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

Local figure

Robert L. Strowd

Robert L. Strowd was a Chapel Hill farmer and merchant, the son of William F. Strowd, a Populist congressman from Chatham County. He married Fannie Headen of Pittsboro and built a two-story house on family land at what is now Davie Circle. He kept a general store on East Franklin Street, and in 1926 he sold his farm to developers who laid out Davie Woods and Davie Circle.

Source: NCpedia: Strowd, William Franklin

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Robert L. Strowd. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Robert L. Strowd’s life and work. Suggest a source.

Research sources

Life and Orange County connections

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

StorylineThe 1898 white supremacy campaign in Orange County1898 · 9 events · Orange County's 1898 election came during the Democrats' white supremacy campaign, and in its last weeks masked men lynched a young Black farmhand west of Chapel Hill. Populists nominated Devereux Turner for the state Senate, and the Democrats ran Samuel M. Gattis for the House. On October 26 Manly McCauley, 18, left Milton Brewer's farm with Brewer's wife; a posse overtook them, and as the officer Jesse King brought McCauley back alone, masked men took him and lynched him. His body was found on November 6. On election eve W. A. Guthrie appealed to white voters at Chapel Hill. King was later tried for letting the mob take his prisoner and was acquitted. StorylineChapel Hill’s federal post office, 1911–19221911–1922 · 9 events · Chapel Hill's post office moved from a crowded one-room office into its own federal building in 1920, and soon outgrew its staff. In 1915 landscape architect John Nolen urged a site facing the long walk through the campus, and the government acquired the McNider lot. A firm of Chatham, Virginia, won the contract in 1917 for a building to be finished by December 1, 1918. Work began in April 1918 but stopped for a while after the contractor died in January 1919. Postmaster MacRae moved into the one-story building with columns, across Franklin Street from the Battle dormitory, by January 10, 1920. By 1922 the News said three clerks were handling some seven hundred student calls a day. StorylineOrange County’s first draft, 19171917 · 8 events · Orange County's part in the first draft of 1917 ran from a festive registration day to the departure of seven picked men in September. On June 5, 1917, 1,503 Orange County men registered, and Chapel Hill led its registrants in a parade. The county's share of the first draft was 141 men. At a benefit for the Damascus school an entertainer billed as Uncle Josh said the government could not force anyone to leave the country to fight. The county exemption board summoned the first 400 men drawn, then picked seven to leave for Camp Jackson, South Carolina. On Labor Day the county gave its drafted men a dinner for white men and a separate dinner for Black men. StorylineThe Chapel Hill Hardware Company and its successors, 1917–19301917–1930 · 4 events · The Chapel Hill Hardware Company came through a receivership in 1917, but its Franklin Street store was lost in the Depression. Run by H. C. Wills and his sons, the company shut its doors on June 11, 1917, and R. L. Strowd was appointed receiver. By September it had been relieved of the receivership and had reopened on a cash basis under H. C. Wills. By April 1928 T. M. Johnson and his son-in-law Ralph M. Moore had bought out the company and reopened the store as the Moore-Johnson Hardware Company. In 1930 the successor store failed, one of several Franklin Street businesses lost in the Depression, and Orange Hardware took it over.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 25 dated events in the chronology →

  1. William Strowd of Chatham County buys land at the edge of Chapel Hill The tract, where 51 Davie Circle now stands, stayed in his hands until he passed it to his son Robert L. Strowd in 1886. People: William F. Strowd, Robert L. Strowd Place: 51 Davie Circle, Chapel Hill · Also named: William StrowdSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: Chapel Hill Historic Sites Survey: Final Report (1992), p. 82
  2. Robert L. Strowd marries and likely builds a two-story L-plan house on land from his father Strowd, a farmer who also kept a store on Franklin Street, received the tract from his father in 1886 and married Frances (Fannie) Headen that year; the house at 51 Davie Circle probably went up then. It stood alone at the edge of town until the area filled in during the 1910s and 1920s. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Strowd House, 51 Davie Circle, Chapel Hill · Also named: Frances Headen Strowd · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: Chapel Hill Historic Sites Survey: Final Report (1992), p. 82
  3. Robert L. Strowd runs a general store on Franklin Street Robert L. Strowd had a general store in the building where Charles L. Lindsay had sold furniture, dry goods and groceries. In 1901 he bought the building and its lot from Adele Tankersley. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Strowd's store, Tankersley property, Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 161
  4. Orange Populists endorse a union of the silver forces in county convention The Orange County Populist convention met in the court house with R. L. Strowd in the chair and R. M. Shields as secretary. It voted unanimously to endorse the call by chairmen Jones, Butler and Towne to unite the silver forces, and named delegates to the state, judicial, congressional and senatorial conventions. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Court house, Hillsborough · Also named: R. M. ShieldsSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 12, 1898, p. 3
  5. The Chapel Hill Hardware Company closes and goes into receivership The Chapel Hill Hardware Company shut its doors, R. L. Strowd was appointed receiver, and the stock was inventoried. The firm was run by H. C. Wills and his sons C. B. and C. L. Wills. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Chapel Hill Hardware Company, Chapel Hill · Also named: H. C. Wills, C. L. WillsSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), June 14, 1917, p. 5
  6. R. L. Strowd joins Orange County's draft exemption board When Sam White of Mebane could not serve, R. L. Strowd of Chapel Hill was chosen for the county's local exemption board, which then stood as Strowd, James H. Webb and C. D. Jones, both of Hillsboro. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Hillsborough · Also named: James H. Webb, C. D. JonesThe News (Chapel Hill), July 19, 1917, p. 7
  7. Orange County's first draft quota is set at 141 men Of the 15,674 men North Carolina was called on to furnish in the first draft, Orange County's share was 141. The first number drawn in the national lottery, 258, fell to a Chapel Hill driver, the first man drafted from the county. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Orange CountyThe News (Chapel Hill), July 26, 1917, p. 5
  8. The county exemption board summons its first 400 drafted men to Hillsboro Meeting in Chapel Hill, the Orange County exemption board fixed the order of liability and summoned the first 400 men drawn for service to come before it at Hillsboro, 100 a day from August 6. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Chapel Hill; court house, HillsboroughThe News (Chapel Hill), August 2, 1917, p. 1
  9. The Orange County draft board starts a record of the county's war dead The Local Board for Orange County asked relatives and citizens to send it the full name, rank, unit, and place, date and cause of death of every Orange County man who had died in the service at home or overseas, so that a complete list could be kept for history and for a fitting tribute. The board's secretary, R. L. Strowd, received the reports at Chapel Hill. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Local Board office, Chapel HillThe News (Chapel Hill), January 16, 1919, p. 4
  10. Orange County Republicans meet in convention at Hillsboro and condemn the Revaluation Act Orange County Republicans met in convention at the Hillsboro courthouse on Saturday, February 21, with R. L. Strowd as chairman and J. A. Giles as secretary. They condemned the spending of the national and state administrations and the way the Revaluation Act was being carried out, re-elected Thomas E. Sparrow county chairman, endorsed Strowd as a delegate to the national convention, chose delegates to the state and congressional conventions at Greensboro, and put off naming county candidates to a later convention. People: Robert L. Strowd, Thomas Sparrow Place: Court house, Hillsboro · Also named: J. A. GilesSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), February 26, 1920, p. 1
  11. R. L. Strowd becomes acting postmaster of Chapel Hill after Robert S. MacRae's death R. L. Strowd was appointed acting postmaster of Chapel Hill to succeed the late Robert S. MacRae; he had applied for the office before MacRae died. The vestry of the Chapel of the Cross, in a memorial dated July 27, called MacRae a staunch churchman and an efficient government official. Place: Post office, Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert S. MacRae · Also mentions: Chapel of the CrossSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), August 4, 1921, p. 3
  12. Chapel Hill Methodists enlarge their Franklin Street grounds through purchases and a swap with the university Talks begun in September 1921 led to the purchase of the Seaton Barbee property from the university and of the A. S. Barbee store, and to an exchange of the Barbee land for vacant fraternity lots the university owned behind the church. The transactions cost $18,000 and more than doubled the church grounds. People: Louis Round Wilson, Robert L. Strowd, Algernon S. Barbee Place: Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Seaton BarbeeSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Methodist Church: A Centennial History, 1853-1953 (1954), scan p. 40
Show all 25 dated events
  1. Robert L. Strowd's two-story brick Strowd Building goes up on East Franklin Street The Strowd Building was new and already taking tenants in January 1923, when a law fraternity moved in; by March a print shop was planned for its basement. The University Cafeteria had announced in June 1922 that it would open that fall in a larger new building. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: 159-161 East Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Tar Heel, January 12, 1923, p. 4 · Also: The Tar Heel, March 9, 1923, p. 4; The Tar Heel, June 13, 1922, p. 3
  2. Robert L. Strowd resigns as Chapel Hill postmaster R. L. Strowd, postmaster at Chapel Hill since the death of R. S. McRae, sent in his resignation on October 1 on his doctors' advice, to take effect when a successor was installed. The News said the office had outgrown its staff, with three clerks handling some seven hundred student calls a day at the general delivery window, and Strowd had urged the University to put keyless boxes in its buildings. Place: Post office, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: R. S. McRaeSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), November 16, 1922, p. 1
  3. Three names go to the President to succeed R. L. Strowd as Chapel Hill postmaster By early February 1923 the Post Office Department had sent the President three Chapel Hill names to succeed R. L. Strowd, who had resigned as postmaster the previous October, among them DeWitt Herndon. Two weeks later the News expected Herndon to be named once the Senate confirmed him. Place: Chapel Hill post office · Also named: DeWitt HerndonSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), February 8, 1923, p. 7
  4. County commissioners hear Chapel Hill township farmers on the county roads At a hearing in the People's Bank, sought by a township citizens' committee that Mayor Roberson had named, farmers from every side of Chapel Hill told the three county commissioners their roads were impassable much of the year. Chairman R. H. Ward answered that the road tax did not stretch over some 600 miles of county roads, and R. L. Strowd urged the township to issue its own road bonds. People: Ralph H. Ward, Robert L. Strowd, Thomas Felix Hickerson Place: Directors' room, People's Bank, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 3, 1923, p. 1
  5. DeWitt Herndon succeeds R. L. Strowd as Chapel Hill postmaster DeWitt Herndon, a Bank of Chapel Hill employee who stood second on the civil service list, was confirmed as Chapel Hill's postmaster and took over from Robert L. Strowd, who had retired by mid-May. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Post office, Chapel Hill · Also named: DeWitt Herndon · Also mentions: Bank of Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 17, 1923, p. 4
  6. Chapel Hill's aldermen take up a sewage disposal plant as neighbors threaten suit With the creek north of town little more than a sewer ditch, Jack Sparrow, Charlie Martindale and Robert L. Strowd spoke of suing the town, and the aldermen pressed plans for a disposal plant, heard an engineer from the McCrary Company of Atlanta, and ordered the sewage treated at the outfall with chloride of lime and a floating disinfectant as an emergency measure. Thorndike Saville of the board of health and Town Manager E. M. Knox were preparing reports and estimates, and the town hoped to finish a plant by the end of the fall. People: Edward M. Knox, W. S. Roberson, Robert L. Strowd Place: Sewer outfalls on the creek north of town, Chapel Hill · Also named: Thorndike Saville, Jack Sparrow, Charlie MartindaleThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 20, 1924, p. 1
  7. The Bank of Chapel Hill nearly finishes a $30,000 remodeling with a rear addition The News reported the Bank of Chapel Hill's remodeling nearly done and the building soon ready for its house-warming. Between $30,000 and $35,000 had been spent, with a 50-foot addition at the rear, a new front, tile floors, marble work, new furnishings and skylights. People: M. C. S. Noble, Robert L. Strowd, Milton E. Hogan Place: Bank of Chapel Hill, Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), July 31, 1924, p. 1
  8. University trustees vote to pay half the cost of Chapel Hill's new sewer line and disposal plant The University trustees agreed to pay half the cost, up to $20,000, of a sewer line down the Bolin Creek valley and a disposal plant in Strowd's Lowgrounds below the Durham road bridge, in return for the University's right to use the system; the town was to issue bonds for its half. The open sewage ditch north of town had drawn complaints and threats of suit from Robert L. Strowd, Jack Sparrow and other landowners along the creek. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Bolin Creek valley and Strowd's Lowgrounds, Chapel Hill · Also named: Jack Sparrow · Also mentions: Bolin Creek, Strowd's LowgroundsThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 10, 1924, p. 1
  9. Clubwomen and Boy Scouts clear advertising signs from the Chapel Hill-Durham road In March 1925 the Leonidas Polk chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Community Club, working with Durham clubwomen, began asking landowners along the Chapel Hill-Durham highway to take down advertising signs; Robert L. Strowd and Jack Sparrow were among the first to agree, and the two Chapel Hill groups offered a $10 prize for the best roadside improvement in the Orange County stretch. By early May the Chapel Hill Boy Scouts had taken down nearly all the signs on the four miles to the Durham County line. People: Robert L. Strowd Place: Chapel Hill-Durham highway, from Chapel Hill to the Durham County line · Also named: Jack Sparrow, Leonidas PolkSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 7, 1925, p. 1
  10. Robert L. Strowd's 1,200-acre farm on Chapel Hill's eastern edge is sold at auction On a rainy April 22, 1925, the Durham Auction Company sold building lots and small farms along the Durham highway from the town limits past the one-mile bridge out of Robert L. Strowd's farm, the old Hargrave place that his father, Congressman William F. Strowd, had bought in 1875. Strowd received about $128,000, and the Chapel Hill Insurance and Realty Company bid in the remaining 1,100 acres or so; the Weekly called it one of the biggest events in the town's commercial life. People: W. S. Roberson Place: Strowd farm, Durham road, eastern edge of Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 30, 1925, p. 1
  11. Auction of the Strowd farm shows a slump in Chapel Hill land values On May 22, 1928, receivers of the Chapel Hill Insurance and Realty Company auctioned about 600 acres of the former Strowd farm, part of it inside the town limits, with a store building next to the Bank of Chapel Hill also offered. The high bids came to about $16,000, against roughly $100,000 the company had paid R. L. Strowd, and the receivers declined to recommend confirmation. People: W. S. Roberson, Robert L. Strowd, Isaac W. Pritchard, Milton E. Hogan Place: Strowd farm along the Chapel Hill-Durham highway, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Bank of Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 1, 1928, p. 1
  12. Banker and merchant Robert L. Strowd dies in Chapel Hill Robert L. Strowd, a Chapel Hill merchant, former postmaster, and for 29 years a director and for fifteen and a half years vice-president of the Bank of Chapel Hill, died at his home after several years of illness. He was 70 and was buried in the Chapel Hill cemetery. Place: His home, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Bank of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill cemeterySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 11, 1934, p. 5
  13. Bank of Chapel Hill directors elect Clyde L. Eubanks vice-president The directors of the Bank of Chapel Hill elected Clyde L. Eubanks vice-president in place of the late Robert L. Strowd. At their meeting of June 5 they also spread a memorial to Strowd on their minutes. People: Clyde Eubanks, Robert L. Strowd Place: Bank of Chapel Hill, Franklin Street, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 8, 1934, 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 4 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.

All places and the county map →

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Robert L. Strowd, 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.

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.

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Robert L. Strowd 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 Robert L. Strowd

Find copies at other libraries

Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

These searches use Robert L. Strowd’s name without birth or death dates, so results 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.

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