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George Tayloe Winston

George Tayloe Winston came to Chapel Hill in 1875 as professor of Latin and German and was president of the university from 1891 to 1896, years in which the number of students tripled to almost six hundred.

Source: Carolina Story (museum.unc.edu): George Tayloe Winston (1852-1932)

1852–1932 · Dates from the Library of Congress · On the Friends’ Local Authors roster → · Library of Congress authority record ↗

5 works about George Tayloe Winston are indexed here, as are 6 works by Winston.

George Tayloe Winston, 1903
George Tayloe Winston, 1903

Life and Orange County connections

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

StorylineBuilding Memorial Hall, 1883–18851883–1885 · 16 events · Memorial Hall began with a promise from Governor Thomas J. Jarvis at the June 1883 commencement, when Gerrard Hall overflowed, and with a planned monument to the late president David L. Swain. The board ordered a large hall instead of an obelisk, and the cornerstone was laid on September 25, 1883. Work stopped that winter because the architect, Samuel Sloan, had underestimated the cost; Kemp P. Battle and George T. Winston canvassed the state for memorial tablets, and work resumed in the spring. After Sloan died in 1884 his chief carpenter finished the hall, with Paul C. Cameron advancing funds without security. It was dedicated on June 3, 1885, with the state's bill for its prison brick still unpaid. StorylineGeorge T. Winston’s presidency of the University, 1890–18961890–1896 · 13 events · George T. Winston became president of the University in 1891, when Kemp P. Battle left the office after fifteen years to take a chair of history that alumni had answered a call to endow, and he led it through rising enrollment and a fight over its state appropriation. He and a faculty committee ended a campus feud by barring students from fraternities until a year after matriculation. In 1895 he rallied alumni legislators against a cut in the appropriation and prevailed after Populist leader Marion Butler came out for the university. Enrollment reached 403 that March and 534 in the 1896 catalogue. In July 1896 Winston resigned to become president of the University of Texas.

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

  1. George Tayloe Winston joins the faculty of the reopened university Winston, a Cornell graduate who had also studied at UNC, came to Chapel Hill in 1875 as professor of Latin and German when the university reopened. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Carolina Story (museum.unc.edu): George Tayloe Winston (1852-1932)
  2. George T. Winston buys Benjamin Hedrick's house with its polygonal annex Professor George T. Winston bought the former Hedrick house in 1879. In the 1880s or early 1890s he tied the old farmhouse and its many-sided annex together with a Queen Anne addition of porch, entrance hall and parlor, turning the house toward Franklin Street. It is now called the Horace Williams House after its later owner. People: Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, George Tayloe Winston Place: Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill · Also named: Benjamin Hedrick · Also mentions: Franklin StreetSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 39
  3. Battle, Redd and Winston speak for the University Railroad at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill citizens met to hear university president Kemp P. Battle and professors Redd and Winston argue that the railroad to the North Carolina Railroad should be built now, while the state offered convict labor. Further subscriptions were reported in the following weeks. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe Winston Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: North Carolina RailroadThe Chapel Hill Ledger, November 22, 1879, p. 2
  4. Battle and Winston canvass the state for Memorial Hall tablets With work on Memorial Hall stopped over the winter of 1883-84 because money from the trustees and alumni had dried up, the building committee decided to ask families of distinguished men tied to the university to pay for white marble memorial tablets on the hall's walls. President Kemp P. Battle and Professor George T. Winston canvassed the state in person and by letter and signed up ninety-eight tablets. By late January 1884 families such as the Moreheads had subscribed, and work was to resume in March. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe Winston Place: Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · University of North Carolina, Memorial Hall Inaugural Proceedings, Wednesday, June 3, 1885 (1885), scan p. 10 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 2, 1884, p. 2
  5. Election fight splits the Philanthropic Society A quarrel over whether two South Building students could join the Philanthropic Society at the last meeting of a term, in time to swing its election, led some members to secede in 1884, and a split nearly followed in the Dialectic. Professors Winston and Manning could not bring the seceders back. People: John Manning, George Tayloe Winston Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Philanthropic SocietySearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 269
  6. Professor George T. Winston lectures on Herculaneum and Pompeii at the Masonic Hall At the invitation of the Misses Nash and Miss Kollock, University professor George T. Winston gave his lecture on Herculaneum and Pompeii, places he had visited the year before, at the Masonic Hall in Hillsborough. Seats were free and a large audience came. Place: Masonic Hall (Eagle Lodge), HillsboroughSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 16, 1885, p. 3
  7. The new Board of Education sets aside $50 for an institute for Black teachers At its first meeting in the Hillsboro courthouse, the board created under the 1885 school law organized with Joseph Harris as chairman and voted fifty dollars to hold a training institute for the county's Black teachers. People: George Tayloe Winston, James L. Currie, Benjamin C. Patton Place: Hillsborough · Also named: Joseph E. HarrisDigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 34
  8. The school board requires the superintendent to visit every school and grade its teachers On resolutions offered by Professor Winston, the board told Superintendent Currie to spend a day at each public school while in session, give each teacher a mark for practical skill, meet each district committee and report on where districts and schoolhouses should be, at $2.50 a day. People: George Tayloe Winston, James L. Currie Place: Orange CountySearch the index · DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 35
  9. W. V. Andrews takes Professor Winston's seat on the county Board of Education Professor Winston of the university left the new Orange County Board of Education six months after its first meeting, and W. V. Andrews was named in his place. People: George Tayloe Winston, Wilton V. Andrews Place: Orange CountySearch the index · DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 91 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), December 12, 1885, p. 3
  10. The literary societies merge their libraries with the university's The Philanthropic Society voted almost unanimously and the Dialectic 42 to 30 to join their books to the university library in Smith Hall, to be called the Library of the University of North Carolina endowed by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies and opened every weekday. Borrowing rose from 3,657 books in 1885-86 to 4,761 the next year. People: George Tayloe Winston, James Lee Love Place: Smith Hall · Also mentions: Philanthropic SocietySearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 356
  11. James Lee Love takes over the mathematics courses during Ralph Graves's last illness When Professor Ralph H. Graves fell gravely ill, President Battle put Love in charge of mathematics. At George Winston's insistence a man was called from Johns Hopkins, and Love brought in his friend Mansfield T. Peed to take the freshmen while he taught the sophomores and juniors; after Graves died the trustees chose William Cain over Love for the chair. People: James Lee Love, Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889), Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe Winston Place: UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Mansfield T. Peed, William Cain, Ralph H. GravesSearch the index · James Lee Love, Recollections (1920-1921), scan p. 249
  12. George Tayloe Winston serves as president of the university Elected president when Kemp Plummer Battle resigned in 1891, Winston led the university for five years, during which enrollment tripled to almost six hundred. In 1896 he left Chapel Hill to become the first president of the University of Texas. People: Kemp Plummer Battle Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC Libraries: George Tayloe Winston Papers, 1862-1969
Show all 30 dated events
  1. The class of 1891 holds its Class Day in Memorial Hall The senior class held its Class Day exercises in Memorial Hall. J. V. Lewis gave the class oration, W. H. Wills read the class history and A. H. Patterson the class poem, and a class cake was sealed to be opened at the first reunion in 1895; Prof. Winston presented the gymnasium medal to R. B. Hunter. People: Andrew Henry Patterson, George Tayloe Winston Place: Memorial Hall, University, Chapel Hill · Also named: J. V. Lewis, W. H. Wills, R. B. HunterSearch the index · The Chapel Hillian, April 23, 1891, p. 2
  2. University trustees elect George T. Winston to succeed President Battle At a well attended meeting at Chapel Hill the trustees chose Prof. George Tayloe Winston president of the university. He took the place of Kemp P. Battle, who had resigned to take the chair of history. People: Kemp Plummer Battle Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 13, 1891, p. 2
  3. University trustees elect Carl Harrington professor of Latin The University trustees, meeting in Raleigh, elected Prof. Carl Harrington of Wesleyan University in Connecticut to be professor of Latin at Chapel Hill. He was to succeed George T. Winston, who had become president of the University. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: Carl HarringtonSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), August 15, 1891, p. 2
  4. The University opens its fall term with President Winston's first address to the students The University of North Carolina opened on Thursday, September 3, with a flattering turnout and more than 100 freshmen among those registered. President George T. Winston spoke to the students in Memorial Hall about the changes and new rules. Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Memorial HallSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 12, 1891, p. 2
  5. George T. Winston is inaugurated as president of the University of North Carolina Winston is installed at a public inauguration at Chapel Hill. Col. Thomas S. Kenan of the Alumni Association presides because the governor is detained, the president of Wake Forest opens with prayer, and Johns Hopkins president Gilman and editor Walter Page give addresses. The retiring president, Kemp P. Battle, briefly reviews the university's history. People: Kemp Plummer Battle Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas S. Kenan, Walter PageSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), October 24, 1891, p. 2
  6. The faculty delays fraternity membership to end a campus feud After non-fraternity students threatened to take their grievances to the trustees and the legislature, President Winston and a faculty committee ruled that no student could join a fraternity until a year after matriculation. In 1896 the trustees set October of the sophomore year and forbade pledging in advance. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 470
  7. Carolina's football team beats Virginia 26 to 0 at Atlanta Under captain Michael Hoke the 1892 team lost only to Virginia in October and then beat Richmond College, Trinity, Alabama A. and M., Vanderbilt and, in a rematch at Atlanta, Virginia. Students met the team at University Station and pulled their carriages to the campus. People: Charles Baskerville, George Tayloe Winston Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Michael Hoke · Also mentions: University StationSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 477
  8. The legislature rejects a bill to strip the university of undergraduates A bill drafted by Davidson College president Shearer would have abolished the university's four undergraduate classes over ten years. After a joint committee hearing at which President Winston defended the university, the General Assembly of 1893 instead voted it $10,000 for repairs. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 479
  9. The University Magazine issues its Golden Jubilee number In 1894 the University Magazine marked fifty years since its first issue with a Golden Jubilee number, prepared largely by faculty editor Collier Cobb and filled with articles on the university's history. People: Collier Cobb, Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe Winston, Stephen B. Weeks Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 739
  10. President Winston ends support and the University Magazine stops In 1895 President George T. Winston decided the university was not getting enough for its subscription, and the University Magazine stopped publishing until it was revived a few years later. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 739
  11. Princeton's Thomas Trenchard coaches Carolina to its best football season yet The Athletic Association hired Thomas G. "Doggie" Trenchard, an 1893 Princeton all-American, and his team won seven games and tied one before losing again to Virginia. In February 1896 President Winston called off a planned tribute to the coach, saying he had been drinking and betting on games while in Chapel Hill. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: UNC, Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas Gawthrop TrenchardSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 26
  12. President Winston turns back a legislative effort to cut the university's funding Two years after the move to confine the university to graduate study failed, church-college allies in the 1895 General Assembly tried to shrink its state appropriation; Winston rallied alumni legislators and prevailed after Populist leader Marion Butler came out for the university. Students met him at the west gate on his return and escorted his hired coach and four to a bonfire and celebration at Gerrard Hall. People: Marion Butler Place: Gerrard Hall, UNC, Chapel HillSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 18
  13. University enrollment reaches 403, passing the antebellum record President George T. Winston reported to the trustees that the university's roll held 403 students in its centennial year, two more than its largest enrollment before the Civil War, drawn from 72 North Carolina counties and a dozen states. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), March 23, 1895, p. 2
  14. The faculty sets study and conduct rules for athletes After a disorderly fall term the faculty barred students neglecting their studies or on probation from the football and baseball teams, required parents' written consent, limited team absences to five days a year and made players pledge not to drink or gamble on trips. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 527
  15. The university's 1896 catalogue counts 534 students The university's catalogue for 1896 listed 534 students: 333 in the college, 58 in law, 30 in medicine and 140 in the summer school for teachers, taught by 38 professors and instructors in 108 courses across fourteen departments. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 16, 1896, p. 2
  16. George T. Winston resigns the university presidency to head the University of Texas President George T. Winston resigned as head of the University of North Carolina to accept the presidency of the University of Texas. Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 9, 1896, p. 2
  17. Commencement marks twenty-five years since the university reopened The 1900 commencement was given over to the reopening of 1875, with nineteen members of the 1875-76 student body present and addresses by Kemp Battle, George T. Winston, W. J. Peele and President Alderman. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe Winston, W. J. Peele, James Cole Taylor Place: Memorial HallDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 576
  18. George Tayloe Winston, president of the University from 1891 to 1896, dies George Tayloe Winston, president of the University from 1891 to 1896 and later of the University of Texas and North Carolina State College, died on the night of August 26, 1932 in Watts Hospital, Durham, in his eightieth year. He had spent his last four years at the Chapel Hill home of his son, P. H. Winston; Rev. Alfred S. Lawrence held private services and his ashes were taken to Asheville. People: Patrick Henry Winston, Alfred Stratton Lawrence Place: Home of P. H. Winston, Chapel Hill; died at Watts Hospital, Durham · Also mentions: Watts HospitalSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 2, 1932, p. 3

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as George Tayloe Winston, 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 George Tayloe Winston. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

By George Tayloe Winston

John Wesley Carr.

Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932 · 1890 · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

George Tayloe Winston's sketch of John Wesley Carr, the Chapel Hill businessman who lived from 1814 to 1889, printed in the North Carolina University Magazine in 1890 and issued by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. Pages 209 to 214 with a portrait plate, signed at the end by Winston.

UNC

William P. Mallett, M.D

Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932 · 1890 · Published by the students of the University

George Tayloe Winston's memorial of William P. Mallett, a North Carolina physician who died in 1889. Winston signed it at the end. The piece came out of the 1890 volume of the North Carolina University Magazine and was published separately at Chapel Hill by the students of the University.

UNC

In memoriam : a sketch of the life and character of Prof. R.H. Graves

Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932 · 1889

George Tayloe Winston's memorial sketch of Ralph Henry Graves, a professor at the University of North Carolina who died in 1889. It was read in Gerrard Hall on University Day. It is biography of a college teacher at Chapel Hill. Winston himself took the presidency of the university two years later, in 1891.

UNC

George Tayloe Winston papers, 1862-1969

Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932 · 1862

Papers of George Tayloe Winston (1852 to 1932), a member of the University of North Carolina faculty in the nineteenth century. The papers span 1862 to 1969. The subjects reach well beyond Chapel Hill: naval service and sea life, officers' diaries, ship drawings, travel in Paris, Madeira and Panama, and Venezuelan foreign relations. Part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 797.

UNC

The university of to-day

Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932 · 1894 · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

George Tayloe Winston, then president of the University of North Carolina, describes the university as it stood in 1894. The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies printed the piece at Chapel Hill, detached from the North Carolina University magazine for March and April of that year, and Winston signed it with his own years as a student, 1866 to 1868.

UNC

Centennial reunion of the alumni and matriculates of the University of North Carolina

Manning, John, 1830-1899; Venable, F. P. (Francis Preston), 1856-1934; Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932 · 1889 · University of North Carolina

Announcement of the centennial reunion of alumni and matriculates of the University of North Carolina, printed at Chapel Hill in 1889 over the signatures of John Manning, F. P. Venable and George T. Winston for the faculty committee. It sets the special commencement exercises for June 5, asks each class to sit together, and invites alumni to submit events for the program.

UNC

About George Tayloe Winston

Base ball! Faculty vs. seniors

1896

Broadside for a baseball game pitting University of North Carolina faculty against the graduating seniors on Saturday, 23 May 1896. The officials named for the game were University President George Tayloe Winston and his predecessor, Kemp Plummer Battle.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

Papers,

Craig, Locke · 1880

Papers of Locke Craig, Asheville lawyer who served in the North Carolina legislature from 1898 to 1903 and as governor from 1913 to 1917. The 126 items, beginning in 1880, include personal letters, political and religious speeches, an address on Freemasonry, and a chemistry notebook he kept as a University of North Carolina student. Kemp P. Battle, Henry G. Connor and Woodrow Wilson are among the names that appear.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932.

Worth family papers,

Worth (Family) · 1844

Worth family papers, about 694 items beginning in 1844: letters, business papers and other material on family affairs, opposition to secession, North Carolina politics, fertilizer and textile businesses, Zebulon B. Vance, and federal patronage early in Woodrow Wilson's administration. Correspondents and subjects include Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Edwin A. Alderman, George T. Winston, Josephus Daniels and Robert Bingham of the Bingham School, with UNC students among them.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932.

Our new president

Argo, Fordyce Hubbard · 1891 · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

A biographical sketch of George Tayloe Winston on his election as president of the University of North Carolina, written by Fordyce Hubbard Argo and printed at Chapel Hill in 1891 by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. It was detached from the North Carolina University magazine. Winston followed Kemp P. Battle in the presidency, and this introduced him to readers on campus.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Winston, George Tayloe, 1852-1932.

UNC

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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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Picture: George Tayloe Winston, 1903. Public domain. archive.org; via Wikimedia Commons

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