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Ralph H. Ward

Ralph H. Ward was superintendent of Durham Hosiery Mills' Mill No. 4 in Carrboro and the first to live in the house the company built at 103 West Main Street for the head of its Carrboro operations, long thought the finest dwelling in town.

Source: Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 17

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

The Central Highway route fight, 1921–19221921–1922 · 8 events · The route of the Central Highway, the trunk road of the state network paid for by the 1921 Highway Act that Harriet Morehead Berry of Hillsborough championed, set off a fight in Orange County. In August 1921 the county commissioners weighed eastern and western 'Frog Pond' routes, and eastern Chapel Hill township residents demanded County Attorney A. H. Graham's discharge. In November a Hillsborough mass meeting resolved to fight the State Highway Commission's plan to carry the highway north of the courthouse. A Hillsborough group protested in Raleigh on March 1, 1922, Commissioner John Sprunt Hill was burned in effigy the next day, and the town board vowed to keep fighting in the state courts.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 21 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Durham Hosiery Mills builds a house on West Main Street for its Carrboro superintendent Some time between 1915 and 1925 the company built a one-and-a-half-story house with a tall hipped roof and Tuscan porch columns at 103 West Main Street for the head of its Carrboro mills; it was long thought the best house in town. Ralph Ward of Mill No. 4 lived there first and Floyd M. Durham of Mill No. 7 later, and Marvin J. Dawson bought it at the 1939 company sale. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 17
  2. Lueco Lloyd serves as first vice-president of the Peoples Bank of Chapel Hill The Peoples Bank's notices in the News listed Lueco Lloyd as first vice-president under president E. V. Howell, with R. H. Ward second vice-president and C. B. Griffin cashier. He had been one of the bank's directors by 1912. People: E. V. (Edward Vernon) Howell, Ralph H. Ward, C. B. GriffinSearch the index · DigitalNC: The News (Chapel Hill), January 14, 1915, p. 6
  3. State inspectors give the Carrboro mill village a top sanitary rating State sanitary inspectors T. G. Moser and A. E. Terry rated the Durham Hosiery Mills village at Carrboro at 90, which the News reported as the highest mark yet given in their territory. They credited manager R. H. Ward's system of a full-time inspector and a work squad that kept every dry closet scoured. People: Ralph H. WardThe News (Chapel Hill), November 27, 1919, p. 4
  4. Eastern Chapel Hill township residents meet at Blackwood school and denounce the commissioners over the road Residents of the eastern section of Chapel Hill township met at the Blackwood school house on Friday night, August 5, named a committee of five to carry on their fight over the hard-surfaced road route, and pledged to share its costs. By a rising vote they adopted a resolution, sent to commissioners' chairman Ralph Ward, denouncing the board and County Attorney A. H. Graham, demanding Graham's discharge and protesting his pay as unconstitutional because he held three offices. People: Alexander H. "Sandy" Graham, Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), August 11, 1921, p. 1
  5. A Hillsborough mass meeting resolves to fight the State Highway Commission's route north of the courthouse Citizens of Hillsborough and the surrounding country met at the courthouse, with county commissioners' chairman Ralph Ward presiding, to fight the State Highway Commission's plan to carry the Central Highway along the old pre-Revolutionary route north of the courthouse instead of the road running due west from it. The county commissioners threatened an injunction, and Republican leader N. W. Brown, whose account the News reprinted, said the new route would make a dangerous curve and serve fewer than twenty-five taxpayers in four miles. People: N. W. Brown, John Sprunt Hill, Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), December 1, 1921, p. 1
  6. Orange County commissioners borrow $20,000 to keep the county schools running The county commissioners voted to borrow $20,000 for four months for the Board of Education's current expenses of running the schools, to be repaid from the 1921 school taxes and the county's share of the state equalizing fund. At the same meeting they warned that the county would pay no bills for road work not ordered in writing by road superintendent C. P. Whitfield and the board, saying money was short. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), March 9, 1922, p. 1
  7. County commissioners make the road by Palmer's Grove school a public road At their monthly meeting the Orange County commissioners ordered that a road running from the public road near Mr. Giles's place past the Palmer's Grove schoolhouse to the Durham road be made a public road, with the right of way given at no cost to the county, and told road superintendent Clark to locate it. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), November 16, 1922, p. 1
  8. Democrats carry Orange County in the 1922 general election Orange County gave the Democratic ticket an average majority of more than 800, re-electing Sheriff L. Bunn Lloyd over Republican Mincey 1,855 to 846, and gave Congressman Charles M. Stedman 1,697 votes to 829 for his Republican opponent, Lucy B. Patterson of Winston-Salem. The county voted more than three to one against the amendment raising legislators' pay. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), November 16, 1922, p. 1
  9. Orange voters put Webb and Wilson on the county board of commissioners In the November 7, 1922 election Orange County voters chose Webb and Wilson as county commissioners in place of Hill and Woods and re-elected every other county officer. The new board, with R. H. Ward continuing as chairman, was to take office on December 4. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), November 30, 1922, p. 5
  10. County commissioners vote to route a new road past J. W. Bennett's to the Pittsboro road At their February 5, 1923 meeting the Orange County commissioners voted 2 to 1 to build a new road along the east side of J. W. Bennett's place down to the cemetery and then west to the Pittsboro road. The same meeting ordered four fire extinguishers for the county and sold one of the county's tractors. J. M. Womble protested the route in a letter to the News, saying it ran over red clay when a gravel route was at hand. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), February 8, 1923, p. 1
  11. County commissioners call special school tax elections for Carrboro and the Carr district The Orange County commissioners ordered two school tax elections for September 12, 1923: one in the Carrboro special tax school district on a local tax of up to 20 cents on $100 of property, and one in the part of Cedar Grove Township next to the Carr special tax district, from the Caswell and Person lines south to George Smith's crossroads, on a tax of up to 30 cents. Both taxes were to supplement the six-month school term, and both followed petitions from the district school committees approved by the county board of education. People: John F. McAdams, Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), August 16, 1923, p. 4
  12. County commissioners order a new New Hope Creek bridge on the Blackwood-Durham road After a day inspecting roads and bridges in the Blackwood section in August 1923, county commissioners Ward, Wilson and Webb arranged to repair the bridge at the Blackwood station and to build a new bridge over New Hope Creek on the road from Blackwood to Durham, with Arch A. Lynch as contractor. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), August 16, 1923, p. 5
Show all 21 dated events
  1. County commissioners require notice and a hearing before any new road is built At their monthly meeting on June 2, 1924, the Orange County commissioners voted that no road be built without first advertising it and hearing all complaints for and against its location. They set hearings for the second Monday in July on a road from Orange Church to the Hillsboro-Chapel Hill road, one from Ebenezer Church east to the Durham County line, and one running south from Julian Andrews's place. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), June 5, 1924, p. 1
  2. Orange Democrats nominate L. B. Lloyd for sheriff over Jug Whitaker In the Democratic primary Orange County voters chose J. D. Webb, Ralph Ward and J. E. Hawkins as candidates for county commissioner and renominated the school board members C. A. McDade, S. Browning and M. P. Efland. L. B. Lloyd won the nomination for sheriff over Chapel Hill's candidate, J. B. (Jug) Whitaker, who had good support in Chapel Hill but trailed in the rest of the county. People: Mack P. Efland, Ralph H. Ward, Junius D. WebbSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 13, 1924, p. 1
  3. Commissioners call a school tax election for the Eno Township area next to the Murphey district On the petition of the Murphey special tax school district's committee, the Orange County commissioners ordered an election for July 16, 1924, in the part of Eno Township next to that district, on a special school tax of up to 20 cents on $100 to supplement the six-month term. They ordered a new registration and named St. Mary's schoolhouse the polling place. People: John F. McAdams, Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), June 5, 1924, p. 4
  4. Commissioners call a vote on an added school tax in the Carrboro district On the petition of the Carrboro special tax district's school committee, the Orange County commissioners ordered an election for July 23, 1924, on an added local tax of up to 10 cents on $100 to supplement the district's six-month school term. They ordered a new registration and named H. C. Hundley's store the polling place. People: John F. McAdams, Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), June 26, 1924, p. 4
  5. County commissioners withdraw approval of a larger school budget and hold the tax rate At a meeting in the Hillsboro courthouse the county commissioners, led by chairman Ralph Ward, withdrew their earlier approval of the board of education's $130,000 school budget, up from $92,000 the year before, saying they would not raise the tax rate. Hillsboro men and farmers protested the increase, chiefly the purchase of school trucks, and the commissioners kept the county rate at $1.10. People: Ralph H. WardThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 17, 1924, p. 1
  6. County commissioners decide to rebuild the washed-out bridges on Morgan's and Phil's creeks After going out to see the sites, commissioners Ralph Ward, J. D. Webb and Arthur Wilson decided to rebuild the bridges on Morgan's and Phil's creeks that the June and July floods had carried away, and to set them somewhat higher. One bridge had floated downstream nearly whole against some trees; the other was torn apart and had to be replaced. People: Ralph H. Ward, Junius D. WebbSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 25, 1924, p. 1
  7. Orange County buys land for a new county home on the Durham road The county commissioners paid $7,000 for a site one mile from Hillsboro on the Durham road for a new county home, to cost about $40,000 in all, chairman Ralph Ward said. The old home, a mile and a half north of Efland on the Cedar Grove road and said by Hillsboro old-timers to be a hundred years old, held twelve aged and destitute people, three of them Black, in rooms with rotting floors that could not be rid of vermin. People: Ralph H. WardSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 16, 1925, p. 1
  8. Two new county bridges near completion on the Eno and Little River Ralph Ward, chairman of the county commissioners, said two new bridges costing about $8,000 were nearly finished, one over the Eno River at the Southern Power plant and one over Little River about seven miles east of Hillsboro.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 17, 1925, p. 1
  9. John A. McCauley of Eno Township is named county commissioner John A. McCauley of Eno Township was appointed to the Orange County board of commissioners in place of Ralph Ward, who had moved to Greensboro before the March meeting. J. D. Webb of Chapel Hill became chairman of the board. People: Ralph H. Ward, Junius D. WebbSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 16, 1926, p. 1

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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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