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Community in Orange County

Oaks

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In the chronology

Storylines about Oaks, in date order. Each opens its own page, with its events date by date.

StorylineThe Farmers' Alliance in Orange County, 1887–18951887–1895 · 16 events · Orange County farmers began organizing in 1887 and within a year had joined the Farmers' Alliance. Bingham Township farmers formed a club at Oaks that June, and in September an Orange County Club organized under Alex. McIver, though small attendance soon led it to put off a farmers' institute. After the Alliance's state organizer spoke at Hillsborough in March 1888, chapters formed quickly, and on May 18 delegates created the County Alliance under Sheriff John Knox Hughes. It opened an exchange in Hillsborough in 1890 and in 1891 endorsed the sub-treasury plan and all the Alliance demands. In 1893 a county committee called a bill to repeal the State Alliance charter a scheme to destroy the order.

Other dated events here, in date order. See these 23 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Bethlehem Presbyterian Church is organized Elisha Mitchell, Elijah Graves and Samuel Child led the organization of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, which built its first church the next year. People: Elisha Mitchell, John Knox Witherspoon, Elijah Graves, Samuel ChildSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 295
  2. William James Bingham opens his school at the Oaks William James Bingham gave up Hillsborough Academy after its spring 1844 session and in May announced a select classical and mathematical school twelve miles southwest of Hillsborough, to open that November on the Oaks tract he bought the same year. It became known as the Bingham School and stayed at the Oaks until December 1864. People: William James Bingham Also mentions: Bingham School, Hillsborough AcademyNational Register of Historic Places nomination: Bingham School, Oaks (OR0003) · Also: NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Bingham School; Hillsborough Recorder, May 30, 1844, p. 3
  3. William Bingham begins teaching in his father's school Fresh from the university, William Bingham joins the Bingham School as a teacher in 1856 and stays until his death in 1873, the last years as its head. People: William Bingham (1835-1873), William James BinghamThe Bingham School Catalogue, 1905-1906, scan p. 15 · Also: NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Bingham, Robert
  4. Robert Bingham becomes a partner in his father's school at the Oaks After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1857, Robert Bingham was admitted in July as junior partner in his father's school at the Oaks, which took the firm name W. J. Bingham and Sons. His brother William was also a partner. People: Robert Bingham, William Bingham (1835-1873), William James BinghamSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Bingham, Robert
  5. Farmers of the Oaks neighborhood pledge to sell food to soldiers' families at fixed prices A plan for Orange farmers to join an association selling necessities to soldiers' families and the poor at set moderate prices (corn at $1 a bushel, pork at $10 a hundred, bacon at 20 cents and beef at 6 cents a pound) came to little when bad weather stopped the January meeting of delegates at Hillsborough, but one neighborhood, the Oaks, sent in a list of a dozen men willing to join, among them William J. Bingham and Thomas D. Oldham, and the Recorder printed it so that families would know where to find supplies. People: William Bingham (1835-1873) Also named: Thomas D. OldhamHillsborough Recorder, February 18, 1863, p. 2
  6. A Confederate grand jury refuses to indict the Rev. R. J. Graves of the Oaks The Rev. R. J. Graves, a pastor living at the Oaks, the seat of William J. Bingham's school, had been arrested by Confederate military authority on an anonymous charge that he was a disloyal Northerner, taken out of the state and jailed; the arrest was protested in the Confederate Senate and Bingham defended him in print. In June the grand jury of the Confederate court at Richmond, which heard only the government's witnesses, refused to find a true bill against him, and the case was dismissed. People: William Bingham (1835-1873) Also named: R. J. GravesHillsborough Recorder, July 29, 1863, p. 3 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, June 24, 1863, p. 2
  7. William Bingham takes over the family school at the Oaks and incorporates it With his brother Robert in the army and his father in declining health, William Bingham was running the school at the Oaks by 1864. That year he incorporated it as the Bingham School, a military and classical academy, and in December moved it to Mebaneville. People: William Bingham (1835-1873), William James Bingham, Robert Bingham Also mentions: Bingham SchoolSearch the index · NC DNCR: Bingham School (G-39), highway marker essay
  8. Bingham School moves from the Oaks to Mebaneville William Bingham and Robert Bingham, sons of William James Bingham, moved the school, late in 1864 or in 1865, to a site east of Mebane's Station on the North Carolina Railroad, after the legislature incorporated it in 1864 as a military and classical academy. The highway marker's 1865 may be when classes began at the new site. People: Robert Bingham, William Bingham (1835-1873), William James Bingham Also mentions: North Carolina RailroadNC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Bingham School (G-39)
  9. J. Morrow and Sons grind flour and corn at Oaks In the late 1860s and early 1870s J. Morrow and his sons ran a flour and corn mill at Oaks, where a dry goods store and a tannery also operated in the community that had grown up around the Bingham school. Also named: J. MorrowSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: Historic Resources of Orange County, National Register multiple property documentation form (1993), p. 30
  10. Bingham Township farmers form a club and call a county farmers' meeting Farmers of Bingham Township organized a farmers' club at Oaks, with Alex. McIver as president and S. S. Webb as secretary, and called on every township to send delegates to Hillsborough on July 30 to form a county farmers' club and institute. Also named: Alex. McIver, S. S. WebbSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 11, 1887, p. 2
  11. Dr. C. D. Jones opens a medical practice at Oaks Dr. C. D. Jones, a young physician and son of a former Orange County sheriff, hung out his shingle at Oaks after spending some time in and near Hillsborough. People: Clarence Dupre JonesSearch the index · Hillsboro Recorder, December 15, 1887, p. 3
  12. Oaks citizens back a projected Durham-to-Charlotte railroad and name delegates A meeting of citizens at Oaks voted unanimously for the projected railroad from Durham by way of Oaks and Asheboro to Charlotte. It named seven delegates to the railroad meeting called at Charlotte for March 15. People: Robert Bingham, Thomas J. OldhamHillsboro Recorder, March 1, 1888, p. 2
Show all 23 dated events
  1. Webb & Morrow, merchants at Oaks, make an assignment The Oaks firm of Webb & Morrow deeded several tracts of land and its stock of goods in trust for its creditors, with Sheriff John K. Hughes and James O. Webb as trustees; its debts were put at $5,000 to $10,000, and the failure was laid to hard times and slow collections. People: John Knox Hughes Also named: James O. WebbSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), December 21, 1889, p. 3
  2. The Orange County Red Cross accepts a branch at Oaks On May 11, 1918, the chapter's executive committee read and accepted the Oaks community's petition to join as a branch. Oaks joined Cedar Grove and New Hope as branches of the Hillsborough chapter.Search the index · Documenting the American South: A Record of the War Activities in Orange County, North Carolina, 1917-1919, p. 38
  3. Bethlehem Presbyterian Church builds a Classical Revival church at Oaks In 1922 the Bethlehem Presbyterian congregation at Oaks built a church fronted by a tall portico on square columns, with dentils along the eaves and large nine-over-nine windows. The congregation dates from early in the nineteenth century, and the form says its church has been replaced at least three times.Search the index · NC Digital Collections: Historic Resources of Orange County, National Register multiple property documentation form (1993), p. 76
  4. Captain Samuel Webb, last of the Webb brothers, dies at Oaks Captain Samuel Webb died at Oaks at the age of 80 and was buried at Bethlehem church the next day. The Weekly called him the last of the Webb brothers well known in North Carolina; one brother was Sawney Webb of the Bell Buckle school in Tennessee. Also named: Samuel WebbSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, April 19, 1929, p. 8
  5. Bethlehem Presbyterian Church builds a manse The Bethlehem congregation, which has shared ministers over the years with Hawfields, Cross Roads and Efland, built a manse in 1961.Search the index · Women of the Church of Orange Presbytery, Celebrating Our History (1988), scan p. 14
  6. The Bingham School site at the Oaks joins the Study List The National Register Advisory Committee placed the site of the Bingham School at the Oaks on North Carolina's Study List, its list of properties likely to qualify for the National Register. It went on the list for further study, pending an architectural assessment.NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee agendas, minutes and approved lists, p. 88
  7. The Bingham School site is listed in the National Register The Bingham School was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, one of six rural Orange County listings the 1993 county survey recorded. Also mentions: Bingham SchoolSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: Historic Resources of Orange County, National Register multiple property documentation form (1993), p. 4 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, Orange County
  8. Chapel Hill Planning Board backs converting The Oaks Apartments to condominiums, with tenant protections The Planning Board voted to recommend a special use permit change letting the 124-unit Oaks Apartments, at N.C. 54 East and Burning Tree Drive, be converted to condominiums, on condition that the seller follow eight tenant-protection provisions, among them a tenant's first right to buy and no eviction sooner than 120 days after council approval. Tenants had opposed the conversion at a September 15 council hearing, and the prospective buyer had sued in Orange County Superior Court over the town's right to require the permit change.Search the index · The Daily Tar Heel, October 9, 1980, p. 4
  9. The Chapel Hill Town Council refuses to let The Oaks Apartments become condominiums On October 13, 1980, the Chapel Hill Town Council voted 5-3 to deny Brant Homes of Greensboro the special-use permit change it needed to sell the 124 apartments of The Oaks as condominiums, going against its staff and Planning Board. Mayor Joe Nassif argued that a town with no new apartment starts since 1974 could not afford to lose rental housing; a motion to reconsider failed 5-4 on October 27, after the developer had dropped its lawsuit against the town. People: Bill Thorpe Also named: Joe NassifThe Daily Tar Heel, October 15, 1980, p. 1
  10. Chapel Hill Town Council approves converting The Oaks Apartments to condominiums After months of hearings, the Town Council voted 5 to 4 to grant the special-use permit letting Brant Homes of Greensboro sell the 124 units of The Oaks Apartments as condominiums. Mayor Joe Nassif and council members R.D. Smith, Joe Straley and Joe Herzenberg voted no, Herzenberg saying conversion violated the comprehensive plan in so transient a town; Bev Kawalec said the town needed a conversion policy but should approve this request. People: Joe Straley, R. D. Smith Also named: Joe Nassif, Joe Herzenberg, Bev KawalecSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, January 14, 1981, p. 3
  11. The Oaks Apartments return to rentals after their condominium conversion The 124-unit Oaks Apartments, converted to condominiums after the Town Council's January approval, were changed back into rental apartments in August before any unit had been sold. The new manager suggested high interest rates were the cause.Search the index · The Daily Tar Heel, August 27, 1981, p. 3

Maps of Oaks

Dated maps that show this place, oldest first: town plans, county, road and soil maps, fire insurance sheets and the U.S. Geological Survey’s topographic maps, each linked to the library or archive that holds it. The USGS maps are free to download.

  1. Map of Orange County UNC · a county map
  2. Map of Orange County, N.C. UNC · a county map
  3. A map of Orange County, N.C. UNC · a county map
  4. Soil map, North Carolina, Orange County sheet Duke · a county map
  5. School map, Orange County, North Carolina. UNC · a county map
  6. Map of Orange County, N.C. : 1939 UNC · a county map
  7. An atlas for Orange County, North Carolina UNC · a county map
  8. USGS topographic map, Saxapahaw quadrangle (1:24,000) U.S. Geological Survey (PDF)

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this place. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 TWENTY 27 Views of Raleigh: The City of Oaks in Prose & Poetry 2013

    An anthology of essays, poems and short fiction about Raleigh, introduced by Wilton Barnhardt and published in 2013 by Eno Publishers of Hillsborough. Its six sections run from pieces on home through street scenes, close-ups and views of the city's past to fiction, with contributions by Betty Adcock, Dorianne Laux, Scott Huler, Rob Christensen, Eleanora E. Tate, Lenard D. Moore, Margaret Maron and John Kessel among others. 218 pages.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.655 VICKERS Raleigh, City of Oaks: An Illustrated History Vickers, James · 1997

    James Vickers's illustrated history of Raleigh, in chapters that run from the choice of the capital's site and its planning in 1792 through the Civil War and Reconstruction to the growing city of 1982, closing with profiles of local businesses. Picture research by Jan-Michael Poff. First published by Windsor Publications in 1982 and reissued by American Historical Press in 1997, 191 pages with a map and an index.

Research sources

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