Bank of Chapel Hill: photographs (Chapel Hill Historical Society)
Two 1928 images of the Bank of Chapel Hill: an interior view of the teller desks and a bank advertisement printed alongside one for the telephone directory.
Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.
People in its history
Indexed works
Books, articles, records and pictures in the index about Bank of Chapel Hill, found by its names in titles, catalog subjects and the index’s descriptions, and read one by one. Those held at OCPL come first.
About the site
Bank of Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)
Newspaper clippings, photocopied articles and a report with notes on the Bank of Chapel Hill, undated, from the Businesses series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's Vertical File Collection.
Published by or for it
Bank of Chapel Hill news.
House organ of the Bank of Chapel Hill, published by the bank from 1974 in volumes with illustrations at 35 centimeters. The subject is the bank itself, so the file documents a local financial institution through its own announcements.
Modern farming.
An agricultural bulletin put out by the Bank of Chapel Hill from 1974, covering agriculture and banks and banking as well as the bank itself. Volumes with illustrations at 36 centimeters.
[Financial statements for the Bank of Chapel Hill].
Thirty-four printed financial statements of the Bank of Chapel Hill, issued between June 1918 and June 1963, with material on the Bank of Carrboro as well. Items range from 14 to 23 cm and document the banking business of the two towns across four and a half decades.
Surveys and maps of the area
Not about Bank of Chapel Hill 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.
The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, North Carolina: 1795-1975
Margaret Ruth Little-Stokes's survey of Chapel Hill's town and campus buildings from 1795 to 1975, published by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill in 2006. Chapters run from the first campus buildings through David Swain's romantic campus to midcentury modernism, followed by area surveys of the campus, east and west Chapel Hill, downtown, Northside and the suburbs.
The town and gown architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975
M. Ruth Little's 2004 architectural history of Chapel Hill and the university campus from 1795 to 1975, written for the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. A 99-page survey with a bibliography.
Chapel Hill historic sites survey : final report.
M. B. Gatza's final report of the 1992 Chapel Hill historic sites survey for the town Planning Department, with contributions by Beverly C. Kawalec and Catherine Bishir. It covers historic buildings and districts in Chapel Hill in 80 pages.
Chapel Hill township survey final report
Kelly A. Lally's October 1992 final report on the architectural survey of Chapel Hill township, including Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Besides the report and a bibliography, most of its 56 pages form an annotated index of the historic buildings surveyed.
When Chapel Hill was a village
Cornelia Spencer Love's recollections of Chapel Hill as a village, published by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1976 with drawings by John V. Allcott. Love lived from 1892 to 1981, and the book covers Chapel Hill biography, the town's social life and customs, and the faculty of the university before 1962. viii and 87 pages with illustrations.
Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina at 5-Year Intervals, 1793-1998
Bernard Lee Bryant's compilation of who occupied each structure on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill at five-year intervals from 1793 to 1998, issued by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 1999 as a photocopy of his original computer printout on cotton paper. 191 leaves.
Show 5 more surveys and maps
Map of Chapel Hill as it was in 1875 to 1885
Henry Dennis Carter's reconstruction, drawn as a blueprint in 1934, of Chapel Hill as it stood between 1875 and 1885, showing the buildings of the village. A note on the map says the information came from old residents who gave it to Mary L. Thornton.
[Map of Chapel Hill and vicinity].
Dating from 1888 and attributed to Hunter Lee Harris, a map of Chapel Hill and its vicinity, reproduced as a photocopy measuring 22 by 37 centimeters. Harris died in 1893, which brackets the drawing to the late nineteenth century. An early depiction of the streets of the village and the land around it.
[Map of Chapel Hill].
Pen-and-ink manuscript map of Chapel Hill dated 1852, with a table of measurements, showing the University campus, the village around it, street widths and layout, and the town limits. Later notes attributed to Kemp P. Battle give the longitude and latitude of landmarks as measured from atop New East Hall in 1880.
Map of Chapel Hill & vicinity.
Street and property map of Chapel Hill and the surrounding country, revised to 1 January 1933 and printed in the town. Topics include streets, real property and the historical geography of Chapel Hill along with maps of the University of North Carolina in its 1793 to 1962 period. A useful sheet for tracing lot lines and street names as they stood at the start of the 1930s.
Map of Chapel Hill business district in 1892
Hand-drawn map of downtown Chapel Hill as it stood in 1892, covering Franklin, Henderson, Columbia and Church streets and part of the campus. It locates Pickard's Hotel, the Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist churches, the H. H. Patterson store and other businesses and owners. Julia Hooper Graves and the writer Phillips Russell are both connected with it.
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 Bank of Chapel Hill, 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
- Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 STO
Chapel Hill: A Pictorial History
Stolpen, Steven · 1978
Steven Stolpen's pictorial history of Chapel Hill, one of the Donning Company's photographic town histories, published in Norfolk, Virginia in 1978. Photographs and portraits carry the story of the town and the university, including references to Thomas Wolfe's years as a student at Carolina. 156 pages with illustrations.
- Foundational · 975.656 RYAN
Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides
Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004
Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.
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 HIS
Historic Buildings and Landmarks of Chapel Hill, N.C
Chapel Hill Historical Society · 1973
A pocket-sized guide to the historic buildings and landmarks of Chapel Hill, prepared by the Chapel Hill Historical Society and printed by Creative Printers in 1973. Forty pages with illustrations and maps, 14 by 22 cm. Topics include architecture, historic buildings and historic districts in Chapel Hill, and the guide is useful for a walking tour of the older parts of town.
Land, family and burial records
- Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY
Chapel Hill, N.C. History of Town Lots (1790-1930s)
Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2014
Deed transcripts for the town lots of Chapel Hill and adjoining land from 1790 to the 1930s, compiled by Stewart E. Dunaway. Each transcript keeps only the working facts: grantor and grantee, price, acreage and the metes and bounds of the parcel. Self-published in 2014 as Issue 1G, 702 pages with maps and facsimiles.
In the chronology
- The Bank of Chapel Hill is established Founded in 1899 with $10,000 authorized and $2,500 paid in, it was the county's first bank after the Civil War. Julian S. Carr was its first president, and by 1953 it held $8,500,000 in assets. People: Julian S. Carr
- The Bank of Chapel Hill moves into a new building on Franklin Street Short of room, the Bank of Chapel Hill moved into a new building just west of Clyde Eubanks's new drugstore, and a barbershop took over the space it left.
- The Bank of Chapel Hill opens a branch, the Bank of Carrboro The Bank of Chapel Hill raised its capital in the summer of 1919 so it could open a bank in the mill town, and the Bank of Carrboro opened for business on a Saturday late that fall. Deposits on the first day came to more than $30,000.
- The Bank of Chapel Hill buys the Peoples Bank Chapel Hill's second bank, the Peoples Bank, ran from about 1912 under presidents Vernon Howell and J. D. Webb. The Bank of Chapel Hill bought its assets in 1925.
- The Bank of Chapel Hill closes its Bank of Carrboro branch With the Carrboro mills idle and other business falling off, the Bank of Chapel Hill closed its Carrboro branch and moved its accounts to the parent bank. The branch cashier, W. E. Thompson, went with them.
- Clyde Roberts wins the Bank of Chapel Hill corn growing contest The Bank of Chapel Hill sponsored a yearly corn contest with at least 50 entrants. In 1947 Clyde Roberts won with 93.3 bushels of N. C. Hybrid 26 on one acre, against a contest average of 61.9.
- J. L. Phelps wins the county corn contest with 136.4 bushels an acre In the 1948 Bank of Chapel Hill contest eleven growers topped 100 bushels an acre. The winner, with 136.4 bushels, was J. L. Phelps, from the county's sandy tobacco section.
- The Bank of Chapel Hill merges into North Carolina National Bank At the close of business on September 27, 1963, the Bank of Chapel Hill, founded in 1899, became part of North Carolina National Bank. Its office at 137 East Franklin Street made Chapel Hill the twelfth city in the NCNB system. People: Collier Cobb, Jr
- North Carolina National Bank builds a new office running from Franklin to Rosemary Street NCNB finished its expansion with a single building, three stories tall on Franklin Street and six on Rosemary. Its Franklin frontage took in the old Bank of Chapel Hill and the stores beside it.
Research sources
Places to visit 4
Maps, surveys, and the ground itself
- National Register nomination: Chapel Hill Historic District Boundary Increase (4 Areas) (2015) State Historic Preservation Office
- HPOWEB, the state’s map of surveyed and listed historic places State Historic Preservation Office Find the site on the map to read its survey record
- North Carolina Maps UNC Libraries Historic maps of the state, including the county and its towns
- Orange County GIS and land records Orange County Parcel maps and ownership history for the land today
Read contemporary evidence 10
Newspapers, photographs, and records of the time
- Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 237 cited by 2 events here
- Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 274 cited by 2 events here
- Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 207 cited by an event here
- Bernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 335 cited by an event here
- DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, April 21, 1933, p. 3 cited by an event here
- DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 22, 1963, p. 1 cited by an event here
Show all 10
- DigitalNC: The News (Chapel Hill), December 6, 1919, p. 5 cited by an event here
- The Chapel Hill Weekly, 1923–1972 DigitalNC Digitized issues, searchable by name; this paper covers years the site stood
- Chapel Hill News Leader, 1954–1959 DigitalNC Digitized issues, searchable by name; this paper covers years the site stood
- Orange County Register of Deeds Orange County Deeds and plats, searchable online, to trace who owned the property
Ask locally 5
Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further
- Chapel Hill Historical Society Photographs, maps and papers on Chapel Hill and Carrboro, with a research links page
- Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection, Orange County Public Library The county library’s local-history room at the Main Library in Hillsborough: books, journals, maps, and microfilm of county records from 1752
- Local History Help Hours and request form The library’s Local History Liaison helps in person most Mondays, 12 to 3, at the Main Library, or by the online request form
- Preservation Chapel Hill Chapel Hill buildings and neighborhoods
- Orange County Historical Museum Orange County history, objects, and interpretation
Additional research sources
Other sources to search and local organizations that can help.
- Search beyond the index: Orange County History Guide: Buildings and Maps UNC Libraries Surveys, inventories and maps of the county’s buildings
- Search beyond the index: NC LIVE: prepared search for Bank of Chapel Hill NC LIVE Articles, e-books and newspapers across the state’s shared databases, already scoped to this site’s names and the county; sign in through your North Carolina library to read
Nearby
- Varsity Theatre (the first Carolina Theatre) 60 m · 6 events
- Sutton’s Drug Store 60 m · 1 event
- The Orange Printshop 80 m · 3 events
- Pickwick Theatre 80 m · 6 events
- College Cafe 90 m · 3 events
- The Rathskeller (Amber Alley) 110 m · 4 events
- University United Methodist Church 120 m · 8 events
- Chapel Hill Post Office and Peace and Justice Plaza 120 m · 13 events
- Carolina Theatre (1942) 120 m · 4 events
- Ackland Art Museum 170 m · 5 events
