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Local figure

Paul W. Wager

Paul W. Wager taught at UNC from 1926 to 1964 and was the first faculty member there to teach undergraduate courses in county administration and natural resources administration. In Chapel Hill he served on the Planning Board and the Board of Aldermen and was a charter member of the Chapel Hill Historical Society.

Source: UNC School of Government MPA: Paul Wager Scholarship

On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

3 works about Paul W. Wager are indexed here.

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Life and Orange County connections

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

StorylineTelephones in Chapel Hill, 1901–19921901–1992 · 39 events · Telephone service in Chapel Hill grew from one professor's telephone in 1901 to an automatic dial system owned by the University. Bryant lists Professor Eben Alexander as the first in town to have a telephone, number 1 in 1901, and by Battle's account Professor Joshua W. Gore had the first long-distance line set up that session. In 1922 more than eighty citizens protested a rate increase to the state Corporation Commission. In 1925 the University bought the Chapel Hill Telephone Company to keep it from outside buyers. In 1927 it ordered dial equipment to replace the overloaded manual board, and between December 1927 and January 1928 the town changed over to automatic service, with new numbers and higher rates. The University-owned company opened a Campus exchange in 1969 and planned one-party service in the early 1970s, and in 1974 a state commission recommended selling it to Southern Bell. Southern Bell bought the system in 1977. The towns fought its higher installation charges and asked it to pay taxes on the property, and in 1978 residents opposed its plan to enlarge the Rosemary Street exchange beside the Old Methodist Church. In 1981 Southern Bell switched Chapel Hill to an electronic system, Chapel Hill telephone workers joined the 1983 national strike, and in 1984, after the AT&T breakup, UNC replaced its dormitory telephones with modular jacks. In 1988 Bingham Township residents petitioned to join a toll-free Triangle calling region and calls between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro became local, and in 1989 a trial of flat-rate calling across the Triangle began. In 1990 and 1991 the county commissioners and the Town Council pressed for flat-rate and toll-free calling, in 1992 half-price calling across the Triangle began as an experiment, and Southern Bell switched its Chapel Hill office to digital equipment. StorylineThe Orange County Civic Association, 19281928 · 3 events · On February 10, 1928 citizens from around Orange County formed the Orange County Civic Association, a nonpartisan group to gather and publish facts about county government, with E. C. Branson as chairman and Paul W. Wager as secretary. In March the association looked into the cost of school buses, hearing that the county had paid $37,828 for buses since 1922; members split between cutting bus service and improving the roads that wrecked the buses. In April it took up the roads themselves, agreeing that they were in poor shape and that the year's $42,000 for maintenance was spread too thin over about 800 miles. Commissioners proposed classing the roads by traffic.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 23 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Odum's new institute makes county government its first study The Institute for Research in Social Science chose county government as its first project, with E. C. Branson leading researchers who examined forty-three counties. Odum shared the findings in 1925 with Governor McLean's study commission, and McLean put county finance reforms to the 1927 legislature. People: Howard W. Odum, Eugene Cunningham Branson, Paul W. Wager, Angus W. McLean Place: Institute for Research in Social Science, UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Angus McLeanSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., The Good Government Man: Albert Coates and the Early Years of the Institute of Government (2018), p. 78
  2. Citizens organize the Orange County Civic Association Citizens from around the county formed the Orange County Civic Association, a nonpartisan group to gather and publish facts about county government, at a meeting in the Hillsboro school auditorium. E. C. Branson was chairman and Paul W. Wager secretary; commissioners' chairman John McCauley attended. People: Eugene Cunningham Branson, Paul W. Wager Place: Hillsboro school auditorium, Hillsborough · Also named: John McCauleySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 17, 1928, p. 3
  3. The Orange County Civic Association takes up the county's roads At the Hillsboro court house the civic association agreed the county's roads were in poor shape and that the year's $42,000 for maintenance was spread too thin over about 800 miles of county roads. Commissioners proposed classing roads by traffic, and rural mail carriers asked for better care of their routes. People: Paul W. Wager Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 13, 1928, p. 3
  4. Orange County's 1928 tax rate falls to $1.45 Figures prepared by Paul Wager for the Orange County Civic Association showed the county tax rate cut from $1.50 to $1.45, with more for the general fund and less for roads and debt service. Chapel Hill township's valuation rose by more than half a million dollars from new building, more than the whole county's gain, while most other townships fell. People: Paul W. Wager Place: Orange County (Civic Association meeting at the court house, Hillsborough)Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 12, 1928, p. 3
  5. The University authorizes a Department of Political Science The University of North Carolina authorized a new Department of Political Science with Dean W. W. Pierson Jr. as acting head. Its teaching staff was to be Pierson, E. J. Woodhouse, K. C. Frazer, C. B. Robson, W. S. Jenkins, P. W. Wager and a new professor of public administration. People: Paul W. Wager Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: W. W. Pierson Jr., E. J. Woodhouse, K. C. Frazer, C. B. Robson, W. S. JenkinsSearch the index · Internet Archive: "Historical News", North Carolina Historical Review 12 (1935), p. 295 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, August 30, 1935, p. 3
  6. Black citizens of Chapel Hill campaign for funds and labor for the Negro Community Center Eight committees from Black social, church, lodge and labor groups began a house-to-house canvass for the Negro Community Center, taking pledges in cash or in work to be done when needed, and set a report meeting at the Orange County Training School for March 4. A white citizens' committee published a plan to raise the remaining $9,000 of the $26,000 project. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, Paul W. Wager, Charles C. Craig, Harold M. Holmes Place: Orange County Training School and Black Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Negro Community CenterThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 21, 1941, p. 1
  7. Black volunteers plaster the main hall of the Negro Community Center Four Black plasterers gave their skill and labor, working nights, to plaster the main room of the unfinished Negro Community Center near the west end of Rosemary Lane so that it could be used as an auditorium and day nursery before the building was done, while Black women served suppers to the workers. A week earlier Louis Graves had reported the stone building roofed with a bank loan and credit, about $24,200 having gone into it, $16,000 from the WPA and $5,950 from local givers, with $2,250 still owed. People: Louis Graves, Paul W. Wager Place: Negro Community Center, Rosemary Lane, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Rosemary LaneThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 6, 1942, p. 2
  8. Chapel Hill aldermen name Thomas F. Taylor the town's civil defense director At the state civil defense director's request that every town have such an officer, the Chapel Hill aldermen appointed Thomas F. Taylor, retired from General Douglas MacArthur's staff in the Pacific, as the town's civil defense director, to gather literature and draw up plans for the area's defense. The board also named H. B. Vaughn of the newly annexed Durham Road area to the board of adjustment and Paul W. Wager to the planning board. People: Paul W. Wager Place: Town Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas F. Taylor, H. B. VaughnSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 28, 1950, p. 1
  9. County commissioners drop a bill to zone along the new Durham boulevard On February 5 a Chapel Hill delegation asked the commissioners to seek power to zone 1,000 feet on each side of the new Durham-Chapel Hill boulevard. In two closed sessions the following week the board decided against it after the Institute of Government advised that the whole county would have to be zoned and that zoning one strip might be judged discriminatory. People: Collier Cobb Jr., Paul W. Wager, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Louis Graves Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Institute of GovernmentSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 15, 1951, p. 1
  10. Commissioners ask the legislature for a five-member board elected at large After a heated public hearing on February 2, 1953, the county commissioners voted 2 to 1 to ask the General Assembly to enlarge the board from three to five members elected at large for staggered four-year terms, without the one-per-township rule and term limit rural petitioners wanted. A Chapel Hill group brought a 330-name petition against those limits, backed by the League of Women Voters. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Sim Efland, Paul W. Wager, Luther James Phipps, Reid Roberts, Robert O. Forrest Place: Courthouse, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 5, 1953, p. 1
  11. Hubert Robinson and Paul Wager are elected to the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen Robinson led the five candidates with 571 votes and Wager followed with 560; Kenneth Putnam took the third seat. The Weekly noted Robinson was the second Black person elected to public office in Chapel Hill, the first since Reconstruction, and it was Wager's first run for office. People: Hubert Robinson, Edwin Sidney Lanier Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Kenneth PutnamSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 8, 1953, p. 1 (Robinson Gets Largest Vote; Other Winners: Wager, Putnam)
  12. Hugh Lefler and Paul Wager edit a bicentennial history of Orange County For the county's 200th anniversary, Lefler and Wager edited Orange County, 1752-1952, with chapters by about fifteen contributors on early history, agriculture, industry, schools and more, plus a dictionary of county biography and lists of county officials. People: Hugh Talmage Lefler Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Orange County History Guide, General History · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 1, 1953, p. 1
Show all 23 dated events
  1. County commissioners stand by their request to limit the board to two members from any township After an October 8 public hearing at which Chapel Hill speakers, among them Paul Wager, Roland McClamroch and members of the League of Women Voters, urged reconsideration, the commissioners voted unanimously, with Chairman R. J. M. Hobbs abstaining, to reaffirm their June request that the legislature limit the board to two members from any one township. Supporters such as R. O. Forrest argued that Chapel Hill's heavy vote could otherwise fill every seat. People: Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs, Roland P. McClamroch, Robert O. Forrest, Paul W. Wager Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: Roland McClamrochSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 8, 1956, p. 1
  2. Roland Giduz and Adelaide Walters are elected to the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen In a heavy turnout that also re-elected Mayor Oliver K. Cornwell and approved a $500,000 bond issue, voters re-elected aldermen Hubert Robinson and Paul Wager and chose two new members, Adelaide Walters and Roland Giduz. As low man among the winners, Giduz drew a two-year term. People: Roland Giduz, Paul W. Wager, Hubert Robinson, Oliver K. Cornwell, Adelaide Walters Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 10, 1957, p. 1 (Heavy Vote Approves Bond Issue and Ten Candidates for Office)
  3. Chapel Hill marks United Nations Day by planting a tree at the elementary school A United Nations Day tree, given by the Chapel Hill Garden Club, was planted on the front lawn of the elementary school by foreign students and local Scouts, after the Lincoln High School band played and alderman Paul Wager spoke on the United Nations in a changing world. Rabbi Efraim Rosenzweig and Father Francis Murphy gave the prayers. People: Paul W. Wager Place: Chapel Hill Elementary School, West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Efraim Rosenzweig, Francis Murphy · Also mentions: Lincoln High SchoolSearch the index · Chapel Hill High School student newspaper, October 31, 1958, p. 1
  4. Chapel Hill aldermen buy two wooded tracts for town parks Acting on Alderman Paul Wager's proposal to spend extra state beer and wine tax refunds on parks, the board voted unanimously to pay the Coker College trustees their $3,000 price for two wooded lots, one at the southwest corner of the bypass and Raleigh Road and one near Laurel Hill Road and Laurel Hill Circle. Mayor pro tem Gene Strowd called the price a bargain. People: Paul W. Wager Place: Raleigh Road at the bypass, and Laurel Hill Road at Laurel Hill Circle, Chapel Hill · Also named: Gene StrowdSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 29, 1959, p. 7
  5. Chapel Hill voters approve $160,000 in bonds for town hall land and buildings Voters approved by better than three to one, 947 to 248, a $160,000 capital improvements bond issue that let the town buy land and build a new municipal center rather than only enlarge the existing Town Hall site. The same election returned aldermen Mrs. Harold Walters, Paul Wager and Hubert Robinson to office. People: Hubert Robinson, Oliver K. Cornwell, Paul W. Wager Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Mrs. Harold WaltersSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 4, 1961, p. 3
  6. McClamroch is sworn in as mayor and Joe Page is named to his aldermen seat McClamroch and three re-elected aldermen, Adelaide Walters, Paul Wager and Hubert Robinson, were sworn in at the Monday night meeting of the Board of Aldermen by Recorder's Court Judge William Stewart. The board named businessman Joe Page to the unexpired two year aldermen's term McClamroch left on becoming mayor, and elected Mrs. Walters mayor pro tem. People: Sandy McClamroch, Paul W. Wager, Hubert Robinson, Adelaide Walters Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Joe PageSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 11, 1961, p. 1 (Joe Page Gets Appointment To Board Of Aldermen)
  7. Chapel Hill aldermen decline to require a permit for Duke's power line Before about 80 residents, mostly from the Morgan Creek area, who opposed Duke Power's planned 100,000-volt line through south-side neighborhoods, the aldermen declined a Planning Board ordinance requiring a special use permit for such lines, which Duke said it would fight in court. By four to two they called instead for a conference with the company. People: Roland Giduz, Paul W. Wager Place: Town Hall, Chapel HillSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 16, 1961, p. 3
  8. Chapel Hill aldermen vote down a rule requiring underground power lines in residential zones Ending months of debate, the aldermen rejected 4 to 2 the planning board's unanimous proposal to require power transmission lines in residential zones to go underground; Alderman Paul Wager said there was no precedent and the town would be inviting a weak court test. Duke Power's condemnation case for a 100,000-volt line through the Morgan Creek area was still in court. People: Roland Giduz, Paul W. Wager Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 16, 1962, p. 3
  9. Mayor McClamroch's Integration Committee adopts a four-point program At its first meeting the 12-member committee headed by Mayor Sandy McClamroch agreed to press businesses to drop segregation, to study the town's power over privilege licenses, to bring cases to other authorities and to look into a public accommodations ordinance. The mayor said one more restaurant would admit Black patrons the next week, leaving about half a dozen eating places serving whites only. People: Sandy McClamroch, Hubert Robinson, Paul W. Wager Place: Chapel HillThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 30, 1963, p. 3
  10. Chapel Hill aldermen vote to limit picketing to daytime hours On February 10 the Chapel Hill aldermen split 3 to 3 on Police Chief W. D. Blake's request to amend the 1960 picketing ordinance to allow picketing only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Mayor Sandy McClamroch broke the tie in favor. Opponents marched to the police station in protest, the mayor sent the question to the Human Relations Committee, and because the vote fell short of the two-thirds needed on first reading the change never took effect. People: Sandy McClamroch, Roland Giduz, Paul W. Wager, Hubert Robinson Place: Town Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: W. D. BlakeThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 13, 1964, p. 4
  11. Chapel Hill residents organize to protect the Old Methodist Church from a Southern Bell addition Fourteen Chapel Hill residents formed a group to oppose Southern Bell's proposed addition to its East Rosemary Street switching station, which they feared would damage the 120-year-old Old Methodist Church building next door, and placed a newspaper advertisement urging people to ask the Board of Aldermen to deny the special-use permit. Spokesman Paul Wager, a UNC professor emeritus, urged a wider setback or an addition at the rear; Southern Bell had said a rear addition cost too much and would close Spring Lane. People: Paul W. Wager Place: Old Methodist Church building, East Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: East Rosemary StreetSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, December 7, 1978, p. 3

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Paul W. Wager, 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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Indexed works

Works about or by Paul W. Wager. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Orange County, 1752-1952, edited by Hugh Lefler and Paul Wager

Lefler, Hugh Talmage,; Wager, Paul W. · 1953

Hugh Lefler and Paul Wager edited this history of Orange County covering 1752 to 1952, published in 1953 for the county's two hundredth year in 389 pages with illustrations, portraits and maps.

Included because: Its title names this person.

NC Cardinal

Chapel Hill about 1818, as remembered by W.D. Moseley

Igoe, Lynn · 1976

Chapel Hill as W.D. Moseley, class of 1818 and later governor of Florida, remembered it in his student days, mapped from his 1853 account. Paul Wager plotted it and Lynn Igoe designed it; the Chapel Hill Historical Society published the map in 1976.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DigitalNC DPLA

Recording with Dr. Paul Wager, 1973 (Chapel Hill Historical Society cassette)

1973

Dr. Paul Wager, recorded on cassette in 1973 for the Chapel Hill Historical Society. Part of the society's CHHS.012 Audiovisual Materials Collection.

Included because: Its title names this person.

CH Historical Society

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