of Kennedy's on Highway 86 to the Aycock High School district, and rejected Zeb Burton's motion to send Efland and Caldwell freshmen to Aycock. Both the Hillsboro and Aycock groups appealed to the State Board of Education, which put off its decision in May. People: Bonner D. Sawyer, Charles W. Stanford, Kemp S. CateThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 20, 1950, p. 1
  7. County commissioners clear the way to buy the Roulhac property for a new Hillsboro elementary school On the unanimous advice of the county school board and the Hillsboro school committees, the commissioners authorized the board of education to negotiate for the Roulhac property in Hillsboro, once the home place of Judge Thomas Ruffin, as the site of a new elementary school, using condemnation if no reasonable price could be had. The plan was to move the lower grades there and keep the high school and junior high in the old building, adding toilet towers to free basement space for classrooms. People: Glenn T. Proffit, Bonner D. Sawyer, Grady A. BrownThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 7, 1950, p. 1
  8. Hillsboro Speedway, Incorporated, files to dissolve On September 30, 1952, the stockholders of Hillsboro Speedway, Incorporated, filed their unanimous written consent with the Secretary of State to dissolve the corporation, whose principal office was in Hillsboro and whose agent was Bonner D. Sawyer. The preliminary certificate of dissolution was recorded in Orange County on October 3, 1952. People: Thad Eure, Bonner D. SawyerThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 13, 1952, p. 7
  9. Hillsborough citizens form a committee to keep the Forrest Clinic open About 20 citizens meeting at the Presbyterian church named a Citizens Committee on the Clinic, chaired by R. O. Forrest, to find a way to run Dr. D. Efland Forrest's clinic, opened three and a half years before, as a community institution. The clinic building had been sold at a foreclosure auction on February 4, and one plan offered was a local corporation that would buy it and lease it to young doctors. People: Brodie S. Carr, Bonner D. Sawyer, Robert O. ForrestSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 19, 1953, p. 1
  10. Orange County lawyers revive the Orange County Bar Association Hillsboro and Chapel Hill attorneys met over dinner at the Colonial Inn to reactivate the county bar association, electing Bonner D. Sawyer president and Marshall E. Cline secretary-treasurer. They aimed to speed the setting of cases for trial and named a calendar committee under L. J. Phipps. People: Luther James Phipps, Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 1, 1954, p. 1
  11. Orange County formally opens its new courthouse in Hillsborough About 500 people came to the opening ceremonies and open house, held on the first day of the first court term in the new building. County offices had finished moving in from the old courthouse the week before. People: Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 7, 1954, p. 1 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 30, 1954, p. 1
  12. The county board names a committee to study school segregation after Brown Answering a letter from the Governor's Advisory Commission on Education, chaired by Thomas Pearsall, the Orange County board appointed a local committee to study the problems the Supreme Court's segregation ruling raised for its schools. Ira Ward and Delmar Brown soon replaced two of the first members, Bonner D. Sawyer and W. T. (Buck) Murray. People: Ira Ward, Roosevelt Warner, Carter White, Bonner D. Sawyer, Lloyd M. SenterNC State Historic Preservation Office: Cedar Grove School, National Register nomination (OR3044), p. 21
  13. Hillsborough dedicates the new Cameron Park School The county dedicated Cameron Park School on St. Mary's Road, then in its third month of use, with an address by Charles Milner of the UNC Extension Division and the passing of keys from school board chairman C. W. Stanford to local committee chairman Bonner D. Sawyer to principal Fred W. Rogers. The newly formed Cameron Park Parent-Teacher Association sponsored the program and installed Harry P. Breeze as its president. People: G. Paul Carr, Bonner D. Sawyer, Charles W. StanfordThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 29, 1956, p. 1
  14. The Hillsboro PTA asks for a county-wide school supplement vote After school board member Clarence D. Jones argued that local communities must pay more for better schools, the Hillsboro Parent-Teacher Association adopted a resolution, moved by district committee chairman Bonner D. Sawyer, asking the county board to call an election on a supplementary school tax for the whole county. Jones listed uses such as extra teachers to free principals from teaching, music and art instruction, and salary supplements for teachers and principals. People: Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 21, 1957, p. 1
  15. Hillsboro's school committee endorses making Orange Speedway the high school's athletic field The Hillsboro district school committee unanimously approved using the Orange Speedway grounds as Hillsboro High School's stadium and urged a 20-year lease, after Bill France offered on April 27 to lease the plant to the schools for $100 a year and pay $250 for each of his four race Sundays. The high school's own field had been cut up by its new gymnasium, and the lease itself needed the county Board of Education. People: Enoch Staley, L. E. Beard, Bonner D. SawyerThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 22, 1958, p. 1
  16. Hillsboro businessmen launch a stock drive to build a plant for Southern Garment Company At a courthouse meeting, Hillsboro's industrial committee launched a drive to sell $50,000 in stock in a local corporation that would build a 20,000-square-foot building and lease it to Southern Garment Company, a dress maker crowded into temporary quarters near Efland. About $10,000 was pledged that night and nearly $25,000 within two weeks. People: Don S. Matheson, Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 23, 1958, p. 1
  17. Bonner D. Sawyer buys the Hillsborough building that houses the News of Orange County Hillsborough attorney Bonner D. Sawyer bought from Gilbert Ray of Fayetteville the building occupied by Citizens Insurance, Ray's Electric and the News of Orange County, and began modernizing its second floor for his law office. He said he needed more room because an associate attorney would join his firm about August 1.Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 18, 1959, p. 4 (To Move Office)
  18. The Hillsboro Lions Club marks its 25th anniversary The club held a silver anniversary banquet a quarter-century after its chartering as Hillsborough's first civic club. Four charter members were still active: Bonner Sawyer, its first president; Dr. H. W. Moore; Allen Walker; and Don S. Matheson, its first-year secretary. People: Don S. Matheson, Bonner D. SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 23, 1961, p. 1

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 the 7 with a known location.

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.

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People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Bonner D. Sawyer, 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.

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Background on Occoneechee Speedway, Hillsborough

Background reading on Occoneechee Speedway, Hillsborough. These works cover the broader subject and may not discuss Bonner D. Sawyer. Follow a link to find a copy or view the material.

Occoneechee-Orange Speedway

Sanseverino, Edward P. · 1995

Edward P. Sanseverino's 1995 account of the Occoneechee-Orange Speedway, the stock car track outside Hillsborough that ran in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Topics include automobile racing and racetracks in North Carolina and Hillsborough in the twentieth century.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 796.72 SAN

Jock Lauterer photographic collection, circa 1964-1968.

Lauterer, Jock · 1964

Photographs made by Jock Lauterer in and around Chapel Hill from about 1964 to 1968, some 3,522 items in the North Carolina Collection at UNC. Subjects include the Speaker Ban Law, Ku Klux Klan activity in North Carolina, Tar Heel basketball and football, the Jubilee festival, the Old Well, and visitors including Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Bob Hope and Jayne Mansfield.

UNC

Occoneechee Speedway/Orange Speedway (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Clippings and promotional materials on the Occoneechee Speedway near Hillsborough, the dirt racetrack later renamed Orange Speedway. An undated folder from box 31 of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection, Carrboro and Orange County series.

CH Historical Society

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