Skip to content

Schools and academies

Aycock School

Aycock School was the county school at Cedar Grove, built by Sam Johnson on land bought from Carl C. McDade and accepted by the board in January 1924, when it was named Aycock. It absorbed several small rural schools in 1930 and 1931, and its high school pupils moved to the new Orange High School in 1963.

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.

People in its history

People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.

Show 1 more

Sites linked through the same people

Indexed works

Books, articles, records, and images about Aycock School. Each has been reviewed for relevance; materials held at OCPL appear first.

About the site

Contract documents for school construction and appurtenant work : Aycock School (white), Carrboro School (white), Chapel Hill school (Negro), Hillsboro School (Negro), Murphey School (white), Orange Grove School (white), St. Mary's School (white)

Atwood and Weeks, Inc., architects and engineers, H.D. Carter, associate · 1935 · Orange County Board of Education

Contract documents prepared in 1935 by the architects and engineers Atwood and Weeks, with H. D. Carter, for a Public Works Administration school-building program in Orange County, PWA project NC 1005, issued by the county Board of Education in Hillsboro. The title lists seven schools, five for white pupils, Aycock, Carrboro, Murphey, Orange Grove and St. Mary's, and two for Black pupils, at Chapel Hill and Hillsboro, in the period's own labels. 49 leaves plus 20 unnumbered.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Plumbing : contract documents for school construction and appurtenant work : Aycock School (white), Carrboro School (white), Chapel Hill school (Negro), Hillsboro School (Negro), Murphey School (white), Orange Grove School (white), St. Mary's School (white)

Atwood and Weeks, Inc., architects and engineers, H.D. Carter, associate · 1935 · Orange County Board of Education

Plumbing contract documents for a 1935 school construction program of the Orange County Board of Education, a Public Works Administration project numbered NC 1005, covering seven schools: Aycock, Carrboro, Murphey, Orange Grove and St. Mary's, designated for white pupils, and the Chapel Hill and Hillsboro schools, designated for Black pupils. Prepared by Atwood and Weeks, architects and engineers, with H. D. Carter, 39 leaves.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

UNC

Class of 1944 Aycock High School

Aycock High School (Cedar Grove, N.C.) · 2002

Commemorative booklet on the Aycock High School Class of 1944 in Cedar Grove, put together in 2002 by Rachel Hawkins Cole so classmates could remember their school years. Part of the North Carolina Yearbooks collection.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

Aycock High School Photograph Collection

Massengill, Stephen E. (Stephen Edwin), 1950- · 1940

Photographs of Aycock High School in Cedar Grove, about 1940 to 1941, showing the school building, teachers and students, probably the class of 1940 to 1941. Basketball is among the subjects, and people named include members of the McDade, Hughes and Warren families. Compiled by Stephen E. Massengill.

Included because: The site is named in the title, catalog subjects, or description.

Published by or for this institution

Aloha

Aycock High School · Aycock High School

Aloha is the yearbook of Aycock High School in Cedar Grove, northern Orange County.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

UNC

Aloha [1948]

Aycock High School (Cedar Grove, N.C.) · 1948

Aloha, the yearbook Aycock High School in Cedar Grove put out for 1948. Cedar Grove is a rural community in northern Orange County. One of the North Carolina Yearbooks collection.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

Dedication [1942

Aycock High School (Cedar Grove, N.C.) · 1942

Aycock High School yearbook for 1942, titled Dedication, from Cedar Grove. One of the North Carolina Yearbooks.

Included because: Published by or for this institution.

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Aycock School alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.

History and Architecture of Orange County, North Carolina

Mattson, Richard L. · 1996 · Unpublished manuscript

Richard L. Mattson's manuscript survey of the history and architecture of Orange County, completed in September 1996. Its 78 pages cover the county's historic buildings and structures and end with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Orange County multiple property documentation form: "Historic resources of Orange County."

1993

National Register multiple property documentation form on the historic resources of Orange County, completed in 1993. Kelly Lally and M. Ruth Little led the first phase of the survey, and Jody Carter and Todd Peck the second. It runs 123 pages with a bibliography.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

[Architectural field surveys for Orange County : collected for the Historic and architectural resources of the Tar-Neuse River basin report]

1974 · Survey and Planning Branch, Historic Preservation Section, Division of Archives and History

Historic building survey forms for Orange County gathered in 1974 by the state's Historic Preservation Section for a report on the Tar-Neuse River basin. About 400 pages of forms covering buildings in Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the countryside; a form can carry a description, historical notes, location, a photograph and a floor plan.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

A map of Orange County, N.C.

Noble, M. C. S. (Marcus Cicero Stephens), 1855-1942 · 1915

Marcus Cicero Stephens Noble drew this 1915 map to show how Orange County's original territory was divided, tracing the formation of Caswell, Person, Alamance, Durham, Chatham, Randolph, Guilford and Rockingham counties out of it. Topics include county boundaries and the history of political divisions in the Piedmont. Surviving as a photocopy on a sheet 31 by 23 centimeters.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

Soil map, North Carolina, Orange County sheet

United States · 1918 · United States Government Printing Office

Color soil map of Orange County issued in 1918 by the U.S. Government Printing Office at one inch to the mile, 68 by 46 cm. Besides soil types it marks roads and railroads, the Southern Railway among them, churches, schools, mills, stores, cotton gins, iron mines, cemeteries and the county home, and it names the townships of Bingham, Cedar Grove, Chapel Hill, Cheeks, Eno, Hillsborough and Little River.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Map of Orange County, N.C. : 1939

Stanaland, E. A. · 1939 · E.A. Stanaland

Hand colored map of Orange County drawn by E. A. Stanaland and published at Parrott, Georgia, in 1939. It shows towns and townships, roads and railroads, and marks the schools and churches standing in the county. One sheet, 58 by 36 centimeters.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC
Show 1 more surveys and maps

School map, Orange County, North Carolina.

1922

School map of Orange County from about 1922, a blue line print marking townships, towns, churches and the separate schools for white and Black children under segregation. Communities shown include Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Efland and Mebane.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Start at OCPL

    Where to look on the shelf

    These books don’t necessarily mention Aycock School, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.

    Histories of the town and county

    • Foundational · NC 975.656 ORA Orange County--1752-1952 1953

      Hugh Talmage Lefler and Paul W. Wager's history of Orange County across its first two centuries, 1752 to 1952, prepared for the county's bicentennial. It covers government and politics, biography and the county's families, and doubles as a genealogical reference. Published in Chapel Hill by the Orange Printshop in 1953, 389 pages with illustrations and an index; this copy is a later reprint.

    • Start here · NC 371.097 PENDER A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 Pender, Irene Oliver · 1983

      Irene Oliver Pender's history of the public schools of Orange County from 1752 to 1983, covering more than two centuries of schooling in Hillsborough, Efland, Cedar Grove and the rural districts of the county. Published in 1983, 186 pages with illustrations.

    Buildings and surveys

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

      Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

    • Foundational · NC 917.56 ORANGE An Inventory Of Sites Of Cultural, Historic, Recreational, Biological, And Geological Significance In The Unincorporated Portions Of Orange County Orange County (N.C.) · 1986

      County planning department survey of significant sites in the unincorporated parts of Orange County, published in 1988, 95 pages with maps. The survey covers cemeteries, church buildings and archaeological sites on the cultural side, and plants, animals, endangered species, wildlife refuges, geology and recreation areas on the natural side. Useful for local historians, genealogists tracing burial grounds and land planners alike.

    • Foundational · NC 363.69 HIS Historic Preservation Element: Orange County Comprehensive Plan ; Orange County, North Carolina Orange County (N.C.) · 1996

      The historic preservation element of Orange County's comprehensive plan, prepared for the county Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Department by the Jaeger Company of Gainesville, Georgia, and adopted on 1 April 1996. Partly financed by National Park Service funds through the state Division of Archives and History, it sets county policy on historic buildings and sites and their conservation. 59 pages plus 50 unnumbered, with illustrations and maps, some folded and in color.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Start here · NC 333.16 CHILTON The Land Grant Atlas of Old Orange County Chilton, Mark · 2012

      Mark Chilton's oversized atlas plotting eighteenth-century land grants across the original Orange County, which stretched well beyond today's boundaries into what became Alamance and Durham counties. Published in Carrboro by Hand Made Books beginning in 2012, the set was planned in four volumes: Henry McCulloh's great tract number 11 and the land north of it; the Saxapahaw old fields (volume 2); Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and the Johnston Tract; and Durham, Rougemont and McCulloh's tract number 12. Maps and color illustrations, 41 cm.

    In the chronology

    1. The county board agrees to build a new school at Cedar Grove On August 11, 1922, under superintendent Claytor, the county board agreed to build a modern school at Cedar Grove once state building-fund money came. The building was accepted in January 1924 and named Aycock School. Carrboro's new school, planned under the same program, was already going up in 1921. People: R. H. Claytor DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 125
    2. Aycock School is built at Cedar Grove The county board of education built a new school at Cedar Grove on land bought from Carl C. McDade, because state law barred board member Charles A. McDade from selling his own land to the county. Sam Johnson won the contract in August 1923 with a bid of $19,570. On January 7, 1924 the board voted to name the school Aycock instead of Cedar Grove, and on January 21 it inspected and accepted the building. The brick school opened on Monday, February 4, 1924; the Weekly, reporting the opening, said it was named for Charles B. Aycock and put its cost at $30,000. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 70 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 6, 1924, p. 1; Open Orange: 6116 Efland Cedar Grove Rd. / Aycock High School; Chapel Hill Weekly, April 16, 1926, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, February 7, 1924, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 20, 1923, p. 1
    3. Cedar Grove opens the consolidated Aycock School Cedar Grove opened its new brick consolidated school, named for Charles B. Aycock, before a crowd from all over the county; 150 children were already enrolled, with more expected as smaller schools were closed. The $30,000 building had central heat and shower baths; County Superintendent R. H. Claytor presided and E. W. Knight of the University gave the address. People: R. H. Claytor, Edgar Wallace Knight, Mack P. Efland The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 7, 1924, p. 1
    4. Harmony School patrons protest a merger with Aycock School A delegation from Harmony School went before the board to object to consolidating their school with the new Aycock School at Cedar Grove. The board told them no such step was planned, though Harmony was merged into Aycock six years later. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 73
    5. The county board merges Chestnut Ridge, Jordan's Grove, Smith Level and Grover into larger schools Over objections from families who wanted to keep neighborhood schools, the board sent the pupils of Chestnut Ridge to Gravelly Hill, those of Grover and Jordan's Grove to Aycock, and those of Smith Level to Carrboro. It then adopted a school budget of $180,849.25 for 1930-31. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 76
    6. Breeze School is merged into Aycock and later becomes a tobacco pack house On June 15, 1931 the county Board of Education merged Harmony and Breeze schools near Caldwell into Aycock School. By 1938 the Breeze building was being used to store tobacco. NC Historic Preservation Office: Richard L. Mattson, History and Architecture of Orange County (1996), p. 61 · Also: Pender, A History of Orange County Schools
    7. The county board merges nine more rural schools into larger ones At a special meeting on reorganizing the schools, the board sent Merritts to Chapel Hill, Damascus to Carrboro, Tom's Creek and Rock Hill to Orange Grove, Union and Rehobeth to Efland, and Harmony with others to Aycock, leaving few one-teacher schools for white children. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 77 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 18, 1931, p. 3
    8. Parents turn back a plan to merge the Aycock, Efland and Hillsboro schools A large crowd of parents appeared before the board to fight a plan that would have folded the Aycock, Efland and Hillsboro schools into one. The opposition was strong enough that the board dropped the plan, which returned in 1963 as Orange High School. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 79
    9. Orange County builds an addition to Aycock School By May 22, 1936 an addition to Aycock School, contract price $8,650, was among the ten county school projects under way with PWA aid. The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 22, 1936, p. 6
    10. The county board agrees to build an agriculture building at Aycock School Aycock principal Mrs. V. L. Warren and the school committee asked the board for a two-room brick building for agriculture classes, and the board agreed to provide it. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 80
    11. Aycock School's Fourth War Loan sales pay for a trainer plane Bond sales through Aycock School at Cedar Grove in the Fourth War Loan came to $16,709.85, enough for the school to sponsor a Fairchild trainer plane costing $15,000 and other equipment, each to carry a panel bearing the school's name. Principal E. F. Cude announced the awards at a chapel service in March 1944, and the Treasury was to send the school a plaque. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 23, 1944, p. 6
    12. Muddy roads close Orange County schools after the holidays Steady rains left rural roads impassable, and school buses could not run. Aycock School closed the day after reopening, and Chapel Hill's schools shut from January 9 to 11, their second closing that winter. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 17, 1946, p. 1
    Show all 43 dated events
    1. Aycock High's home economics students run a kindergarten As part of their child-care study, second- and third-year home economics students at Aycock High School ran a kindergarten for pre-school children, serving them a balanced lunch each day planned and cooked by older girls under teacher Mrs. James E. Winslow. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 18, 1946, p. 4
    2. The county board ends high school classes at Efland The board voted to discontinue Efland High School and send its students to Aycock and Hillsboro, leaving Efland an elementary school. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 81
    3. A community cannery is set up at Aycock School G. A. Munn and E. F. Cude told the board in July 1947 that the cannery at Aycock School had used $3,500 and needed $1,500 more to finish. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 81
    4. Superintendent Proffit holds back Aycock and the county's Black schools a week for the tobacco harvest Because the tobacco crop was late, Superintendent Glenn T. Proffit moved the opening of Aycock School and of every Black school in the county from September 1 to September 8, while the other white schools opened on time. He said two new buses would go to the Black schools, some of whose buses had run as far as 75 miles a day. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 28, 1947, p. 1
    5. Superintendent Proffit's $1 million school bond pays for a new Efland school for Black children and county lunchrooms The $1,000,000 school bond passed under Superintendent Glenn T. Proffit paid for grounds and a building for the Efland school for Black children, an addition to Hillsboro High School, and lunchrooms at Aycock, Efland, West Hillsborough and White Cross. It also bought a cannery and gymnasium at Aycock and a remodeling and auditorium at Caldwell. People: Glenn T. Proffit DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 129
    6. A Cedar Grove delegation asks the school board how to keep Aycock High School With the state education commission urging 300 pupils as the minimum for a senior high school, a Cedar Grove delegation asked the county Board of Education how to save the Aycock high school, which had 86 pupils and five teachers. The board, which reappointed Glenn T. Proffit superintendent for two years at the same meeting, advised enlarging the attendance area and building good will but took no action. People: Glenn T. Proffit The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 7, 1949, p. 1
    7. A packed hearing airs the fight over the Hillsboro and Aycock high school districts The county Board of Education heard both sides of its plan to move the Caldwell and Efland areas from the Hillsboro High School district to Aycock High at Cedar Grove. Opponents presented petitions with 2,032 signatures and another signed by the whole Hillsboro student body, Aycock's backers argued the rural school needed the territory to survive, and chairman Kemp Cate closed the meeting without a decision. People: Bonner D. Sawyer, Kemp S. Cate, Charles S. Hubbard The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 9, 1950, p. 1
    8. The county school board keeps the Hillsboro and Aycock high school lines nearly unchanged After hearing committees from each district, the Board of Education voted 2 to 1 to follow a state committee's advice, adding only a small area north of Kennedy's on Highway 86 to the Aycock High School district, and rejected Zeb Burton's motion to send Efland and Caldwell freshmen to Aycock. Both the Hillsboro and Aycock groups appealed to the State Board of Education, which put off its decision in May. People: Bonner D. Sawyer, Charles W. Stanford, Kemp S. Cate The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 20, 1950, p. 1
    9. The State Board of Education leaves the Hillsboro and Aycock school lines as they were Ruling on appeals from both sides, the State Board of Education decided at its June 1 meeting that pupils who had been attending Hillsboro High School would stay there and that Aycock High School would continue as it was. The county school board had first proposed enlarging the Aycock district to shore up its enrollment and then reversed itself, setting new lines that moved about six families. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 8, 1950, p. 1
    10. The county school board drops its bid to redraw the Aycock school lines After delegations from Efland, Caldwell and Hillsboro called its July 3 boundary resolution unworkable and unfair, the county Board of Education voted 2 to 1 on August 31 to rescind it and accept the State Board's June ruling, keeping all districts and bus routes as they had been. The State Board approved the rescission in September, and member Zeb C. Burton, who had led the fight to enlarge the Aycock district, said he would probably resign. People: Charles W. Stanford, Kemp S. Cate The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 7, 1950, p. 1
    11. Jordan's Grove School for Black children closes as the Cedar Grove Negro School opens Jordan's Grove School for Black children closed in the fall of 1951, when it and six other small Black schools were combined in the new Cedar Grove Negro School, accepted by the county board that November. It is the only surviving rural field school building the 1993 survey could tie to African American pupils, abandoned in a farm field when recorded. A separate white Jordan's Grove school had merged into Aycock in 1930. NC Digital Collections: Historic Resources of Orange County, National Register multiple property documentation form (1993), p. 79 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 8, 1951, p. 1
    12. The Cedar Grove Ruritan Club receives its charter The newly organized Cedar Grove Ruritan Club held its charter night at Aycock School on June 19, 1951, when the Ruritan district governor installed its officers and received 42 members; Lefler and Wager's county history dates the club's forming to 1950. It helped landscape the new Aycock School and equip its gym, fielded a community baseball team and arranged group hospital insurance for members, and in 1952 it placed first among 22 rural groups in the community improvement contest. Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 262 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 5, 1951, p. 1
    13. The county school board lets contracts for the Aycock School gymnasium The Board of Education awarded contracts of $63,844.20 for a gymnasium at Aycock School in Cedar Grove, leaving out heating to come near the $62,500 the bond campaign had promised and paying the difference from current funds. Cedar Grove residents had offered to lend the county money to finish the building, and foundation work began within two weeks. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 9, 1951, p. 1
    14. John Thel Smith accepts the principalship of Aycock School Smith, who had taught at Four Oaks for five years, succeeded Robert W. Isley, who resigned at the end of the school year to retire but stayed in the Cedar Grove community, where Mrs. Isley went on teaching. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 29, 1952, p. 1
    15. The state accredits the Aycock and Efland elementary schools The State Department of Public Instruction placed the Aycock and Efland elementary schools on its accredited list, making them the third and fourth county elementary schools to qualify, after West Hillsboro in 1950 and Carrboro in 1952. Both had first been accredited in 1927 and had lost and regained it, and no county elementary school had been accredited in 1949-50. People: G. Paul Carr The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 19, 1954, p. 1
    16. The Cedar Grove community gets its first Boy Scout troop The first Boy Scout troop in the Cedar Grove community, sponsored by the Cedar Grove Ruritan Club with the Rev. Kay Misenheimer as scoutmaster, held its first meeting at Aycock School with 26 boys present and ten ready to register. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 12, 1955, p. 4
    17. The county school board lets $73,420 in contracts for a lunchroom and two classrooms at Aycock School Contracts for the lunchroom and classroom addition at Aycock School in Cedar Grove went to H. F. Mitchell of Burlington for the general work and to three Durham firms for plumbing, heating and wiring. Because the bids and fees ran $10,420 over the $63,000 in bond money, the board added that sum from capital outlay funds. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 27, 1956, p. 1
    18. Orange growers sell their aromatic tobacco at a sale at Aycock School More than 100 bales of aromatic tobacco grown in Orange County were weighed, graded and priced in the agriculture shop at Aycock School, bringing 60 cents to $1.25 a pound, with most selling at about 80 cents. The News called it the first sale of its kind ever held in that part of the state. People: Moses Cimuel Burt The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 1, 1956, p. 1
    19. Commissioners let the school board build a principal's home at Aycock School In what the paper called a surprise move, the county commissioners voted unanimously to let the Board of Education shift $12,000 from other budgeted funds to build a principal's home on county land across the road from Aycock School. Cedar Grove patrons had pressed for the house since December, when both boards said no money was left; bids were called for by March 1. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 6, 1958, p. 1
    20. The county school board lets contracts for additions at Cedar Grove, Efland and Efland-Cheeks schools The Board of Education let about $200,000 in contracts, with W. L. Jewell & Sons of Sanford as general contractor, for a kitchen and cafeteria at Cedar Grove School, classrooms and a boiler room at Efland School, and classrooms, offices, a boiler room and cold storage at Efland-Cheeks School. It also let an $11,600 contract to Odis Johnson for a principal's home at Aycock School. People: Archie Royal Davis The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 6, 1958, p. 1
    21. The county school board orders Black pupils from Person and Caswell out of Cedar Grove School In a border fight over pupil assignments, the Orange County Board of Education voted to send some 19 or 20 Black children from Person and Caswell counties who were enrolled at the Cedar Grove school for Black pupils back to their home counties. The board acted after Person County barred 13 white border children from attending Aycock School and Caswell kept Orange children enrolled at Prospect Hill. People: Charles W. Stanford The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 11, 1958, p. 1
    22. Terry Sanford calls for better schools and a farm push at Cedar Grove Speaking to the Cedar Grove Ruritan Club at Aycock School, Fayetteville attorney Terry Sanford, seen as a leading candidate for governor in 1960, said North Carolina's schools were not preparing students well enough for college and urged a farm development drive to match the state's industrial promotion. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 13, 1958, p. 1
    23. Orange County school board agrees to send Person County pupils at Aycock back to Person Meeting with the Person County board in Roxboro, the Orange County Board of Education agreed that about a dozen Person County children attending Aycock School would be reassigned to Person schools at midterm, January 30, ending a four-month standoff in which Person had threatened suit. The agreement came soon after Ross Porter replaced Clarence D. Jones, who with John Hawkins had opposed sending the children back. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 8, 1959, p. 1
    24. Judge Leo Carr bars Caswell County from enrolling Orange pupils at Prospect Hill School Ruling on the Orange County school board's suit, Judge Leo Carr granted a permanent injunction forbidding the Caswell County board to take five children of a Cedar Grove family, assigned to Aycock School, at Prospect Hill School across the county line, except by agreement of both boards. The Orange board had voted to sue on September 14, and the family had moved the children to Aycock in October. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 17, 1959, p. 4
    25. Aycock School parents petition against folding their high school into a new northern Orange high Wilfred Phelps, chairman of the Aycock Citizens Committee, gave the county board of education a petition with 476 names asking it to keep an accredited white high school at Aycock, keep busing Efland-district pupils there and draw fair school lines. Speakers objected to long bus rides; board member Gordon Cleveland said no county high school was yet accredited. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 16, 1961, p. 5
    26. Aycock School patrons protest the high school consolidation at a county hearing About 150 people came to a hearing at the Aycock school in Cedar Grove on merging the county's high schools at Hillsboro, and spokesmen said they had been led to believe they would not be forced to consolidate. Attorney Lee Settle, hired by Aycock patrons, argued they should decide for themselves; earlier hearings at Hillsboro and Efland drew 15 to 20 people and no opposition. People: G. Paul Carr The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 28, 1963, p. 11
    27. Orange County Board of Education closes Caldwell School In spring 1961 the county board weighed its attorney's proposal to close White Cross and Caldwell schools. In March 1963, in the consolidation that came with the new Orange High School, it eliminated the Caldwell district and closed Caldwell School, a school for white pupils built in 1925; that May Caldwell pupils were moved into the Aycock district, and other parts of the old district joined Cameron Park. A sale of the building fell through in 1963 because the board could not give clear title, and it was not sold until the 1970s. The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 8, 1963, p. 2 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 1, 1961, p. 1; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 6, 1961, p. 6; February 4, 1963 resolution; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 6, 1963, p. 14; Open Orange: Caldwell School
    28. Aycock and Hillsborough High schools are consolidated into Orange High School On February 4, 1963 the county board of education resolved to consolidate the high schools at Hillsborough and Aycock into the new Orange High School. The News of Orange reported the board's vote on the consolidation, over the protests of Aycock and Caldwell parents, late on Tuesday, March 12, 1963. The new school north of Hillsboro opened to pupils on Monday, September 9, 1963, a week after the date first set, with Charles Yelverton as its first principal, and had 460 pupils that month. The new Orange Junior High School was housed in the old Hillsborough High School building, and Aycock continued as an elementary school. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 85 · Also: Orange County Historical Museum: Integration in Orange County; NC State Historic Preservation Office: Cedar Grove School, National Register nomination; Open Orange: 6116 Efland Cedar Grove Rd. / Aycock High School; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 14, 1963, p. 2; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 29, 1963, p. 8; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 12, 1963, p. 1; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 19, 1963, p. 1
    29. Fire destroys the home economics building at Aycock School The home economics building at Aycock School in Cedar Grove burned, with the loss put at $15,000 to $20,000 and fully insured through the state. The county board had approved the building in 1948. DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 86
    30. Three Cedar Grove families ask to move their children to the all-white Aycock School At the end of the 1964-65 school year, under its freedom of choice plan, the Orange County Board of Education sent school choice forms to the parents of every school-age child. Of the 401 forms sent to families at Cedar Grove School, the area's school for Black children, three asked for transfer to the all-white Aycock Elementary School and four to Orange Junior High School. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Cedar Grove School, National Register nomination (OR3044), p. 23 · Also: DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983; Open Orange: 6116 Efland Cedar Grove Rd. / Aycock High School
    31. Orange County Schools regroup pupils by grade across the Hillsborough schools to complete integration For 1969-70 the county put all its pupils outside the Efland area into Hillsborough schools, each serving set grades: kindergarten at Central Elementary, grades 1-2 at Cameron Park, 3-4 at Central, 5-6 at the old Orange Junior High, 7-9 at a new Orange Junior High and 10-12 at Orange High. Efland-Cheeks took kindergarten through third grade and Efland Elementary grades 4-6, and Aycock, Cedar Grove and West Hillsborough dropped out as separate schools. People: G. Paul Carr DigitalNC: Irene Oliver Pender, A History of Orange County Schools, 1752-1983 (1983), p. 139

    Open these in the chronology →

    Research sources

    Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Investigate a school or community institution.

    Background

    National Register files

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 30

    Show all 30

    Collections and databases

    Local help 5

    Nearby

    Something wrong or missing on this page, a location, a date or a name? Suggest a correction or a source →

    Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
    Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026