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Local figure

Brodie Thompson

Brodie Thompson (1884–1971) was Chapel Hill's leading building contractor in the 1920s and 1930s. He built Colonial Revival fraternity houses around the campus and many village homes, among them his own house at 214 Henderson Street (1920), the Wagstaff house (about 1925) and the brick Milton Hogan house on North Boundary Street (1927).

Source: NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 58

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to Brodie Thompson. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about Brodie Thompson’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.

Life and Orange County connections

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

  1. Contractor Brodie Thompson builds his own house on Henderson Street Brodie Thompson, the town's leading builder of the 1920s and 1930s and contractor for many fraternity houses and village homes, built a Colonial Revival house for himself at 214 Henderson Street. People: Brodie ThompsonSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 58
  2. Brodie Thompson oversees the building of the Ben Warren house on Hillsborough Street Julius A. "Ben" Warren, the university's treasurer, and his wife Pattie Spurgeon Warren built a large two-story frame house at 301 Hillsborough Street on four acres he had bought in 1917, under the supervision of local builder Brodie Thompson.Search the index · National Register: Chapel Hill Historic District Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation (OR1750, 2015), section 7
  3. The rebuilt Pickwick Theatre opens on Franklin Street S. J. Brockwell's new fireproof Pickwick, built on the site of the burned one, opened with seats for 750, and crowds were turned away from the first show. W. S. Roberson ran it under lease. People: W. S. Roberson, Brodie ThompsonSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 5, 1924, p. 1
  4. Brodie Thompson builds a house for historian Henry McGilbert Wagstaff For Henry and Mary Wagstaff, Thompson built a two-story frame house at 206 North Boundary Street with a fanlit entrance, a porch with turned balusters, a high hipped roof and a long side porch toward Rosemary Street. People: Brodie ThompsonSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 58
  5. Brodie Thompson builds a house on East Rosemary Street for George and Sarah Pickard Contractor Brodie Thompson builds a two-story, five-bay Colonial Revival house for George and Sarah Pickard at the southeast corner of East Rosemary and North Boundary streets. People: Brodie ThompsonSearch the index · National Register: Chapel Hill Historic District Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation (OR1750, 2015), section 7
  6. S. J. Brockwell hires Brodie Thompson to build a Dutch Colonial house on Henderson Street S. J. Brockwell and his wife let Thompson the contract for a two-story Dutch Colonial house on the west side of Henderson Street next to the W. P. Jordan home. The house at 211 Henderson Street was much enlarged in 1968.Search the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 28, 1925, p. 3 (Brockwells' New Home)
  7. Five fraternity houses by Brodie Thompson form the Big Fraternity Court Alumni gifts paid for the Big Fraternity Court on the first block of South Columbia Street: five Colonial Revival houses built by Brodie Thompson and set around a shared court, in the manner of the new campus quadrangles. A smaller court stands around the corner on Cameron Avenue. People: Brodie ThompsonSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 61
  8. Brodie Thompson builds a brick Colonial Revival house for banker Milton Hogan At 104 North Boundary Street, Thompson built a two-story brick house for Milton and Carrie Hogan with a Doric-columned entrance, modillion cornice and one-story side porches. People: Brodie ThompsonSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 58
  9. Contractor Brodie Thompson is elected to the Chapel Hill board of aldermen In a light vote Zeb P. Council was elected mayor, and P. L. Burch with 127 votes, R. D. W. Connor with 121 and contractor Brodie Thompson with 117 were chosen councilmen. A petition had put Thompson forward as the only declared candidate for alderman. People: R. D. W. ConnorSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 6, 1927, p. 1 (Light Voting in Town Elections)
  10. Brodie Thompson rebuilds Howard Odum's burned house in record time After fire gutted the Odum house on February 20, 1938, the insurance was settled in five days and Thompson began clearing the ruins the next day. Within 26 days the new house on the old foundations had walls, roof and most of its weatherboarding, which the Weekly called the fastest building job Chapel Hill had seen. People: Howard W. OdumSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 18, 1938, p. 1 (Odum House Rises Fast)

Places in this person’s story

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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